Watch of the Day · 2026-07-05 · from the archive
Rolex Cosmograph Daytona
Ref. 16516 · Platinum — one documented result from the 1,156-lot MostExpensiveWatches auction record, featured today.
The first of the four unique platinum Zenith-era Daytonas to appear at auction, featuring a black Tahitian mother-of-pearl dial.
The 2018 sale of this Rolex Cosmograph Daytona ref. 16516 for $871,000 at Sotheby’s Hong Kong marks the first appearance at auction of the four unique platinum Zenith-era Daytonas. Featuring a black Tahitian mother-of-pearl dial, it is one of 67 documented Rolex results in this corpus.
Previous watches of the day
| Date | Watch | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-20 | Audemars Piguet Jumping Hour (circa 1928) | $1,016,000 · Christie's New York · 2026 |
| 2026-08-19 | George Daniels Anniversary | $452,700 · Phillips Geneva · 2019 |
| 2026-08-18 | Richard Mille Felipe Massa 'White Demon' | $378,000 · Christie's Dubai · 2023 |
| 2026-08-17 | Rolex Daytona 'The Legend' | $3,726,000 · Phillips Geneva · 2017 |
| 2026-08-16 | Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar | $398,000 · Sotheby's Geneva · 2022 |
| 2026-08-15 | Greubel Forsey GMT Balancier Convexe (1 of 1) | $302,400 · Christie's Dubai · 2025 |
| 2026-08-14 | Rolex GMT-Master "Marlon Brando" | $1,952,000 · Phillips New York · 2019 |
| 2026-08-13 | George Daniels Anniversary | $1,260,614 · Phillips Geneva · 2023 |
| 2026-08-12 | Greubel Forsey Invention Piece 2 | $423,395 · Christie's Hong Kong · 2024 |
| 2026-08-11 | Cartier Tank Louis Cartier | $379,500 · Christie's New York · 2017 |
| 2026-08-10 | Vacheron Constantin Chronograph | $150,000 · Phillips Geneva · 2016 |
| 2026-08-09 | Greubel Forsey Double Tourbillon 30° | $225,806 · Phillips Hong Kong · 2016 |
| 2026-08-08 | Greubel Forsey Balancier Convexe S² Carbon | $176,400 · Christie's Dubai · 2025 |
| 2026-08-07 | Urwerk Maltese Falcon | $133,197 · Phillips Geneva · 2024 |
About this series
Every day MostExpensiveWatches features one documented auction result from its comp corpus — hammer prices with primary sources, the record layer behind the Grail Index and the daily Price Index. Machine-readable: /data/watch-of-the-day.json. Cite as “MostExpensiveWatches Watch of the Day”.
Compiled: 2026-07-05T00:15:20.925061+00:00