Important Collector's Watches, Pocket...

Geneva, Nov 11, 2007

LOT 219

Ref. 6234, Stainless Steel Pre-Daytona, Brown Color-Change Dial Rolex, ?Oyster Chronograph, Anti-Magnetic?, case No. 688586, Ref. 6234. Made in 1961, sold in 1962. Very fine and extremely rare, tonneau-shaped, water-resistant, stainless steel wristwatch with round button chronograph, registers, tachometer and telemeter, with a stainless steel Rolex riveted expanding bracelet.

CHF 220,000 - 250,000

EUR 130,000 - 150,000 / USD 185,000 - 210,000

Sold: CHF 256,000

C. Three-body, polished and brushed, screwed-down case back and crown, inclined bezel. D. Brown-black with applied steel dart indexes, luminous dot markers, outer minutes and seconds divisions with fifths of a second divisions, outermost telemeter and tachometer scales, subsidiary dials for the seconds, the 12-hour and 30- minute registers. Luminous steel alpha hands. M. Cal. 72, 13???, rhodium-plated, 17 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, monometallic balance, self-compensating Breguet balance spring, shock absorber, index regulator. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 36 mm. Thickness 14 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 2

Very good
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 2-01

Very good

HANDS Original

Notes

It is exceptionally rare to find this reference in such excellent condition. The present watch is all the more rare for the color change of its dial. Originally black, the fact that for several decades it remained in its box, protected from light, has modified the color of the dial and given it a unique brown patina. We have seen only very rare occurrences of this phenomenon, in Omega Speedmasters of the same period, called by collectors the ?chocolate dial?.
Reference 6234 appears in the Rolex catalogue until 1963. The rarity of this chronograph is heightened by the brown color of the dial.
A similar watch is illustrated in ?Rolex, Collecting Modern and Vintage Wristwatches?, by Osvaldo Patrizzi, vol I, page 127.