Two rare Rolex Daytona watches owned by Hollywood icon and race car driver Paul Newman will be auctioned at Sotheby’s this June. Each carries an estimate of between US$500,000 and US$1 million.
One of the Rolexes, a stainless steel automatic chronograph wristwatch with bracelet, from circa 1993 with a reference number 16520, was given to Newman after his racing team won the TS-1 class at the 1995 24 Hours of Daytona Race. He became the oldest driver to win the race at the age of 70, an accomplishment still listed today in the Guinness Book of World Records, according to Sotheby’s.
The other piece also comes with an important historic and sentimental value. Actress Joanne Woodward, 93, Newman’s wife, gifted him the white gold automatic chronograph wristwatch from 2006 with a reference number 116519. This is the last of three Daytona watches Woodward gave to her husband. The caseback of the watch is inscribed “Drive Very Slowly Joanne.”
The couple were married for 50 years from 1958 until 2008, when Newman died at the age of 83.
There is a bit of Hollywood magic that stirs in our minds when we picture a movie star-turned race car driver, speeding around a track with a love letter hidden from plain sight tucked behind his wristwatch,” Leigh Safar, a watch specialist at Sotheby’s Americas, said in a statement.
Both Dayotas will highlight Sotheby’s watch sale in New York on June 9. It marks the very first time the white gold watch will be offered on the market, Sotheby’s said.
The stainless steel was offered by Newman in 1999 at an auction, achieving US$39,000 for his charity, the Hole in the Wall Gang, which provides medically supervised, free summer camps for children with serious illness. However, the actor was seen wearing the watch again years later, thought to be purchased back by one of his loved ones, Sotheby’s said.
The auction house will also offer more than 300 items from the collection of the famed couple in a series of live and online auctions throughout June. Drawn primarily from their residence in Connecticut, the sale will include film and entertainment memorabilia, automotive and racing collectables, family photographs, antique furniture, and decorative arts.
The sales come on the heels of the publication of Newman’s memoir, The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: A Memoir, in October, as well as the six-part documentary series, The Last Movie Stars, released on HBO Max in July.
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