Rolex Daytonas are famous for fetching top dollar at auction, but they do pop up season after season on the auction block and other secondary markets. What does not show up very often are unique custom-order Daytonas. On May 11 in Geneva, Sotheby’s will auction a singular platinum version of the coveted model with a light pink mother-of-pearl dial and diamond hour markers during its live Important Watches sale. Made as a special piece for one VIP collector, the watch is fresh to the market.
Rolex Daytona Ref. 16516
Sotheby’s
Unlike many other luxury watch companies, Rolex isn’t known for producing custom orders. In fact, the crown isn’t known for doing favors of any kind, so this particular piece is exceedingly rare. In a press statement, Sotheby’s head of watches, Said Benoît Colson, claims it is one of the most important Daytona examples to ever be offered 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,” he says. The watch is part of a single order of four custom Rolex watches created between 1998 and 1999 for the important collector. All four have the same reference number 16516 with the ending “6” referring to the platinum cases and were made 15 years before Rolex ever made a platinum Daytona commercially available.
Rolex Ref. 16516 models that previously sold at Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s
The three pieces that sold at Sotheby’s proceeding this offering were equally eye-catching as this mother-of-pearl version. The first Ref. 16516 to appear on the block also had a mother-of-pearl dial, but in a rainbow hue with Arabic numerals and small white indices replacing the 3, 6, and 9 hour markers, which sold for $872,100 at Sotheby’s Important Watches sale in Hong Kong. A Ref. 16516 with a lapis lazuli dial and a turquoise strap from the collector popped up at the same sale two years later in 2020 and fetched HKD 25,375,000 (approximately $3,270,287, according to exchange rates at the time). It was followed a year later at the same sale by a lacquered turquoise Stella dial model with Arabic numerals and a brown leather strap which sold in 2021 for HKD 24,375,000 (approximately $$3,138,562 according to exchange rates at the time).
The identity of the collector remains a secret, but some, including Sotheby’s, have speculated that the four unique Daytonas were commissioned by Patrick Heiniger, the CEO of Rolex from 1992 to 2008. If anyone were to have the power to order four singular versions of the model, it would certainly make sense that it was the former head honcho of the company. Heiniger passed away in Monaco in 2013, but was reportedly seen wearing a platinum Daytona during his lifetime.
Regardless, this is singular opportunity to own a unique Daytona. It is the last of the four to come up for sale and is the only version with diamond hour markers. It has an estimate of CHF 700,000 to 1,400,000 (approximately $858,830-$1,717,660). Based on its predecessors’ hammer prices, you can expect this timepiece to rake in well above its top estimate.
