Watch Paparazzi

Actor Paul Newman spotted wearing Rolex

When Phillips brought Paul Newman's personal Rolex Daytona reference 6263 to auction in October 2017, the room understood it was handling something categorically different from a conventional vintage chronograph. The hammer fell at $5,475,000 — a figure that cemented this particular example as the most expensive Daytona 6263 ever sold at public auction and one of the most valuable wristwatches in history. The result was not merely a market event; it was a cultural moment that confirmed Newman's status as the defining human narrative in vintage watch collecting.

The Rolex Daytona 6263 is a manually-wound chronograph produced from the late 1960s through the early 1980s, powered by the Valjoux 727 movement — a column-wheel caliber respected for its precise, tactile chronograph action. The reference is distinguished by its screw-down pushers, which differentiate it from the pump-pusher 6265, and its tachymeter bezel, available in black acrylic or metal. Newman's example wears an 'exotic' dial — the term the market uses for the Art Deco-inflected sub-register and square-marker configuration that collectors now universally associate with his name, even when found on other references entirely.

The case-back engraving tells the watch's most intimate story. Joanne Woodward, Newman's wife of fifty years, had the words 'Drive slowly Joanne' inscribed — equal parts affection and gentle reproach toward a man who raced competitively at Le Mans and Daytona. That provenance transforms the Rolex Daytona 6263 from an already-desirable collector's piece into a primary document of twentieth-century popular culture. Newman wore it across film sets, race paddocks, and press engagements for more than two decades, generating an extraordinary photographic archive that the auction house was able to deploy as direct evidence of continuous ownership and wear.

Newman gifted the watch to his daughter Clea Newman Soderlund in 2008, reportedly handing it over in an understated, personal exchange rather than any formal ceremony. It was Clea who ultimately consigned the piece to Phillips in association with Bacs & Russo.

No official retail price exists for a watch of this provenance. On the open market, standard Rolex Daytona 6263 examples with exotic dials trade in the $150,000–$400,000 range depending on condition and dial variant. Newman's example operates in an entirely separate stratum — a one-of-one artifact whose auction record is unlikely to be approached by another example of the same reference.