Rolex “Four Seasons” Daytonas Sell for $49.4 Million at Phillips London
Rolex’s first ever charity auction has ended with a result that will be talked about for years. On 28 September 2026 in London, four one-of-a-kind Cosmograph Daytonas, one for each season, sold for a combined $49.4 million (about EUR 43.4 million) at Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo. Aurel Bacs took the rostrum.
The results, lot by lot
- Summer, ref. 126595 SARO: $13.65M. The top lot. Everose gold case, turquoise dial, pink sapphire bezel and ruby counters.
- Autumn, ref. 126598 TML: $13.52M. Yellow gold with a mookaite dial and a green tourmaline bezel.
- Winter, ref. 126596 SABV: $13.20M. Platinum, blue opal dial, diamond and sapphire bezel, lapis lazuli counters.
- Spring, ref. 126599 SAVL: $9.01M. White gold with a chrysoprase dial and a purple sapphire bezel.
Three of the four watches finished within $450,000 of each other, all above $13 million. Summer edged out Autumn by just $130,000 to take the top spot. Spring, the white gold piece, was the relative bargain of the evening at a little over $9 million.
Where the money goes
Every dollar of the proceeds is split equally between two causes. The Roger Federer Foundation supports early education for children in Southern Africa and Switzerland. Re:wild, the conservation organisation co-founded by Leonardo DiCaprio, works to protect wildlife and wild places in more than 90 countries. Both Federer and DiCaprio publicly endorsed the auction.
Who bought them?
The buyers have not been disclosed. Demand was never in doubt, though: ahead of the sale, Luxurylaunches reported that more than 1,000 potential buyers had registered interest.
Why this sale matters
Rolex has historically kept its distance from the auction world, letting the secondary market do the talking. Creating four unique pieces specifically for a charity sale is a first for the brand, and the result shows how much collectors will pay for a Rolex that cannot be bought any other way. It also cements the Daytona, and gem-set Daytonas in particular, as a genuine blue-chip collectible at the very top of the market.
For collectors, the takeaway is simple. Uniqueness plus a great cause, sold under Aurel Bacs’s hammer, is a formula that moves eight-figure money.
Sources: watchanalytics on Instagram; Italian Watch Spotter.
