Rolex Four Seasons Daytonas Raise £37.3 Million at Phillips London Charity Auction

LONDON. Rolex ended its first charity auction on Monday evening with £37.3 million on the board and four unique Cosmograph Daytonas heading to new owners. Aurel Bacs, Senior Consultant at Phillips, took the rostrum for all four lots. Each was sold individually, each found a buyer and each sold for at least £6.8 million.

The sale, which Rolex titled the One-of-a-Kind Auction: The Four Seasons, was run with Phillips in Association with Bacs and Russo as a private event. Phillips waived its buyer's premium, so the hammer figures are the final figures and the full amount is split evenly between the Federer Foundation and Re:wild, the conservation body co-founded by Leonardo DiCaprio. The auction supports both charities as part of Rolex's Perpetual Planet Initiative. Roger Federer and DiCaprio are both Rolex Testimonees.

Nothing in the recent auction record of Rolex prepared the room for this. The brand almost never consigns watches to auction, rarely confirms that a piece is unique and had published no estimates for this sale. On Monday night it consigned four, confirmed all four as one-offs and let the bidders set the price, and the result was the biggest single evening a Rolex consignment has ever produced.

How the Four Seasons Daytona Auction Played Out

Summer led the night at £10.3 million, with Autumn a fraction behind at £10.2 million and Winter, the only platinum watch of the set, at £10 million. Spring, in white gold, closed at £6.8 million. SJX Watches reported that most of the bidding came in over the telephone rather than from the room.

Lot	Reference	Case	Dial	Result
Summer	126595 SARO	18ct Everose gold	Turquoise, heart of ruby counters	£10,300,000
Autumn	126598 TML	18ct yellow gold	Mookaite, chrysoprase counters	£10,200,000
Winter	126596 SABV	950 platinum	Blue opal, lapis lazuli counters	£10,000,000
Spring	126599 SAVL	18ct white gold	Chrysoprase, lepidolite counters	£6,800,000
Total	Four lots, four sold, no buyer's premium			£37,300,000

The total converts to roughly US$49.5 million, €43.5 million or CHF 41.2 million at the night's rates. In its results announcement, Phillips confirmed that buyer's premium did not apply to the auction. Bacs called it "a historic moment for the world of watchmaking" and said the amount raised would make "a meaningful contribution to future generations". Neither Rolex nor Phillips has named the buyers, and no lot-by-lot bidder counts have been released.

What Makes the Four Seasons Daytonas Unique

Mechanically, these are current-production Daytonas. Each is a 40mm Oyster case, 12.20mm thick, water resistant to 100 metres and driven by the calibre 4131, the automatic chronograph Rolex introduced in the Daytona in 2023 with a power reserve of about 72 hours and Superlative Chronometer certification. The one-off work is on the surface: hardstone dials with contrasting hardstone counters, 36 trapeze-cut coloured stones on each bezel, 11 gem-set hour markers and 54 brilliant-cut diamonds across the lugs and crown guards of every watch.

Watch	Bezel stones	Hour markers	Approx. bezel carat weight
Spring	36 purple sapphires	8 baguette and 3 square-cut purple sapphires	5.57ct
Summer	36 pink sapphires	8 baguette and 3 square-cut pink sapphires	4.32ct
Autumn	36 green tourmalines	8 baguette and 3 square-cut green tourmalines	4.32ct
Winter	36 sapphires, blue to fuchsia gradient	8 baguette and 3 square-cut diamonds	5.57ct

Across the set, that is 227 diamonds and 177 coloured gemstones. Rolex says each watch is built to evoke one season through its own combination of metal, stone and gem colour. In the metal, Winter is the one collectors were talking about beforehand, because its graduated sapphire bezel nods to the factory Rainbow Daytonas without copying them. The market disagreed and put Summer's turquoise and pink sapphire combination on top.

Stone dials and gem-set bezels are exactly the territory our own workshop works in, at a rather different price point. If a hardstone or diamond-set Daytona is the goal without a seven-figure paddle, the bespoke watches we build in London start from a customer's own watch or one we source, and our Rolex dials range includes factory and custom options for the Daytona case.

Why Rolex Took the Four Seasons to Auction

The quartet was first shown to a handful of clients on an upper floor of the Rolex stand at Watches and Wonders in April, with photography banned. Hodinkee reported that the original plan was a private sale of all four as a single set for roughly CHF 4 million, and that Rolex changed course after the level of interest became clear. The same report described talk of more than 1,000 prospective buyers put forward by retailers, a figure Hodinkee itself presented as rumour rather than fact.

Whatever the true number, the outcome is that four watches once priced together at around CHF 4 million made more than nine times that sum on Monday. Rolex confirmed the auction publicly on 3 September and Phillips announced its role on 7 September. Neither party ever published an estimate. The CHF 4 million figure that circulated in the run-up was a reported private price, not a Phillips estimate, and some outlets wrongly repeated it as a per-watch valuation.

Rolex chief executive Jean-Frédéric Dufour framed the decision as a question of impact as much as product, saying true excellence is measured "by the positive impact we can have on the world". The Phillips announcement of 7 September confirmed the London date, the four separate lots and Bacs as auctioneer.

As noted earlier, the auction's proceeds will benefit two organisations: the Federer Foundation and Re:wild. The Federer Foundation, founded by Roger Federer, works across Southern Africa and Switzerland to strengthen early and foundational learning systems for children. Re:wild, co-founded by ambassador Leonardo DiCaprio, works to protect and restore the natural world so that all life on Earth can flourish. 

Where the Results Sit in Rolex Auction History

On published auction results, the Summer watch is now the second most expensive Rolex ever sold at auction, behind only Paul Newman's own ref. 6239 Daytona, which Phillips sold in New York for US$17,752,500 in October 2017. Autumn and Winter follow it in third and fourth place, and Spring at roughly US$9 million sits fifth, ahead of every Rolex sold before Monday other than Newman's. This ranking is our reading of public results and not a record Phillips has certified.

Watch	Sale	Price
Paul Newman's Daytona ref. 6239	Phillips New York, October 2017	US$17,752,500
Four Seasons Summer ref. 126595 SARO	Phillips London, September 2026	£10,300,000 (about US$13.65m)
Four Seasons Autumn ref. 126598 TML	Phillips London, September 2026	£10,200,000 (about US$13.5m)
Four Seasons Winter ref. 126596 SABV	Phillips London, September 2026	£10,000,000 (about US$13.25m)
Four Seasons Spring ref. 126599 SAVL	Phillips London, September 2026	£6,800,000 (about US$9m)
Daytona "Unicorn" ref. 6265 white gold	Phillips Geneva, May 2018	CHF 5,937,500
Daytona "Rainbow" ref. 16599 SAAEC	Phillips Geneva, November 2024	CHF 5,505,000
Rolex "Bao Dai" ref. 6062	Phillips Geneva, May 2017	CHF 5,066,000

The comparison collectors will care about most is with the 1994 white gold Rainbow Daytona, which Phillips sold in November 2024 for CHF 5,505,000 and described as a world record for an automatic Daytona. Every one of the Four Seasons watches is an automatic Daytona and every one of them beat that figure, Spring included. The full story of the Newman watch, and why it still tops the table, is in our Paul Newman Daytona auction history.

Measured as a single consignment, the £37.3 million total also passes the CHF 38,593,000 that the whole of Only Watch 2019 raised across 50 lots, the sale that produced the CHF 31 million steel Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime. That watch remains the most expensive wristwatch ever sold at auction on its own, and SJX was right to point out that Rolex needed four lots to get past its total. For context on how a celebrity single-owner sale compares, Tom Brady's collection made US$4.6 million at Sotheby's in December 2024, a result we covered in our Tom Brady auction report. Rolex beat that with its cheapest lot on Monday.

What the Sale Means for Rolex Daytona Values

Very little for the Daytona you can actually buy. Monday's prices were driven by three things that no production Daytona carries: factory-confirmed uniqueness, Rolex itself as the consignor and a charity destination for the money. The Instituto Português de Relojoaria summed up the trade view on Tuesday morning, calling the result no indicator for the Daytona's secondary market. I agree with that reading.

The wider market data supports caution. Robb Report, citing Morgan Stanley and WatchCharts, reported in February that pre-owned watch prices rose 4.9 per cent across 2025 after thirteen consecutive quarters of decline, with Rolex up 4.6 per cent over the year. WatchPro's January 2026 snapshot put average Rolex resale values just 6.7 per cent above retail. Those are recovery numbers, not boom numbers, and a four-lot charity evening in London does not change them.

Where the sale does matter is sentiment at the top of the Daytona pyramid. Hodinkee's Ben Clymer wrote before the auction that the result could reset the market for Daytonas in a way not seen since the Newman sale, and the gem-set and hardstone references, the Rainbow, the meteorite dials, the platinum ice blue, are the ones most likely to feel it. If you want to see how the steel and precious metal Daytonas compare on the wrist and on the market today, our Daytona or Submariner comparison covers the buying decision most clients actually face.

For buyers considering a steel Daytona, Time 4 Diamonds currently lists a black-dial ref. 116520, in stock in London.

For anyone whose reaction to the Four Seasons was to want a white gold Daytona with stones on it, we already build them. Our diamond-set ref. 116509 with a custom Tiffany blue dial is the nearest thing in our range to the spirit of the Spring and Winter watches, and it is available to pre-order with delivery in around 30 days.

If the reference you want is not in our range, from a factory Rainbow to a platinum ice blue, our watch sourcing service can locate it for you.

Disclaimer: Past performance is not indicative of future results. Watches should not be considered a substitute for traditional financial investments. Always seek independent financial advice before making investment decisions.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much did the Rolex Four Seasons Daytonas sell for?

The four watches sold for a combined £37.3 million at Phillips in London on 28 September 2026. Summer made £10.3 million, Autumn £10.2 million, Winter £10 million and Spring £6.8 million, with no buyer's premium added.

Who bought the Rolex Four Seasons Daytonas?

Neither Rolex nor Phillips has named the buyers. SJX Watches reported that most of the bidding was conducted by telephone. Rolex has not said whether any of the four went to the same purchaser.

Is the Four Seasons Summer the most expensive Rolex ever sold?

No. Paul Newman's own Daytona ref. 6239 holds the Rolex record at US$17,752,500, set at Phillips New York in 2017. On published results the Summer watch, at about US$13.65 million, is second.

Where did the money from the Rolex Four Seasons auction go?

The full £37.3 million is split evenly between the Federer Foundation, which funds early education in Southern Africa and Switzerland, and Re:wild, the ecosystem conservation organisation co-founded by Leonardo DiCaprio. Phillips waived its buyer's premium so nothing was deducted.

Can you buy a Rolex Daytona with a stone dial or gem-set bezel?

Rolex makes a small number of gem-set and hardstone Daytonas in its regular range and off catalogue, but they are allocated rather than sold openly. Independent workshops, including Time 4 Diamonds in London, set diamonds and fit custom or factory stone dials to Daytonas the client already owns or that are sourced for them.