Phillips sells unique ‘Unicorn’ Rolex Daytona for 5m euros

At its Daytona Ultimatum sale last weekend, Phillips sold the ‘Unicorn’ — the only known white gold Rolex Daytona in existence — for 5.9m CHF, all of which will be donated by its former owner, John Goldberger, to a children’s charity…

Mythical creatures

In all, the 32 watches offered by Phillips in its landmark Daytona Ultimatum sale grossed 22.184m CHF, spearheaded by the ‘Unicorn’, which we had the pleasure of ogling when we previewed the auction with specialist Arthur Touchot. “When we announced this sale, the ‘Unicorn’ was not included,” he told us. “Then, all of a sudden, John called Aurel Bacs and told him the watch was going to be sold for charity. Aurel was dumbfounded.” We imagine he was just as ecstatic when he dropped the gavel on the watch at 5m CHF (5.93m CHF including premium) after a lengthy bidding war. Elsewhere in the sale, which attracted over 350 bidders from 43 different countries, a reference 6240 known as ‘The Neanderthal’ sold for 3m CHF and a ref. 6263 referred to as ‘The Arabian Knight’ sold for 1.93m CHF. It appears Touchot was right when he told us the Rolex Daytona is a watch market in itself.