A Rolex that survived a Channel swim to prove its waterproofing has been auctioned for £1.3 million.
The watch was one of the first and most successful sporting endorsement deals when it was carried across the Channel by swimmer Mercedes Gleitze, whose endurance swims made her a star in the 1920s.
In 1927 she set out to swim the crossing for the second time.
Her trip was called the Vindication Swim after her truly record-breaking swim in October 1927 (she was the first woman to complete the crossing) was dishonestly challenged. Pressured into repeating the feat later the same month the colder conditions defeated her.
But her time in the freezing sea vindicated her first swim. In time, the hoax claim was also withdrawn, and revealed to be an attempt to bring attention to the lack of proper recording of Channel Swim attempts – a craze at the time.
And the second swim proved the waterproofing on a Rolex Oyster she wore on a ribbon around her neck.
The watch was sold by Sotheby’s with an estimate of £932,000 in Geneva on November 9.
The second crossing proved too much for Mercedes to complete, but her endurance was enough to show her first attempt had been genuine. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s.
That was a huge advance on its 2000 sale for £17,000. But it proved conservative, with the piece cruising to a £1.32 million sale to a private collector from Asia.
Before auction Sotheby’s described the watch as one of the most significant in private hands; a vital step on the road from pocket- to wrist-watches.
It was inscribed to Mercedes Gleitze and dated for her swim.
The oyster case was pioneered by Rolex, who bought the case design, as the world’s first truly waterproof watch. It was released in 1926 with Oysters in aquariums in store windows. Miss Gleitze’s swim was heavily featured in subsequent advertising.
Rolexes are extremely desirable from the moment they are built. Even run-of-the-mill production models have value that can increase with time, short production runs or as pioneering references.
Some watches are built with extremely valuable materials.
And some have incredible stories or star owners.
Of the top five most valuable examples of the brand at auction three were owned by, respectively, Marlon Brando $1.95 million; The Emperor of Vietnam, $5 million; and Paul Newman, whose Daytona sold for $17.8 million in 2017.
Mercedes Gleizte’s “companion” or “vindication” watch is now in that company.
