Rare Rolex fetches record 3.3 million euros at Monaco auction

A RARE Rolex with a split-second chronograph sold for 3.3 million euros (S$4.8 million) at auction in Monaco, a record price for the model.

The Rolex 4113, produced in 1942 and one of just 12 ever made and nine known to exist, was sold on Saturday at the Monaco Legend Group auction. The sale beats the model’s previous record of 2.4 million Swiss francs (S$3.6 million) which was paid in 2016 at a Phillips auction in Geneva.

Collectors are still willing to break records for rare and unique items despite a pullback in second-hand prices for Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet watches that peaked in 2022.

The 4113 is an unusual Rolex and is believed to be the only split-second chronograph, also known as a rattrapante, ever produced by the Geneva-based watch brand. The watch has a case diameter of 44 millimetres (1.73 inches), making it one of the largest watches Rolex ever made.

The split-second complication can measure different time intervals, facilitated by dual start/stop and reset buttons.

The watch came from the collection of Auro Montanari, one of the world’s most prominent collectors and a watch scholar. He also wrote several books under the pen name John Goldberger including 100 Superlative Rolex Watches, which features the 4113 on the cover.

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The watch was auctioned with the cheese knife that Montanari used to pop off the watch case to reveal its inner workings during a 2013 video. BLOOMBERG