re: Whose got a Rolex?

quote:

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Why would you show all those watches but not show the specific ones he asked about? Not a flame, genuinely inquiring.

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It may seem a little odd but I will try to explain. I am pretty well known in the online and IRL watch community and I prefer they not know I have one of the two Daytonas particularly in its specific dial configuration. I just don't want anyone to stumble onto the pic online and match me up.

The SoJ Daytona is one of maybe 60 made, 1 of 30 in the dial I have. There are 5-6 examples known examples and auction for significant money (not Newman Daytona money though). Every time one is sold there are questions regarding whether they were ever an actual Rolex model or if it is a dial change (like the California dials). The more pictures of them are out there the more they get scrutinized which could impact the auction market for them. It may seem weird but it is simply to protect the value of the particular watch.

ETA I may have done a poor job explaining it but when rare watches pop up on the internet they get heavily scrutinized by the online watch community. One offhand comment by someone that has never seen the watch in the metal could significantly impact auction value. The holy grail of Daytona collecting is Paul Newman's personal Daytona and when it came up for sale the provenance was heavily questioned online. When I do decide to auction the watch I would prefer not to have 5-10-20 years of online scrutiny built up, this is the reason nobody else that owns a SoJ posts pictures of theirs.

I have also explained before that my watch accumulation is the culmination of over 25 years of buying and selling watches as a hobby, primarily manual wind Daytonas. Over the last few years as the vintage Daytona prices have spiked I have sold them off and replaced them with modern watches. The two I have left are simply what is left over from that collection. The SoJ and a prime example of a 6263 Panda. The first picture I posted was taken when the two were in the safe deposit box the last one was taken tonight when I had both out to wear them over the holidays, the SOJ is covered by the piece of paper.


To the person that thought the first picture was taken today due to the Canes A Christmas Story dog in the reflection it wasn't that was a gift from my wife one Christmas (I live the movie) and it sits behind my watch boxes in the closet so it is there all year round.