The Rolex from the 1990s will be put on the block in Geneva on November 8. In an unusual move, the auction house Phillips has decided not to assign a high estimate value for the piece, but expects it to sell for at least 3 million Swiss francs ($3.5 million).
The watch is believed to be the first-ever example to feature the now-famous ‘rainbow’ gem-set pattern produced by the Swiss watchmaker, according to Phillips. The timepiece, which has multi-colored sapphire gems around its bezel, has been in a private collection for almost two decades.
“This watch is a big deal,” Alexandre Ghotbi, the head of watches for Europe and the Middle East at Phillips, said in an interview. Only a few Rolex collectors were aware it exists, he added.
A Defining Moment in Luxury Watchmaking
The creation of the Rainbow Daytona marks an important moment in Rolex’s history as it displayed the brand’s ability to craft ultra-high-end jewelry watches using innovative gem-setting techniques, Ghotbi said. At the time the watch was made, in 1993 or 1994, Rolex was still widely viewed as a maker of luxury sports watches such as the steel Submariner dive watch.
While this ‘Rainbow’ watch was made as a one-off piece in the 1990s for a client in the Middle East, the same pattern of gem-set sapphires was then used again on some Daytona models nearly two decades later.
Today, rainbow style gem-setting can also be seen on models from other luxury brands such as Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet. The technique remains extremely difficult, partly because it requires stones with the correct color gradation to mimic the rainbow pattern.
A Trendsetter in the Industry
If Switzerland was a high school cafeteria, Rolex would be the king of the cool kids’ table. The Crown still sets the tone for the watch industry at large. Case in point: the rainbow-hued gemstones you see on timepieces from virtually every brand these days? That trend all began with one brand. “There's absolutely no denying that the modern rainbow-watch lineage begins with Rolex,” Malaika Crawford reported for Hodinkee nearly two years ago.
Most point to the release of the “Rainbow” Daytona in 2012 as the starting point for this trend, but Rolex’s experimentation with multi-hued gems actually goes back much further. The proof? Today, Phillips auction house announced that it is bringing the first-ever Rainbow Daytona, made a full two decades before the 2012 release, to auction as part of its Geneva sale in November. There is no high estimate, just a towering baseline of $3.5 million.
This watch is the original “Rainbow” Daytona—a model that is now one of Rolex’s cornerstones. The Crown produced this particular watch as a piece unique for a client in the Middle East in 1993 or 1994, according to Phillips. You can understand, then, why the auction house has set the estimate so high for this piece. This isn’t merely a gem-set Rolex; it’s the exact model that started the rainbow trend that is now so prevalent in the watch industry. Standard production Rolex Daytonas are pricey and hard to come by as it is. Now add in the fact this is a piece unique that set the foundation for all those that would come after it and you have a watch worth many millions.
Until today, the watch was the stuff of legend. Crawford’s Hodinkee story mentioned a piece unique fitting this description that Eric Ku, founder of online auction house Loupe This, once sold to a private collection. It’s the type of piece that could have stayed locked away forever. However, Ku confirmed to me that this is the exact piece he sold long ago.
The Rebirth of Mechanical Watchmaking
Phillips, in association with Bacs & Russo, is preparing to launch a monumental auction event, Reloaded: The Rebirth of Mechanical Watchmaking 1980-1999. This themed auction will spotlight a remarkable collection of neo-vintage timepieces that shaped the horological landscape during the ’80s and ’90s. From groundbreaking mechanical innovations to cutting-edge designs, the auction offers a curated selection of some of the most sought-after timepieces of the era.
The upcoming auction features works from legendary makers like Philippe Dufour, F.P. Journe, Derek Pratt, and Rolex, all of whom pushed the boundaries of watchmaking during this pivotal period. Leading the lineup is an incredibly rare Rolex Rainbow Daytona ref. 16599, encased in white gold and adorned with gradient-colored sapphires on the bezel. Estimated to fetch an astounding 3 million CHF (approximately $3.5 million USD), this unique timepiece from the ’90s is expected to be one of the most highly anticipated pieces of the auction.
A Symbol of Change
Phillips is organizing this sale around watches that showcase “the 1980s and 1990s [as] a period of intense change and experimentation,” the auction house said in a press release. Few watches exemplify the shots the industry was taking during that era quite like this Rainbow Daytona. Rolex was, and still is, known for its rugged sport watches. Upon its initial release, the Rainbow seemed to go against the brand’s very DNA—and many collectors fumed in the beginning. Now, the watch is not just one of the Crown’s signatures but a piece that defines the era of luxury-sport watches that we are still in. And what could be more luxurious than the first Rainbow Daytona ever made?
While still rare and highly challenging to obtain from retailers, the Rainbow Daytona has now become a signature piece in the Rolex model collection.
The sale comes at a challenging time for the industry as demand for expensive timepieces has waned due to high inflation, following an unprecedented Covid-era boom. Still, rare and unique models from Swiss brands have been in demand. In May last year, Phillips sold a gold Rolex 6270 Cosmograph Daytona from 1988 with a dial and bezel set with diamonds for nearly 4 million Swiss francs.
