Paul Newman's Legendary Daytona Rolex Becomes the Most Expensive Watch Sold in the World - For $17.8 Million

Photo from Phillips

Paul Newman (January 26, 1925 - September 26, 2008) was one of the worlds most iconic actors famous for his long legendary history of Hollywood movie masterpieces including The Color of Money (1986), The Hustler (1961), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and The Sting (1982).  He has acted alongside some of the greatest actors in history including his wife Joanne Woodward, Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, Robert Redford, and Elizabeth Taylor.

The younger generation may remember his voice recordings in Cars as Doc Hudson.  He has won an Emmy, an Academy Award, a BAFTA, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Cannes Film Festival Award. 

Newman with his Daytona Rolex.  Photo Credit: Ron Galella via Getty Images

Paul Newman won several national championships as a driver in Sports Car Club of America road racing.  He owned several winning teams in open-wheel IndyCar racing as well.  His teams have employed the services of Al Unser and Mario Andretti, and have won 8 national titles and 108 individual victories.  He had a 2nd place finish at the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans, and a first place finish (at age 70) at the 1995 24 Hours of Daytona race. 

Paul Newman competed into his 80's winning a race at Lime Rock and was inducted into the Sports Car Club of America auto racing Hall of Fame, posthumously in 2009. Paul Newman once said, "The only thing I found grace in was racing a car."

His legendary acting career may only be surpassed by his philanthropic activity.  He created Newman's Own, a food company which donates all post-tax profits and royalties to charity.  Thus far, Newman's Own has donated nearly $500 million to charitable causes. 

Newman co-founded Safe Water Network which focuses on sustainable drinking water solutions, and he founded Serious Fun Children's Network which creates family fun summer camps for children with serious illness.  It has served nearly 300,000 children since inception. Newman was named the Most Generous Celebrity of 2008 by Givingback.org.

Photo from Phillips.com

The "Paul Newman" Daytona, reference 6263 was a gift from his wife Joanne Woodward during the filming of the movie "Winning" and was worn every day by the Actor between 1969 and 1984.  It was engraved with "Drive Carefully Me," and remained his loyal companion  until he gifted the priceless timepiece to James Cox, a boyfriend of his first daughter Elinor Newman.  James was visiting with Nell and the Newmans at the family house in Westport Connecticut, known as the "Nook House." 

Engraved with "Drive Carefully Me" Photo from Phillips.com

James was working to restore the tree house on the property as a favor to his famous hosts - the tree house was a favorite aspect of the property by Paul and Joanne.  One day while checking up on James' progress, Paul Newman, having forgotten to wind his wristwatch that morning, asked James if he knew the time.  James responded that he didn't and that he didn't own a watch.  Paul handed James his Rolex and said, "If you can remember to wind this each day, it tells pretty good time."  This was clearly an understatement, as Newman won several bets over the years betting his Rolex told better time than other competitors.

Interestingly, the Exotic Dials of the Paul Newman Rolex Daytona was not popular when they came out.  Rolex, therefore, didn't manufacture many of these.  However the value of these dial designs have steadily risen over the years.  The Reference 6239 is powered by the Rolex caliber Valjoux 722 and has a steel bezel with screw down crown, 2 pump pushers and a non-Oyster case.  It has 17 jewels, and 3 dials and a tachymetric scale allowing race car drivers to measure average speeds up to 200 miles per hour.  It has a black dial and a 36 mm case. It has a small seconds hand, a 30 minute counter at the right (3 o'clock), a 12 hour counter in the middle (6 o'clock). and a 60 second timer at the left (9 o'clock).  This differs greatly from modern Daytona's which now can support up to 400 miles per hour average speed measurements. 

The auction for the Paul Newman Rolex Daytona took place at Phillips Auction House in New York.  Bidding started at 1 million, but that quickly went to $10 million, surpassing the $5 million Rolex Bao Dai price fetched only 6 months before.   The price rose steadily from there finally fetching a record breaking $17.8 million.  Proceeds went to benefit the Nell Newman Foundation and the Newman's Own Foundation.