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Rolex’s Rarest Watches
If you’ve ever walked into a Rolex Authorized Dealer you could be forgiven for thinking all of their watches are rare.
However, where the crown is concerned, there’s a big difference between simply ‘in demand’ and genuinely scarce.
Back in the brand’s earlier years, they experimented a great deal more than they do today. Some models, and particularly the ones with additional complications, were trialed and, not finding a large and responsive enough audience, quickly shelved. In addition, many of the truly big name Rolex watches had certain dial, bezel or font irregularities which only showed up for a handful of examples before being retired or, in the case of the various ‘error’ specimens, swiftly corrected.
Others still used to exist in relatively healthy numbers, but the vast majority have been lost over the years.
That leaves vintage collectors fighting over some insanely valuable models which might only number into single figures.
Below, we take a look at some of the absolute rarest.
The Barked White Gold Submariner
Rolex’s legendary dive watch has been around for a long time now and has gone through legions of little tweaks and updates. As a result, we could have picked any number of examples to highlight for their rarity.
There’s the early ref. 6200 ‘King Sub’ from the ‘50s, with only about 300 or so ever made. There’s the Mk I dialed ‘Single Red’ ref. 1680s from the late ‘60s. There’s the special forces-issued MilSub references; those that still survive, anyway. There’s the COMEX ref. 5513s commissioned by the commercial diving outfit, or the even more elusive ref. 5514s with their experimental Helium Escape Valves.
But rarer somehow than all of those is the Barked White Gold Sub from 1973.
Underneath, it is a ref. 1680. But in this model, it is cast in 18k white gold, with a blue nipple dial, a weird engraved dive bezel, only half of which is knurled and on opposite sides, and it sits on a President bracelet with a bark-like finish on the middle links.
Never making it past the prototype stage, Rolex only produced three and, in 2017, one briefly became the most expensive Rolex Submariner ever sold when it achieved $628,572 at auction.
The Daytona ‘Unicorn’ ref. 6265
As with the Submariner, there is (ironically) no shortage of rare Cosmographs, especially from the vintage first generation.
The so-called ‘Paul Newman’ Daytonas are a case in point. Even though they were part of the standard line-up, the exotic dials were so unpopular—as was the entire range for its first quarter century—that only about one-in-twenty watches leaving the production line had the Art Deco tricolor dials. Today, you will need to spend six figures at a minimum to get one.
Rarer still are the fabled ref. 16516s, sometimes known as the ‘Heiniger Daytonas’. These five pieces, commissioned in the 1990s by then-CEO Patrick Heiniger, were the only ones of the Zenith generation to be made in platinum. Heiniger wore one himself with the other four gifted to friends. So far, only three examples have ever come to market.
But eclipsing all those is the ‘Unicorn’ Daytona.
A complete one-off, this reference of the ref. 6265 was the only vintage Cosmograph forged in white gold; a special order made in 1970 and sold the following year through an unnamed German retailer. The watch, with its 18k case and black Sigma dial was owned by collector John Goldberger, who fitted it with a white gold, bark-textured bracelet and put it up for auction in 2018, when it fetched $5.9m. That made it the second most expensive Daytona ever behind a certain model once belonging to some actor.
The One-of-a-Kind Platinum Yacht-Master
Moving a little more up-to-date, we come to a unique Yacht-Master.
When Patrick Heiniger took over from his father André in 1992, it happened to coincide with Rolex making their 10-millionth chronometer movement.
To celebrate, Heiniger commissioned a platinum-cased version of the brand’s latest creation—for himself!
As legend has it, when the freshly-installed CEO unveiled the new, all-yellow gold Yacht-Master at that year’s Baselworld, he did so while wearing his one-of-a-kind platinum model.
As well as having the case, bracelet and bezel all cast in the most noble of metals, the watch also had a unique grey dial set with sapphires and diamonds, and the text ‘Dix Millioneme Chronomètre’ inscribed on it in recognition of the milestone.
In April of last year, Heiniger’s Yacht-Master went for $2.57m at the Monaco Legend auction.
The Steel Presidents
Everyone knows that Rolex’s flagship, the Day-Date has only ever been made in precious metals; either the finest 18k gold or the even more exclusive platinum.
But as it turns out, that is not necessarily true. Certainly, the Presidents available to buy through regular channels will only come in those options. However, Rolex apparently makes, or used to make, so-called ‘practice watches’, prototypes only used by the brand’s watchmakers in order to develop their skills.
As these pieces were meant to stay inside the Geneva compound, very few of us regular enthusiasts will ever see them, but they do occasionally surface on the auction scene, presumably from Rolex employees topping up their pensions. And top them up they do; when the latest one went under the hammer in 2022, a reference number-less model of the ref. 180X generation, it sold for CHF 170,100.
The Transcontinental Datejust
‘Rare’ and ‘Datejust’ are two words you don’t see together all that often. In many cases, it is the one watch you have at least an outside chance of being able to buy brand new at an official dealers.
Yet, there are a few true outliers in circulation and one of the rarest has to be the Transcontinental Datejust. In fact, it is so scarce that hardly any information exists on it at all.
No one, for example, seems to be exactly sure what company Transcontinental was. In the era the few examples of the watches which have surfaced were produced (literally for one year, 1957) there was a Transcontinental Railroad company in Canada, a freight logistics operation in the States called Universal Transcontinental, or it may even have been TWA; Transcontinental Air Transport. Other possibilities could also be Transcontinental Pipeline or Transcontinental Petroleum.
What does seem likely is that these were specially commissioned presentation watches to give out to employees at some significant milestone in their career.
So what do they look like?
At their root they are ref. 6609 Turn-O-Graph models, once a separate collection of watches that were eventually absorbed into the Datejust collection. They differ from the Turn-O-Graph reference of the time, the ref. 6602, by the inclusion of both the ‘Transcontinental’ script on the dial as well as the unique rotating bezel featuring a 12-hour engraving rather than 60-minutes; it is the only Rolex ever made with a 12-hour bezel.
While there are some believe the ref. 6602/6609 Transcontinental Datejusts are nothing but Frankenwatches, studying up on their provenance does seem to suggest they are real, albeit incredibly rare pieces.
The ‘Japan’ Turn-O-Graph
Rolex very very seldom issues limited editions, so the Japan Turn-O-Graphs are actually rare examples of a rarity.
As we’ve mentioned above, the Turn-O-Graph was a long-running model, but never an especially popular one, even with the patronage of the USAF Aerobatic team rechristening it the Thunderbird in the U.S.
By 2011 its race was run and it was headed for the great watch graveyard in the sky, but Rolex decided to see it out in style and released a version exclusively onto the Japanese market.
This piece, in every other way a standard Rolesor ref. 116263, came with either a black or white dial, each limited to 300 pieces, all with green date numerals, a green seconds hand and the Turn-O-Graph signature picked out in green as well.
Why Rolex picked green as the color for Japan is unknown, but it works nicely with the other tones and with the watch in general.
Despite their relative obscurity, you can find examples of this attractive watch fairly easily on the preowned market, and without too much of a premium. Expect to pay $5-$6k over and above the regular model of the same era.
Featured Photo: BeckerTime’s Archive.
