Rare Rolex Daytona Expected To Command Up To $1.6 Million At Auction

Forbes

16-04-2025

A unique Rolex Cosmograph Daytona will be one of the highlights of Sotheby's Important Watches auction in Geneva on May 11. The 1999 Cosmograph Daytona, Ref.16516, in platinum with a diamond-set mother-of-pearl dial has an estimate of $800,000 - $1.6 million.
It is one of the rarest Rolex watches ever made, according to the auction house. It is a commissioned Rolex wristwatch, from a brand that famously doesn't do privately commissioned limited editions. This model is confirmed for the first time to be the last of four Daytonas commissioned to Rolex in a single order by the same private collector who requested anonymity and created between 1998 and 1999. It comes to auction for the first time.
All four watches have the same reference number 16516, the last digit, '6,' refers to the use of platinum, a first for a Daytona, Sotheby's said. For more than a decade, the automatic Daytona was offered only in stainless steel, two-tone steel and gold, yellow gold and white gold. An exception was made in 1999 when one person was granted a Cosmograph Daytona rendered in platinum. The first time Rolex started producing platinum Daytonas in a series was in 2013, to mark the 15th anniversary of the model. 'This highlights the historical importance of this special commission created nearly 15 years earlier,' Sotheby's said in a statement.
The existence of a platinum Zenith-powered Daytona was, for many years, a myth fueled by speculations that swirled around one name in particular: Patrick Heiniger, Rolex's CEO from 1992 to 2008. Heiniger is believed to have been seen wearing a platinum automatic Daytona before they were made in a series. Until Sotheby's unearthed the first known example in 2018, the story was widely considered as being apocryphal within the watch community.
The four dials in the commission are all different, making each watch unique. This is the last of the four watches from the commission coming for the first time on the market. This makes it the last chance for a collector to be the first to acquire a piece of Rolex history, Sotheby's said.
This Rolex Daytona, with a mother-of-pearl dial set with ten diamonds, was manufactured by Rolex in circa 1999 and comes with its certificate and accessories. The other three in the series featured a dark mother-of-pearl dial, a lapis lazuli dial and a turquoise dial. This example being the only one set with diamonds. All three were sold by Sotheby's way above their initial estimate in 2018, 2020 and 2021, with the lapis lazuli hardstone example achieving a world record price of $3.2 million at Sotheby's 2020 Hong Kong sale.
'A milestone in the history of the Cosmograph Daytona, its rarity, provenance and superlative craftsmanship make this 1999 Cosmograph Daytona, Ref.16516 with a diamond-set mother-of-pearl dial, one of the most important examples ever to be presented at auction. It is also an exceptional book ending to the sale of this extraordinary commission of four masterpieces, three of which have already found new homes through previous Sotheby's sales,' said Benoît Colson, head of Watches, Sotheby's Geneva.