Rolex’s ‘Four Seasons’ sell for $49.5 million: world record at Phillips charity auction

A new historic record has been set in the world of auctions: the four one-of-a-kind Rolex Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona watches, brought together in the “Four Seasons” collection, sold for a full $49,467,260 (about £37.3 million) at the charity auction held on September 28 in London, as Hypebeast reports. According to the Phillips auction house, which conducted the sale with famed auctioneer Aurel Bacs, this is the largest sum ever raised at a charity watch auction.

Each of the four watches, created in collaboration with Rolex’s two best-known ambassadors — tennis legend Roger Federer and Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio — interprets a season through a combination of precious metals, natural stones and diamonds. All four run on Rolex’s in-house Calibre 4131 movement.

The most expensive piece was “Summer”: the 18-carat rose gold model with a turquoise dial, subdials of ruby heart and pink sapphires, which reached $13,659,860. It was followed by “Autumn” — 18-carat yellow gold with a mookaite dial — at $13,527,240, while “Winter,” in 950 platinum with a blue opal dial and sapphires ranging from blue to fuchsia, sold for $13,262,000. “Spring,” in 18-carat white gold with a chrysoprase dial and violet sapphires, closed the list at $9,018,160, according to details published by Hypebeast.

One hundred percent of the proceeds will be split between the two charities linked to the two ambassadors: the Federer Foundation, founded by Federer in 2003 for early childhood education in southern Africa and Switzerland, and Re:wild, the environmental initiative co-founded by DiCaprio to protect and restore ecosystems worldwide. According to Phillips, this is the first charity auction in Rolex’s history — a rare gesture for the Swiss brand, which almost never produces one-off models.

The success of the sale once again confirms the power of the collectible watch market at auction: the four watches, decorated with 54 brilliant-cut diamonds in the lugs and 36 trapeze-cut stones on the bezel, were received by collectors as high-jewelry objects in the form of the iconic Daytona chronograph.