When Rolex unveiled its Rainbow Daytona in 2018, the flamboyant rose-gold chronograph set with a gradated splash of colored sapphires around the bezel raised eyebrows.
“It was something so playful and so unexpected from Rolex,” says Paul Boutros, who oversees watches for the American market at Phillips auction house in New York. Soon after, the Rainbow Daytona was almost as hard to come by as the proverbial pot of gold. “I think you have to be interviewed by someone high-level at Rolex to get one,” he adds.
While Rolex’s Professional models—including the Cosmograph Daytona, Submariner, and GMT-Master II—are consistently difficult to obtain, with demand far outstripping supply, the Rainbow has become a veritable white whale.
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Rolex produces only a handful of Rainbows each year, partially due to the difficulty of sourcing the 36 perfectly matched, colored sapphires that create a mesmerizing ombré effect on the bezel. The dial, with shimmery pink Gold Crystal chronograph counters, is set with sapphire-baguette indexes in matching shades. The 40mm case is further embellished with 56 brilliant-cut diamonds set into the lugs and crown guard, underscoring its extravagance.
Only Rolex’s most loyal and successful authorized dealers have a shot at being allocated one. They, in turn, offer them only to their most loyal, spendy VIP clients as a way of saying thank you. Given the huge speculation on these pieces in the secondary market, it’s considered a reward to be able to purchase one for sticker price.
The Rainbow Daytona in the brand’s fade-resistant Everose gold alloy is a descendant of a 2012 Rainbow Daytona in yellow gold that also achieved cult status, with values skyrocketing on the secondary market since its debut. One of those pieces sold at a Phillips Hong Kong auction last July for US$225,750. A circa-2013 white-gold version similarly went for US$238,744 at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong in October 2019.
Audemars Pigeut's Royal Oak 'Jumbo' Extra Thin is famously hard to find, and to get it, it helps to have connections.
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The rose-gold model is no exception, reaching US$310,000 at a Sotheby’s auction in London in April 2019, only a year after its debut. That’s quite a tidy profit, considering the watch’s list price is about US$97,000.
It’s exactly this kind of speculation that retailers try to fight when determining who will have the opportunity to buy one. And Rolex is far from the only player in the game.
Other highly sought-after production models that are famously hard to find include Patek Philippe’s sporty retro Nautilus Ref. 5711, Audemars Piguet’s timeless Royal Oak “Jumbo” Extra Thin, and astronomically expensive pieces from Richard Mille, such as last summer’s RM 11-05.
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“We don’t do a traditional waiting list, because it’s not fair—a lot of people who want to get on it are looking to buy and sell the watch,” says Greg Simonian, president of Westime in Los Angeles, who reports that demand is so high for Richard Mille and Audemars Piguet models at the mono-brand boutiques Westime operates that they’re not even taking deposits anymore.
“When a piece like that comes out, of course we want to reward our best customers. At the same time, if there is a new customer who legitimately wants the watch, that’s interesting to us as well, so we make some exceptions here and there,” he says. “The main thing is we want to make sure we are selling to end consumers who are going to understand, appreciate, and love the watch.”
“It isn’t in any way an exact science. I wish it was,” agrees David Hurley, executive vice president of The Watches Of Switzerland Group, which also determines allocation based on relationships and other considerations on a case-by-case basis.
When a customer walks into Wempe in New York looking for a steel Daytona or Nautilus, Ruediger (Rudy) Albers, president of American Wempe, explains the rules of the game. “People don’t understand; they think we get dozens,” he says. “They may see an advertisement and get the impression that they can just place an order and they’re good to go. For people who don’t know, we give them an education.”
Once enlightened, they tend to shift their focus to something more attainable. “Oftentimes they will walk out with a different watch than what they came in for, but it’s still something that gives them pleasure.”
When it comes to its rarest and most complicated watches, such as minute repeaters and grand complications, Patek Philippe makes the call as to who can acquire one, much like Ferrari allocates its supercars only to its most devoted collector base.
This vintage Patek Philippe Ref. 1518 sold for $11 million in 2016. The perpetual-calendar chronograph tops the list of vintage watches due to its extreme rarity and high collector demand.
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Also in response to market speculators, collectors who are interested in these Pateks go through an application process to ensure they are brand loyalists who appreciate what goes into creating such horological masterpieces and are likely to hold onto them for the next generation, rather than flip them for a quick profit.
This year, despite the pandemic, Patek introduced a trio of six-figure, high-complication watches based off existing models: the Ref. 5303 Minute Repeater Tourbillon, the Ref. 5370 Split-Seconds Chronograph, and the Ref. 5270 Perpetual Calendar Chronograph.
Rarer still are those watches they’re not producing anymore. While Rolex has made an incredibly strong showing in the auction market in recent years, with Daytonas that boast celebrity provenance capturing world records, Patek Philippe remains a daunting contender.
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When it comes to vintage Patek Philippes, Phillips’ Boutros places the Ref. 1518 at the top of the list. Launched in 1941 and produced through 1951, the 1518 was the first perpetual-calendar chronograph that was serially produced. “That model was so important that it set the architecture for all future perpetual-calendar chronographs that Patek Philippe uses to the present day, including the modern 5270,” he says. “And within the 1518 range, the holy grail is one in stainless steel.”
Phillips sold one of the four known steel examples for $11 million in November 2016, setting a record price for a wristwatch. “It’s a milestone piece, it’s aesthetically beautiful, and especially rare,” Boutros says.
That record was smashed the following year, when Phillips sold Paul Newman’s personal Paul Newman Daytona, the most coveted vintage Rolex model, for a world-record price of US$17.8 million.
But it didn’t take long for Patek to resume its place on the auction throne when its one-of-a-kind steel Grandmaster Chime went for US$31 million at the biennial Only Watch charity auction in 2019.
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“Because trophy watches are so sought after and appear so infrequently, experienced collectors realize the market price for them is a mystery,” Boutros says. “So, the people who own them submit them for auction to ensure they are getting the fair market price, because there is so much competition.”
Outside of purchasing at an auction, he says acquiring such rarities requires being well-connected with proven, reputable sellers because of the preponderance of convincing fakes, particularly of the Paul Newman Daytona variety.
“Exceptional trophy watches are always offered to sellers’ best clients,” Boutros says. “And there are always buyers for them.”
This article first appeared in the Fall 2020 issue of Mansion Global Experience Luxury.
The Link LonkOctober 09, 2020 at 09:23PM
https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/playing-hard-to-get-220028
Playing Hard to Get - Mansion Global
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