Lot 56 SOLD FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE RED CROSS
"Ultimate Rolex Daytona" will be released in fall 2010 (retail price Euro 4,000) in a limited and hand-numbered edition of 599 units and portrays the history of an iconic symbol. Started in December 2006, it is the result of over 50'000 hours. But above all, it is a tribute to industrial still life. The most advanced photographic technologies and highest printing resolution complete an object made using refined materials and manufactured with old-time handicraft binding techniques.
"Ultimate Rolex Daytona" is an incomparable publication created to showcase the most outstanding collection of Rolex Daytonas in the world, from early pieces of the 1960s to present day production, highlighting the evolution of design and construction techniques of the illustrious chronograph. The superlative condition of all 130 Rolex Daytonas presented contributes to making this collection truly breathtaking. Many of the timepieces are unique. Numerous special models and all the variants of the famous Paul Newman dial are illustrated, as are those with concept dials or cases used to evaluate stylistic choices before production. Considerable attention is dedicated to prototype dials and to custom-made examples, many from Arab world, alongside an ample section devoted to the more familiar Daytonas. An unrivalled collection, worthy of scrutiny under the master watchmaker's lense; six hundred superb pages, high definition print and the extreme precision of the techniques of architectural photography are the only possible means through which all the qualities of these timepieces can be expressed. The resulting images provide rare visual depth, telling the Rolex Daytona story as never before.
Christie's watch department is honored to have been chosen by the authors to offer, for benefit of the Red Cross, Number 0 of this magnificent tome dedicated to the most famous wristwatch in the world.
Geneva, spring 2010
Aurel Bacs
For further information see www.ultimaterolexdaytona.com.
Red Cross Italy - Casa di Teddy
The proceeds from the sale of this "Ultimate Rolex Daytona" will be donated to the "Casa di Teddy" program of the Italian Red Cross.
The Casa di Teddy program provides housing for parents whose children are receiving medical treatment in Italy, often for long periods of time. Families from Albania, Iraq and Lebanon are among the many who have been assisted through the program, which can welcome up to 1,300 children and their families every year. The program is vital in helping children stay close to their parents at what can be a traumatic time.
"Ultimate Rolex Daytona" will be released in fall 2010 (retail price Euro 4,000) in a limited and hand-numbered edition of 599 units and portrays the history of an iconic symbol. Started in December 2006, it is the result of over 50'000 hours. But above all, it is a tribute to industrial still life. The most advanced photographic technologies and highest printing resolution complete an object made using refined materials and manufactured with old-time handicraft binding techniques.
"Ultimate Rolex Daytona" is an incomparable publication created to showcase the most outstanding collection of Rolex Daytonas in the world, from early pieces of the 1960s to present day production, highlighting the evolution of design and construction techniques of the illustrious chronograph. The superlative condition of all 130 Rolex Daytonas presented contributes to making this collection truly breathtaking. Many of the timepieces are unique. Numerous special models and all the variants of the famous Paul Newman dial are illustrated, as are those with concept dials or cases used to evaluate stylistic choices before production. Considerable attention is dedicated to prototype dials and to custom-made examples, many from Arab world, alongside an ample section devoted to the more familiar Daytonas. An unrivalled collection, worthy of scrutiny under the master watchmaker's lense; six hundred superb pages, high definition print and the extreme precision of the techniques of architectural photography are the only possible means through which all the qualities of these timepieces can be expressed. The resulting images provide rare visual depth, telling the Rolex Daytona story as never before.
Christie's watch department is honored to have been chosen by the authors to offer, for benefit of the Red Cross, Number 0 of this magnificent tome dedicated to the most famous wristwatch in the world.
Geneva, spring 2010
Aurel Bacs
For further information see www.ultimaterolexdaytona.com.
Red Cross Italy - Casa di Teddy
The proceeds from the sale of this "Ultimate Rolex Daytona" will be donated to the "Casa di Teddy" program of the Italian Red Cross.
The Casa di Teddy program provides housing for parents whose children are receiving medical treatment in Italy, often for long periods of time. Families from Albania, Iraq and Lebanon are among the many who have been assisted through the program, which can welcome up to 1,300 children and their families every year. The program is vital in helping children stay close to their parents at what can be a traumatic time.
"Ultimate Rolex Daytona"
EDITION NO. 0, PUBLISHED 2010, BY PUCCI PAPALEO, EDITORE
Closed10 May 2010
Price Realised
CHF 43,750
More Information
Specialist note
What remains so surprising is the fact that the Daytona model was conceived only ever to be just a 'watch'. One of those metal instruments designed to fit our wrists which, with ceaseless patience, measures time as precisely as possible.
The way this 'simple' timepiece in only five decades has managed to transform itself into an icon and then into an art piece, still today provokes endless dispute amongst collectors throughout the world. Over the years, its many models and versions have unwittingly termed a different yet homogeneous 'definition' compared to the previous one, creating an altogether structural and organic ensemble which has progressed into a language of its own. A language, unveiled throughout the numerous pages, distinguished by overlapping dials, hands, watch cases and movements, newly developed designs, restyled graphics and colours. All features which with meticulous patience and attention to detail but never in a pedantic fashion, came to illustrate how this chronograph achieved its 'symbol' status, instead of remaining merely a functional object.
Inevitably, over a period of 20 years we have been able to observe how this timepiece has become an object of research, study, negotiation, collection, dispute; something to analyse, to understand, catalogue, purchase and, in some cases (and why not), to hide. That somebody, unimaginably, uses this wristwatch to 'measure time' is fascinating more than astonishing. This happens because when making a book such as the Ultimate Rolex Daytona, with over six hundred pages and thousands of unedited photographs, and which has involved time and work for a conscientious group of people, it is easy to fall into the trap of rhetoric. It is also all too easy to talk about a vintage phenomena, alternative investments or sons of the communication era. The Daytona we have discovered, understood, in other words 'read' is pure and simple passion. All the rest serves remind us that, whilst others wear the timepieces, we take 'the time'.
Rome, spring 2010
Pucci Papaleo and Paolo Gobbi, authors.
The way this 'simple' timepiece in only five decades has managed to transform itself into an icon and then into an art piece, still today provokes endless dispute amongst collectors throughout the world. Over the years, its many models and versions have unwittingly termed a different yet homogeneous 'definition' compared to the previous one, creating an altogether structural and organic ensemble which has progressed into a language of its own. A language, unveiled throughout the numerous pages, distinguished by overlapping dials, hands, watch cases and movements, newly developed designs, restyled graphics and colours. All features which with meticulous patience and attention to detail but never in a pedantic fashion, came to illustrate how this chronograph achieved its 'symbol' status, instead of remaining merely a functional object.
Inevitably, over a period of 20 years we have been able to observe how this timepiece has become an object of research, study, negotiation, collection, dispute; something to analyse, to understand, catalogue, purchase and, in some cases (and why not), to hide. That somebody, unimaginably, uses this wristwatch to 'measure time' is fascinating more than astonishing. This happens because when making a book such as the Ultimate Rolex Daytona, with over six hundred pages and thousands of unedited photographs, and which has involved time and work for a conscientious group of people, it is easy to fall into the trap of rhetoric. It is also all too easy to talk about a vintage phenomena, alternative investments or sons of the communication era. The Daytona we have discovered, understood, in other words 'read' is pure and simple passion. All the rest serves remind us that, whilst others wear the timepieces, we take 'the time'.
Rome, spring 2010
Pucci Papaleo and Paolo Gobbi, authors.