A SPECIAL Rolex has fetched an eye watering £34,452 at auction this year after a bidder managed to get their hands on the luxurious time piece.
The watch, a Rolex Explorer was created after the famous Everest expedition by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, the first two people to set foot on the summit of the mountain.
The sale took place on Monday this week in Birmingham and was set up by Fellows and was the highest price they have ever achieved for a luxury watch sale.
The watch had an estimate of £25,000 – £35,000. The watch sold to a commission bidder for a hammer price of £27,000 a total of £34,452 including fees.
The historic watch, reference 6150, was designed in extremely limited numbers over a two-year period following the climb in 1953.
It is believed that Tensing Norgay wore a prototype of this watch while completing the ascent.
The 6150 reference was the first Explorer model to have the Mercedes hands – these have since become part of the Explorer’s trademark look.
This was also one of first Explorer models to contain the iconic black dial with the luminous batons as well as the Arabic numeral three, six and nine.
It is even more rare for a 6150 reference to have the ‘Explorer’ wording on the
dial, as some of these model references included the script ‘Precision’ at six o’clock instead.
Despite containing a few marks, the gentleman’s stainless steel Oyster Perpetual Rolex Explorer was sold in a working condition.
Featuring as Lot 167 in the behind-closed-doors Luxury Watch Sale, the watch was up for sale amongst 269 alluring timepieces from a variety of brands.
This is the second Rolex Explorer model with this reference to have sold at Fellows in recent years, with another 6150 model fetching a total of £31,900 in August 2019.
Steven Yambo, Senior Specialist from the Watch Department at Fellows Auctioneers, said: “This vintage Rolex Explorer was the top lot in our February 15th Luxury Watch Sale.
The sought-after watch is in a remarkable condition for its age, and the history with it being so closely linked to the first expedition of Mount Everest only adds to the beauty of the piece.
We knew that the watch would be hugely desirable during our Luxury Watch Sale, which seem to be growing in popularity and demand as each auction goes by.”
