Just weeks after Phillips sold the Rolex ref. 6062 “Bao Dai” for over US$5m in Geneva, making it the most expensive Rolex wristwatch ever, the auctioneer has just announced another landmark timepiece: the Daytona ref. 6239 that was Paul Newman’s very own personal wristwatch, literally the Paul Newman “Paul Newman”, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Despite having given his name to arguably the most desirable vintage wristwatch ever, the American actor’s wristwatch has never before been offered publicly. The watch is being sold by the gentleman who was gifted the watch by Newman himself, James Cox, who dated Newman’s daughter, Nell, in the early 1980s. Though the pair have since split, they remained friends. A portion of proceeds from the sale of the watch will go both the Nell Newman Foundation and Newman’s Own Foundation.

Newman’s wife Joanne Woodward gave him the watch around the time he filmed Winning, the 1969 film about an Indianapolis 500 race car driver. While Newman wore other Rolex Daytona watches throughout his life, it appears this ref. 6239 is the only “exotic” dial Daytona he had, and therefore the only “Paul Newman” Daytona that the actor himself wore.

It is an ordinary example of a Daytona ref. 6239, albeit with a personal inscription on the back from Newman’s wife, which is typically worth about US$100,000. Newman’s wristwatch on the other hand carries an estimate “in excess of US$1m”. That makes it unlike the “Bao Dai”, which is a rare, perhaps even unique, wristwatch in itself.

Paul Newman’s Daytona will be offered at Phillips inaugural New York watch auction that takes place on October 26, 2017.

Paul Newman portrait credit: Douglas Kirkland/Corbis via Getty Images

Source: Wall Street Journal

Update June 12, 2017: More images of the watch added.

When Louis Vuitton first started making proper mechanical watches it conceived the Tambour – “drum” in French – as the signature case style of the brand. Unveiled in 2002, the design has now evolved into the Tambour Moon, with tighter lines and a cleaner look.

While still resembling a drum, the Tambour Moon is wider and slimmer, while having an unusual concave case side, instead of the upwardly sloping flanks of the original. And the Tambour Moon watch case also has a quick-release catch to easily swap straps.

The new case is available in a variety of models, with the flagship model being the Tambour Moon Flying Tourbillon “Poinçon de Genève”, equipped with an in-house, manual-wind movement.

Developed by La Fabrique du Temps, the Louis Vuitton subsidiary in Geneva responsible for complications like the Escale Worldtime, the LV 97 movement has a one-minute flying tourbillon with a cage shaped like the brand’s signature Monogram flower.

Arranged in the conventional linear manner with the barrel at 12 o’c’ock and tourbillon at six, the movement has been conceived with the bridges and base plate as concentric circles, and entirely open-worked, revealing the single barrel at 12 o’clock that delivers an 80-hour power reserve.

Like Louis Vuitton luggage, the watch can be personalised in several ways, most notably with a bridge in the form of the owner’s initials that’s screwed onto the front of the movement.

Available only in platinum, the Tambour Moon case is 42.5mm wide and 9.65mm high.

More affordable is the Tambour Moon GMT, available in steel or two-tone steel and pink gold. It’s 41.5mm in diameter and powered by an automatic ETA movement with a second time zone function.

The Tambour Moon Chronograph is the largest of the range, 44mm in diameter and powered by a self-winding ETA movement with a chronograph module on top. It’s available only in steel.

And the Tambour Moon range also includes a variety of ladies’ watches, all of which are quartz. They range from 28mm for the Tambour Moon Star Second to 39.5mm for the ladies’ chronograph.

Price and availability 

The Tambour Moon watches will be available at Louis Vuitton stores starting June 2017, with the tourbillon being made to order. Prices have yet to be announced.