The Paul Newman Daytona watch: an ode to speed
The Phillips auction house established a new world record for wristwatches at its inaugural **New York** auction with the Rolex Paul Newman Daytona.
Philips, in partnership with the world leader in watch auctions Bacs & Russo , has set a new world record for wristwatches in New York. After a bidding war that lasted 12 eternal minutes , the Rolex Paul Newman Daytona it was sold by telephone before a room electrified by the bid. An icon of the 20th century who has traveled in time and who returns to us 45 years later with the laurel wreath of the true winners: those who know how to make their existence an epic journey.
Before more than 700 attendees, the inaugural Phillips auction in New York, WINNING ICONS - Legendary Watches of the 20th Century , has gone down in history with the monumental sale of the singular and unique Rolex "Paul Newman" Cosmograph Daytona – The watch that inspired the legendary nickname of the most prestigious versions of the Rolex Daytona-, a gift that the actor's wife gave him in 1972 to be used in his debut in car racing and that she had engraved with a loving message : "Drive slowly".
They are usually clocks patek philippe those that break all auction records, but last spring saw a new chapter in the world of luxury watch collecting: Rolex sold the “Bao Dai” , a vintage copy belonging to the last emperor of Vietnam, which he himself acquired during the peace negotiations in Geneva in 1954, for five million dollars.
Engraving on Paul Newman's Rolex Daytona watch
The most expensive watch auctioned by the brand to date has remained on the podium for a short time. And it is that we have lived a second chapter of this serialized novel with Rolex again as the protagonist. The Holy Grail of Rolex and from lovers of motor sports it already has a new owner who has paid a record amount for it: more than 15 million euros.
But there is a whole story behind this mythical and very expensive watch. A story that runs parallel to that of a singular man , of those who are born under the sign of a star that will make them shine at any latitude and in everything they undertake.
Regardless of whether he is considered the most attractive man of all time -or one of the five, at most, I do not grant them more- Paul Newman was one of the best actors in the history of cinema (to his credit he had two Oscars, five Golden Globes, an Emmy, a BAFTA,...), but also a film producer and director, a splendid race driver and a great philanthropist, founding, among other charities, the Barretstown camp in Ireland so that the little ones with serious illnesses could become children again, whose witness has been collected today by the Aladina Foundation and, curiously, another watch firm swiss, Jaeger-LeCoultre.
The most expensive Rolex in history
But Newman has also been the inspiration for the original illustrations of the superhero. Green Lantern (1959), registered enemy in the list of Richard Nixon during the scandal Watergate , actor's godfather and producer Jake Gyllenhaal , in addition to an exemplary husband. An overwhelming personality, with great talents.
And, in case this told us little, he was also the one who gave his name to one of the most emblematic watches of the 20th century: The Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona , Rolex's quintessential chronograph and the one with the longest waiting list, which has been reinvented on numerous occasions, undergoing its greatest transformation this year, with the yellow gold and rose gold as the main exchange materials, and a black ceramic monobloc Cerachrom bezel reminiscent of the 1965 model, provided with a black bezel, but with a Plexiglas disk.
The first Rolex Daytonas were introduced in 1963 and were designed to meet the demands of professional racing drivers . With its highly reliable chronograph and bezel with tachymeter scale, it allowed drivers to perfectly measure average speeds up to 400 kilometers or miles per hour , to the taste of the consumer. An icon eternally linked in name and function to the high-performance world of motorsport.
With these characteristics, it is easily understandable that Paul Newman became faithful to this model, coming to have several in his possession, although it was not he but his wife who inaugurated his collection in 1972 for him to use in his debut in car racing. Legend has it that the actor would have worn the watch constantly until his death in 2008, but this is not entirely true...
Apart from his artistic career, Newman had always been passionate about speed . This side of him was cemented in the 1969 film, winning (in Spain subtitled as five hundred miles ) by director James Goldstone, in which he plays the role of the race car driver Frank Capua.
His wife and actress, Joanne Woodward, played the role of Capua's wife, a role he had already perfected over a decade in his real life. In the decoration of the Indianapolis 500 Motor Speedway, Newman kicked off his successful racing career, refusing to be dubbed even in the most dangerous scenes.
Today it is still a career that treasures so many aspects that are likely to be transferred to the big screen ( James Stewart, Mickey Rooney or Clark Gable starred in movies with the legendary race as a backdrop), as attractions offered by the city of Indianapolis.
And it is that the venue of the Indy 500 always has something interesting to offer beyond the activities offered by the circuit. There are many options, including attending an NFL game at the stadium Lucas Oil , home of the Indianapolis Colts, try the best pork tenderloin sandwich in The Gas Light Inn _(2280 S Meridian St) _, a building over 140 years old, or in Mug n'Bun _(5211 W. 10th Street) _; or stroll through the cultural district of Broad Ripple , full of picturesque galleries, bars and restaurants, vinyl stores, bookstores, music venues and where you can enjoy a comedy show in the Crackers Comedy Clubs (207 N Delaware St).
Love in the time of frenetic Hollywood
LE MANS
Applying the same methodical discipline he honed to his acting skills, Paul Newman trained relentlessly, and would go on to win many races throughout his life, even ranking second in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1979. Another destination of reference for those who at this point in the report have considered a pilgrimage to the sacred places of the most indy car competition or to follow in the footsteps of this piece of star.
The French town, capital of the department of Sarthe, located in the region of Pays de la Loire, is, curiously, another movie set. The half-timbered houses, the cobbled streets and the narrow alleys of the old part of the city have been the ideal setting for films such as Cyrano de Bergerac (1990) , with Gerard Depardieu as the protagonist, or The iron mask (1998), with Leonardo DiCaprio.
The city can be visited in a few hours; and a good place to start the tour is the old part, located on a hill and surrounded by one of the best preserved walls in Europe (dates from the 3rd century), which has defended the city during the invasion of the barbarians or in the Hundred Years War.
The old quarter offers two perfectly compatible attractions: shopping in the antique and porcelain stores and going on a gourmet expedition to any of its restaurants (in La Baraque a Boeuf , for example, located at 11, Place Saint-Pierre) , whose star dish is the rillettes, a pâté of shredded meat from the area. Finally, to digest, nothing like a visit to the St Julien's Cathedral.
Newman qualified second at the 24 Hours of Le Mans
But if you are more of an intrepid profile, like Paul Newman, and even if you are not an expert in Formula 1, you can choose to participate in the race (somewhat difficult and expensive, but possible) or go around the circuit following the cars who are interning at the pilot school to imagine the magnitude of the annual race. The most nostalgic have a visit to the museum waiting for them.
Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward have starred in one of the most stable marriages in Hollywood history, a love story that lasted until the death of the actor and that began in 1957 during the filming of The long hot summer , a film directed by Martin Ritt in which they also acted Orson Welles, Lee Remick or Angela Lansbury.
As a result of that marriage they had three daughters, the eldest, elinor teresa "Nell", he created Nell Newman Foundation, to whose charitable causes part of the profits from the sale of her father's watch will be allocated. And it is that apparently the detached Paul Newman gave in 1984 to James Cox , then boyfriend of his daughter Nell, the famous Daytona, since the young man did not have a watch. Cox continued to wear it for years until he and Nell, who remain close friends, decided to sell the watch and give a portion of the proceeds to the Foundation, a charity that supports his father's philanthropic values while serving the Nell's commitment to the organic food and sustainable agriculture.
the long hot summer newman
But what makes this Daytona so special, apart from the fact that it belonged to Paul Newman. For years, Rolex's now-famous chronograph was hardly successful, as buyers continued to prefer the firm's other icon, the Submariner. But everything changed the day Paul Newman was photographed in an Italian magazine driving a slightly different model of the Daytona than the original. There really weren't any big differences between a normal Daytona and the one the actor was wearing in the photo, but for collectors the importance is often in the small details.
And it is that the reference 6239 that Newman began to wear in the 70s was identified by its exotic dial with chronograph counters in contrast to the rest of the dial -which would later give rise to the denomination of panda dial that, used by the chronographs , was light in color and dark counters, like the eyes of the Chinese bear-. But there is still more: the color of the sphere does not cover the entire surface , since the minute track on the flange has a different tone and already links to the tachymeter bezel.
After the original, other references were released, such as the 6241, 6262 and 6263, who were also called Paul Neuwman and who are highly valued and quoted. Although perhaps the most distinctive element for the geeks of the Vintage pieces are the square indexes of the chrono counters. Another big difference highly appreciated by collectors is the fact that the seconds counter is marked in fractions of 15, 30, 45 and 60, while the other Daytonas are marked in fractions of 20, 40 and 60 seconds.
The Shores Resort & Spa
FLORIDA: THE REST OF THE WARRIOR
At 70, Newman became the longest-serving driver on the winning team in a top-level race. , in 1995 at the 24 Hours of Daytona, with one of the other Rolex Daytonas co-driving him. Located in Daytona Beach on Florida's central east coast, it is approximately 54 miles from Orlando, just an hour's drive from many famous amusement parks and other popular tourist destinations.
In this town is one of the white sand beaches and turquoise water Florida's best known. It is a perfect place to rest for the warrior, who can stay at resorts as spectacular as the Hilton Daytona Beach Resort , The Shores Resort & Spa or Plaza Resort & Spa , to regain strength before the last (or penultimate) race, such as tried to make Paul Newman who, in 2005 declared: "I will probably participate another year". He was referring to the 24 Hours of Daytona, of course.
In any case, the sale of Paul NewmanDaytona It will make a person happy again on expeditions for many years, we hope, and will undoubtedly boost the already high sales of this reference model of the 20th century.