Interest before the recent Geneva auction suggested prices would rise, but still the overall market had a tendency to go up when compared with last year.

Again, Phillips’ list of auction exhibits was remarkable, and the heat of the day confirmed their position as top auction house in the field of watches. Of course Christies was also present, but I think the atmosphere of the Phillips auction was far more immediate.

Also, the overall trend to concentrate on popularity tended to focus on items in good condition rather than on model hierarchy. As a result, the prices tended to be wide open and strengthened by differences between conditions, even between similar models. And when popular dials remained unbid for due to their poor condition, the cases would appear in the venue for reference.

Nevertheless, since the number of pieces in good condition were also priced quite high, I would probably say it is important to rethink of the kind of watch you would want yourself, or even as a collector.

Rolex Ref.6239 Daytona ‘The Doctor’ — 1,085,000CHF

Only several Daytona, known as ‘The Doctor’, were made with a pulse meter. A silver dial comes with a silver bezel, while the 2line and Daytona are without notation. The distinctive blue set within stands out. This valuation is as a result of them being quite scare with only a few in the world.

ROLEX 6241 DAYTONA 14K Coppertone: 185,000 CHF

The brown in-dial of the pure gold Ref.6241 was known as the ‘Coppertone’ dial. As a pure gold model, the normal non-oyster dial has a fairly high evaluation.

Rolex Ref.5513 Underline ‘Double Swiss’ — 137,000CHF

As Ref.5513, is comes with the extremely rare underline ‘Double Swiss’ notation. The successful bid was equal to the 4line underline Ref.5512. Apart from the EXP dial (as Ref.5513), it is probably the best piece to go under the hammer.

Rolex Ref.6240 Daytona ‘Oyster Aplina’ — 281,000CHF

In Re.6240, the normal ‘OysterDown’ is the type of dial known for being not that easy to come by. Even rare, it is difficult to distinguish between a normal dial at first glance, and having been paid close attention, it eventually became one the top pieces.

Rolex Ref.6200 Submariner — 293,000CHF

Ref.6200 with an EXP 3-6-9 dial is one of the best Submariners there are. This time the dial is a Submariner without notation, or increments on the bezel. The difference here is there is less notation yet it feels more prominent than other subs. The mirror had much less lustre, but overall was a beautiful piece.

Rolex Ref.5512 Submariner — 197,000CHF

The outer ring ‘dot’ on the Ref.5512 EXP 3-6-9 dial has been attracting a lot of attention lately. Ordinarily the market for Ref.5513 with an outer EXP ring is quite small but they can quite often found. Yet the model with outer ring ‘dots’ are few and far between and attracts attention due to the model’s unique atmosphere. The fact that Ref.6200 also has a another kind of aura, means it is one model that could possibly fetch even more in the future.