Rolex doesn’t often step into the auction arena on its own terms, which made this charity sale with Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo especially significant.
The watchmaker created four unique Cosmograph Daytona models, each dedicated to a different season, with the full £37.3 million result going to the Federer Foundation and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Re:wild project.
Phillips waived the buyer’s premium for the sale, ensuring all proceeds from the four lots were directed to the two charities.
At a glance
- Rolex and Phillips sold four unique Cosmograph Daytona watches for a combined £37.3 million.
- Each Daytona represented one of the four seasons through rare stones, coloured gemstones and precious metal cases.
- The sale benefited the Federer Foundation and Re:wild, with Phillips waiving the buyer’s premium.
Four seasonal Daytonas built for charity
The four watches were not variations pulled from the regular catalogue, but unique pieces created around a shared seasonal idea.
Each model used the modern Cosmograph Daytona as its foundation, pairing the familiar chronograph silhouette with dials and bezels that lean heavily into stone, colour and jewellery-setting.
The project also placed Rolex in an unusually direct relationship with the collector market.
Rather than letting rarity develop over decades, these four Daytonas arrived as one-off watches from the start, with a charitable purpose attached to every bid.
Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn in precious stone
The strongest result of the evening came from the Cosmograph Daytona Summer, which sold for £10.3 million.
It was cased in Everose gold and fitted with a turquoise dial, heart of ruby chronograph counters, pink sapphire hour markers and a pink sapphire bezel, while brilliant-cut diamonds across the case and lugs added a colder flash against the warm gold.
The Cosmograph Daytona Autumn followed closely at £10.2 million.
Its yellow gold case framed a dial in mookaite, an Australian jasper, with chrysoprase subdials and green tourmaline for the hour markers and bezel.
The platinum Cosmograph Daytona Winter sold for £10 million.
It combined an opal and lapis lazuli dial with a fuchsia gradient sapphire bezel, giving the most technically cool metal in the group one of the most vivid colour treatments.
The Cosmograph Daytona Spring completed the set at £6.8 million.
That white gold watch used a chrysoprase dial with lepidolite chronograph subdials, matching the green and purple dial arrangement with a purple sapphire bezel.
The Rolex calibre inside the spectacle
Beneath the gem-setting and rare mineral dials, all four watches shared the same mechanical base.
Each was powered by Rolex’s calibre 4131, a Superlative Chronometer chronograph movement with a 72-hour power reserve.
That matters because these watches are more than decorative exercises.
They still sit within the Daytona lineage, a collection whose identity is tied to elapsed-time measurement, motorsport history and one of the most recognisable chronograph designs in modern watchmaking.
Details & Specifications
| Brand | Rolex |
|---|---|
| Model | Cosmograph Daytona Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn unique pieces |
| Auction partner | Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo |
| Charities | Federer Foundation and Re:wild |
| Total raised | £37.3 million |
| Movement | Calibre 4131 Superlative Chronometer |
| Power reserve | 72 hours |
| Winter | Platinum case, opal and lapis lazuli dial, fuchsia gradient sapphire bezel, sold for £10 million |
| Spring | White gold case, chrysoprase dial, lepidolite chronograph counters, purple sapphire bezel, sold for £6.8 million |
| Summer | Everose gold case, turquoise dial, heart of ruby counters, pink sapphire markers and bezel, diamond-set case and lugs, sold for £10.3 million |
| Autumn | Yellow gold case, mookaite dial, chrysoprase counters, green tourmaline markers and bezel, sold for £10.2 million |
| Buyer’s premium | Waived by Phillips for the charity auction |
For collectors, the result is a reminder that the Daytona remains one of the few modern watches capable of turning an auction room into a cultural event, especially when Rolex combines one-off production, serious gem work and a charitable cause with global reach.
