Collectors are doing their homework. Especially when it comes to Rolex.

This really sums up what just happened at the June sales in Christies-New York. Dials that seemed too good to be true and that were clearly relumed at some point – well they didn’t sell. Watches that were heavily polished- they sold but at a large discount. Watches that had the incorrect bezel or incorrect second hand, well investors took that into consideration.

Collectors are becoming smarter and more educated than ever before.

Lets look at a few examples.

The best example to start with is Lot Nr 87, a Rolex 6262 Daytona PN (Paul Newman) from the PAF (Peruvian Air Force) which sold for $106′ooo against an estimate of $60-80′ooo. While $106′ooo is not a small amount, for a Paul Newman with military provenance – it certainly is. Lot 87 was a fine example but heavily polished.

Just in November at the Daytona Lesson One, Christies sold a PN also with PAF provenance and also ref 626 for CHF 299′ooo. This is 3x more than the Lot Nr 87. Collectors clearly differentiated between examples. Right now Paul Newman Daytona’s are the most collectible category within Rolex. But you would not know it from the sale at Christies.

Lot 285 is also a 6262 Paul Newman Daytona. For those who are not aware Ref 6262 is one of the rarest Daytona’s available. They were only made for more than one year. This rare 6262 Rolex sold for only $68′ooo against an estimate of $40-60′ooo. A reference 6262 with the exotic Paul Newman dial in good condition can fetch more than 3-4x that. So why the discount? In one word condition. The quality of this watch was mediocre.

Perhaps the one watch which really explained what happened at Christies was Lot Nr 350 which is a Rolex 6240 Daytona.

Reference 6240 is important because it was the first oyster case Daytona with waterproof -screwdown pushers. The 6240 was not a success for Rolex when it was introduced and Rolex replaced this reference relatively quickly. As a result Ref 6240 is rare today and collectable. Lot 350 (main picture) was a very clean and nice example with an almost mint dial.

This lot sold for a very strong $57′ooo against an estimate of $25-35′ooo (for full details click here).

Collectors are starting to do their homework in a serious way. Auction houses and private dealers better be prepared.