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44 F R O M R E C O R D A U C T I O N P R I C E S F O R A $17.8 MILLION PAUL NEWMAN DAYTONA MADE IN 1968 TO A DAZZLING RAINBOW DAYTONA THAT SELLS FOR THREE TIMES ITS ORIGINAL PRICE, WE GO INSIDE THE CLOSELY GUARDED WORLD OF COLLECTING ROLEX. PERFECT O n the evening of October 26, 2017, m o re t h a n 4 0 0 people packed the New York auction house Phillips for its Winning Icons Auction — Legendary Watches of the 20th Century. Some of the finest timepieces ever made by esteemed watchmakers Patek Philippe, Cartier, Rolex, and Vacheron Constantin were up for bid. But the watch everyone in the room had their eyes on was a 1968 Rolex Daytona stainless-steel chronograph with an impeccable provenance. Worn for years by film star Paul Newman, it was given to him at BY REBECCA SHERMAN the start of his passion for car racing by his wife, Joanne Woodward. The back is engraved with a note: "Drive Carefully Me." Newman had been photographed so often wearing the watch that the model was nicknamed the Paul Newman Daytona. Between 2,000 and 3,000 of the watches were made, and it's not known how many vintage specimens from the era exist. Collectors consider it the Holy Grail and had been searching for the original "Newman's Newman" with its simple black strap for decades. It had attained almost mythical status by the time consignor James Cox presented it for auction. Cox, a former boyfriend of Newman's daughter Nell Newman, had been given the watch by the star in the summer of 1984, when Cox and Nell were restoring a tree house on the family property. At the time of the gift, the watch's value was $200, far less than the 2017 auction estimate of $1 million to $2 million. After 12 minutes of feverish bidding, the gavel came down at an astonishing $17.8 million (including buyer's premium), a world's record for any wristwatch sold at auction. This dazzling sale illustrates the importance of the vintage market for Rolex. Brands such as Patek Philippe, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Universal Genève, Audemars Piguet, and Vacheron Constantin command a large part of the booming pre-owned market, but Rolex has skyrocketed in value, says Jim Wolf, director of timepieces for Dallas-based Heritage Auctions. " The worldwide demand for new men's Rolex watches is off the charts," says Lance Deutsch, owner of Deutsch Houston, an official Rolex jeweler. He has sold Rolexes for 30 years and owns the Rolex Boutique Deutsch & Deutsch at the Houston Galleria, Texas' only freestanding TIMING Paul Newman's 1968 Rolex Daytona stainless-steel chronograph sold for $17.8 million. Paul Newman as race-car driver Frank Capua in the 1969 movie Winning