The 6262 18K ‘Daytona Nero with Cherry Logo’

ROLEX. AN EXTREMELY RARE AND IMPORTANT 18K GOLD CHRONOGRAPH WRISTWATCH WITH BLACK DIAL AND BRACELET

SIGNED ROLEX, COSMOGRAPH, DAYTONA, REF. 6262, CASE NO. 2’330’469, MANUFACTURED IN 1970

Cal. 727 mechanical movement, 17 jewels, black dial, applied baton numerals with luminous accents, luminous hands, outer fifths of a second divisions, three engine-turned gilt dials for constant seconds, 30 minutes and 12 hours registers, tonneau-shaped water-resistant type case, blank bezel calibrated for 200 units, screw back, screw down crown, two round chronograph buttons in the band, 18K gold Rolex Oyster bracelet, case, dial and movement signed.

In the early 1970s, the chronograph is still an elitist timepiece due to many factors. The high price discourages professionals; its mechanical fragility – when compared with the much sturdier automatic or manual time-only watches of this time – worries the customers; its technical complexity discourages the mainstream buyer. All of these factors combine to reduce its popularity. When offered in gold, an oxymoron considering its technical nature, unsurprisingly its commercial appeal drops even further. In the mindset of the 1970s, a gold chronograph truly is a Chimera, a caprice for the eccentric millionaire. Its very existence is incomprehensible to most, far too ostentatious and fragile for technical use; defnitely too bulky for an elegant evening. Who would ever buy such a thing? The answer is, to the delight of today’s collectors, nearly nobody.

In 1970, the year of production of this gold 6262, Rolex manufactures some 347,000 watches, with serial numbers between 2.241.000 and 2.589.000. Among the multitude of these timepieces, only around 30 pieces are 18k gold 6262. This equates to roughly 0,0086 % of the 1970 Rolex production. It is no surprise that the 18k 6262 is not only the scarcest Daytona reference ever made, but also one of the most diffcult Rolexes to fnd on the vintage watch market today.

Courtesy of Christie's

50 EXCEPTIONAL EXAMPLES OF THE WORLD’S MOST CELEBRATED CHRONOGRAPH WRISTWATCH AUCTION

GENEVA – 10 NOVEMBER 2013

LOT 13
ESTIMATE PRICE: SFr.80,000-160,000
PRICE REALIZED: SFr.341,000

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