Jack Nicklaus will auction off his Rolex to support his foundation

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But from 1967 on, in nearly every photograph of Nicklaus hoisting a trophy, there was a constant: a gold Rolex watch that became one of his most cherished possessions. “It was my first watch and the only one I wore,” he said. “It was just part of me.” Now, the 79-year-old golf legend is about to put the watch up for auction, in what could become one of the most expensive pieces of sports memorabilia ever sold.

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The Oyster Perpetual Day Date Rolex will be displayed at the Memorial Tournament—the PGA Tour event Nicklaus hosts annually in Dublin, Ohio—this week before going on a world tour to court potential bidders. The auction house Phillips is set to display the watch in Geneva, London, Hong Kong and Los Angeles, among other possible stops, in the months ahead before opening it to bids on Dec. 10 in New York. Nicklaus said the entire sale price, including Phillips’s cut, will go to the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation, which he started with his wife, Barbara, in 2004.

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He said he was spurred in part by the 2017 sale of late actor Paul Newman’s Rolex for $17.8 million, a record high for a wristwatch at auction. “I decided if I take this watch and give it to one of my kids, it’ll end up in a drawer someplace,” Nicklaus said. “I said, ‘Why don’t we take this watch and do some good with it?’”

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