Inside Rolex’s ‘watch for nerds’ that just smashed sales records: a rare Milgauss sold for US$2.5 million, the highest amount paid at auction, but was originally made for Swiss scientists
A rare and pristine condition Rolex Milgauss watch just sold for US$2.5 million, smashing records for the highest amount paid at an auction for the Swiss brand’s timepiece that was originally made for scientists.
The stainless steel watch, produced in 1958 and designed to resist magnetic fields, features a black honeycomb dial, rotating bezel and a seconds hand shaped like a lightning bolt. The Milgauss was one of the highest-priced timepieces sold during a weekend of watch auctions in Geneva.
It was sold by Phillips Auctioneers on Saturday for 2.24 million Swiss francs (US$2.5 million) to a bidder in the room – a record for any Milgauss and double the pre-auction high estimate of 1 million francs. A similar version from 1958 sold at Christie’s in 2013 for 317,000 francs. Another, sold by Phillips in 2022, fetched just over 300,000 francs.
It’s not unusual for luxury watch companies to buy their own timepieces at auction for their archive collections or museums. The result shows watch collectors are still willing to pay record values for rare, vintage Rolex timepieces in top condition, said Tony Traina, an editor at Hodinkee, the US-based online watch magazine and retailer.
The watchmaker was approached in the early 1950s by scientists at Geneva’s Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, better known as Cern (and now home to the Large Hadron Collider), according to a research article by Logan Baker, senior editorial manager at Phillips’ digital marketing department.
The Cern scientists asked for a wristwatch that could tell the time accurately even in the presence of strong magnetic fields. Rolex produced the first Milgauss in 1956. With a soft iron cage surrounding the movement inside the case, it was named for its ability to withstand exposure of as much as 1,000 gauss or mille gauss in French.
“No one famous wears a Milgauss,” said Traina, who also co-hosts a podcast about watch auctions and the secondary market called Significant Watches. “It’s the watch for scientists. It’s the watch for nerds.”
Christie’s sold a limited-edition Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711, made for Tiffany & Co. with the jewellery brand’s signature blue coloured dial, for 2.23 million francs. The same model was sold for about US$6.5 million in 2021 while another sold for 3.17 million francs in 2022.
- ‘No one famous wears a Milgauss,’ say experts of the antimagnetic watch, which was created in the 1950s for Cern scientists in Geneva – but Phillips just sold one for US$2.5m in Geneva
- A Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711 made for Tiffany & Co. and a Rolex Daytona John Player Special, named for the Formula One racing team, with a Paul Newman dial also fetched millions