Rolex Daytona 6265 in White Gold

This is a vintage Rolex Daytona Reference 6265 in solid 18k white gold.  It was a special order made in 1970 and delivered to a German retailer in 1971.  It is rare because Rolex did not make any white gold manual-winding Daytonas - only thought to have been produced in yellow gold or stainless steel.  Of course, vintage Daytona's are in high demand, but this is a one of a kind making it a priceless artifact.  Nicknamed "The Unicorn" partly because of its rarity and partly because of its white gold color, the Reference 6265 is going up for auction at Phillips, with proceeds going to Children Action.

John Goldberger, collector and owner of "The Unicorn"  Image: Hodinkee

Famed collector John Goldberger, and author of 100 Superlative Rolex Watches and Patek Philippe Steel Watches, is the current owner of the rare Daytona.  He acquired the timepiece just eight years ago.   Upon picking up the Daytona for the first time, he noticed that this did not feel like a stainless steel Daytona.  It was much heavier.  Although Rolex used white gold in their production of Day-Date models during the 1970's the precious metal never made it to the Daytona line which was designed to be an every-day watch.  Most Daytonas were made in stainless steel to stand up to the wear and tear of daily use.

The Unicorn has a black "sigma" dial and white gold hour markers.  The bracelet comes from a white gold reference 1507 Oyster Date, but is not the original band that came with the timepiece.  It isn't known what band was delivered with the white gold model.  The crown and pushers are made from stainless steel, rather than white gold.  The Daytona bezel with tachymetric scale supports measuring average speeds up to 200 miles or kilometers per hour.  It has a small seconds hand at 9 o'clock a 30-minute counter at 3 o'clock and 12-hour counter at 6 o'clock.  On modern Daytonas the dials at 9 and 6 are swapped.

The Unicorn will likely fetch millions for the charity, if recent history and astronomical price increases at auction are any indication.  The question is whether it will set new records, considering its rarity.  Certainly the most expensive Daytona, the Paul Newman, which recently went for over 17 million, has celebrity fame to drive the price up.  The Newman watch though was not nearly as rare as The Unicorn.  We will find out on May 12, 2018, in Geneva, where the Unicorn will be featured as part of the Daytona Ultimatum auction.