Stopping Time: Rare Rolex Chronos with Pucci Papaleo Provenance

Phillips presents Stopping Time, a selection of 16 Rolex chronographs owned by collector and publisher Pucci Papaleo, at The Geneva Watch Auction: XXIV at the Hotel President Wilson on November 7 and 8. The selection is the first instalment of Papaleo's collection of about 70 Rolex chronographs dating from the 1930s to the 1970s. The lots trace the chronograph from early pieces made before the Oyster chronograph, through waterproof models of the 1940s and 1950s, to the Cosmograph Daytona. Highlights include lot 22, a steel ref. 6239 from about 1969 with the Musketeer dial, and lot 208, a yellow gold ref. 3830 estimated above CHF1 million, the only example of that reference to have sold at auction. Phillips credits Papaleo's publishing and reference books, including Ultimate Rolex Daytona, with a significant role in bringing Rolex to its place in the collecting world.