Important Collectors’ Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Du Rhône, Oct 15, 2006

LOT 423

Stainless Steel Ref. 6234 ?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 gentleman?s wristwatch with round button chronograph, registers, tachometer and telemeter, with a stainless steel Rolex riveted bracelet. Accompanied by the original certificate (now void) and original user?s manual and an original fitted box.

CHF 200,000 - 250,000

EUR 130,000 - 160,000 / USD 160,000 - 200,000

Sold: CHF 233,000

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

This is the first time in thirty years in the watch business that we have ever seen this reference in such perfect condition and also accompanied by its original guarantee. 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. The present watch, already rare, is made all the more so by 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?.