29 September

The day in brief

Four unique Cosmograph Daytonas made by Rolex raised £37.3 million yesterday at a Phillips auction in London, with all proceeds going to the Federer Foundation and Re:wild. According to the auction house, it is the largest single consignment ever offered at a charity auction.

Among the new releases, Greece's Ianos has put the Amfivios on sale, a civilian version of the titanium dive watch it created for a Greek Navy diving unit. DOXA has partnered with Fins Attached and donated a one-off SUB 300T that goes under the hammer on 10 October. In Portugal, with no news during the period, attention turns to the opening of the Seiko boutique in Lisbon on Thursday.

Rolex and Phillips: £37.3 million for four Daytonas

The four “Four Seasons” Cosmograph Daytonas, made by Rolex as unique pieces, were sold last night in London as separate lots by Aurel Bacs, Senior Consultant at Phillips. The total reached £37.3 million, about €43.5 million. No buyer's premium was charged. All proceeds go to the Federer Foundation, set up by Roger Federer to support early learning in Southern Africa and Switzerland, and to Re:wild, co-founded by Leonardo DiCaprio to protect and restore ecosystems.

Summer, in Everose gold (ref. 126595 SARO), was the top lot at £10.3 million. It was followed by Autumn, in yellow gold (ref. 126598 TML), at £10.2 million, Winter, in 950 platinum (ref. 126596 SABV), at £10 million, and Spring, in white gold (ref. 126599 SAVL), at £6.8 million. It was the first charity auction Rolex has organised with Phillips.

Each watch stands for a season and its own combination of materials. Winter has a blue opal dial, lapis lazuli counters and a bezel with 36 sapphires graduating from blue to fuchsia. Spring uses chrysoprase for the dial and lepidolite for the counters, with purple sapphires. Summer pairs turquoise and ruby with pink sapphires, and Autumn combines mookaite and chrysoprase with green tourmalines. On all four, the lugs and crown guards carry 54 diamonds.

The mechanics are those of the regular production. All four use calibre 4131, the automatic chronograph Rolex introduced in the Daytona in 2023, with a power reserve of about 72 hours and Superlative Chronometer certification, which requires a rate within −2/+2 seconds a day once the movement is cased. The one-off work lies in the dials. Hardstones are cut into thin slices, and each plate has its own veining and colour, so no dial can be repeated exactly. That is what makes a unique piece meaningful from a large-scale manufacturer.

The prices are far above what the market pays for a modern Daytona, yet below the all-time auction record for a watch, the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime 6300A-010 sold for CHF 31 million at Only Watch 2019. As in that case, the figure reflects exclusivity and the cause rather than a model's value on the secondary market.

Find out more on the auction house's website.

Ianos opens the Greek Navy divers' watch to the public

Ianos, a Greek brand making Swiss Made watches, yesterday put the Amfivios on sale; the name is Greek for “amphibian”. It is the civilian version of the OYK, the dive watch the brand produced in 2025 exclusively for active members of the Greek Navy's Underwater Demolition Command. It keeps the military model's case, construction and bezel, but loses the unit insignia and the deep blue dial, now matte black.

The sandblasted grade 2 titanium case measures 41 mm in diameter, 14.68 mm thick and 49 mm lug to lug, and is water resistant to 300 metres. The unidirectional titanium bezel has 120 clicks, and the domed sapphire crystal is anti-reflective coated. The 20 mm rubber strap closes with a titanium buckle.

The movement is the Sellita SW360-1, an automatic with 31 jewels and about 56 hours of power reserve. The dial layout follows it, with the date at 12 o'clock and small seconds at 6.

The choice of grade 2 titanium is worth noting. It is commercially pure titanium, highly corrosion resistant and easier to form than grade 5, the aluminium-vanadium alloy favoured for polished parts, but it is also softer and more prone to scratches. The even, matte sandblasted finish hides that wear. In a segment where many brands borrow military styling with no link to a real unit, the Amfivios has a documented origin.

Find out more on the brand's website.

DOXA donates a one-off SUB 300T to shark conservation

DOXA yesterday announced a partnership with Fins Attached, an organisation dedicated to protecting sharks and the oceans. To mark it, the brand made and donated a one-off SUB 300T, which will be auctioned on 10 October at the “Saving Our Seas from a Mile High” gala.

The watch keeps the SUB 300T's technical base: a Swiss automatic movement with exclusive DOXA decoration, running at 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hz) with about 38 hours of power reserve, a date at 3 o'clock and a screw-down crown. It is water resistant to 1,200 metres and comes on the steel “beads of rice” bracelet with folding clasp and wetsuit extension. The screw-down caseback is engraved with the gala date, “1 of 1” and the words “FINS ATTACHED SAVING OUR SEAS FROM A MILE HIGH GALA”.

The choice of model has historical logic. The original SUB of 1967 introduced a bezel with the depth scale of the US Navy no-decompression dive table and became a reference among civilian divers. What the piece fetches will depend more on the gala's bidders than on the collectors' market.

Find out more on the brand's website.

What deserves attention

The Rolex sale shows how far demand goes when three factors meet: a unique piece, a benchmark brand and a charitable cause. It is no indicator for the Daytona's secondary market, but it confirms the weight of Phillips and Aurel Bacs in selling exceptional watches.

In Portugal, Seiko opens its first own boutique in the country, in Lisbon, on Thursday 1 October. In New York, INDIES.NYC yesterday named the 25 independent watchmakers it will gather on 15 October in Flatiron. In one year the salon has grown from 10 to 25 participants, including Sarpaneva, Garrick, Kallinich Claeys, Holthinrichs and Brazil's Statera Atelier, from Maringá. WatchTime New York and the Windup Watch Fair take place the same week, from 16 to 18 October.