Rolex 'Bao Dai' Ref. 6062

The most complicated Oyster

Rolex made the reference 6062 from about 1950 to 1953. It combined a full calendar, showing day, date and month, with a moonphase display, all inside the waterproof Oyster case with its screw-down caseback. A sister model, the reference 8171, used the same movement and dial layouts in a conventional round case with a snap-on back. The 6062 is often described as the most complicated Oyster Rolex ever made.

Production was small. Estimates range from under 450 pieces to about 1,000. Most were made in 18k yellow gold, with smaller numbers in pink gold and steel. Two-tone silvered dials were the standard; black dials were much rarer, and the markers came in several styles, including five-pointed 'stelline' stars.

Inside is a self-winding, chronometer-grade Rolex movement with 18 jewels. Sources differ on the case size: the 2017 sale catalog gives 36 mm for this watch, while a general guide to the reference gives 38 mm.

Bảo Đại, the last emperor

Bảo Đại was born Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy on October 22, 1913, the only child of Emperor Khải Định. He took the throne at 12, as the 13th and last emperor of the Nguyễn Dynasty; one account dates his accession to January 8, 1926, another to 1925. His reign name means 'Keeper of Greatness'. Educated in France, he was the first Vietnamese monarch to receive a full Western education.

He abdicated in August 1945, after Japan's surrender, saying he would rather be a citizen of an independent country than emperor of an enslaved one. France later installed him as chief of state of the State of Vietnam, from 1949 to 1955. He was a patron of fine craftsmanship with a taste for luxury cars, including a Ferrari.

In 1954, while the Geneva Conference negotiated the end of the Indochina war, he walked into a watch retailer across from his hotel and asked for 'the rarest and most precious Rolex ever made'. Rolex sent a clerk from its Geneva workshops with this gold 6062. A year later he was removed from power by a referendum widely regarded as fraudulent, and he spent the rest of his life in France. He died in Paris on July 31, 1997.

One of three, and unlike the other two

Only three black-dial 6062s set with diamond markers are known. Two have six diamonds at the odd hours. This one has five diamonds at the even hours and a different dial layout, which makes it unique.

The diamond at 12 o'clock forced a visible change: the Rolex crown logo had to be moved lower on the dial to make room. That detail, together with case number 916'366 and movement number N32'589, identifies the watch.

When it returned to auction in 2017 it was described as spectacular, untouched and unrestored, a rare state for a gold watch more than 60 years old.

Two sales, two records

The watch first came to public auction in 2002, in Geneva, where it sold for 370,000 Swiss francs, then the highest price ever paid for a Rolex at auction. It then stayed for 15 years in the collection of its second owner.

In March 2017 its sellers announced it with a pre-sale estimate of more than $1.5 million. On May 13, 2017, at a themed Geneva sale, thirteen bidders fought over it for eight minutes. It sold to a telephone bidder for 5,066,000 Swiss francs including premium, more than ten times its 2002 price and a new record for any Rolex. One report dates the sale to May 14; the auction's own listing gives Saturday, May 13.

The record lasted five months. In October 2017 Paul Newman's own Daytona sold in New York for $17,752,500. The Bao Dai remains the most famous example of the reference 6062.

The numbers

Reference

6062

Production

About 1950 to 1953; estimates from under 450 to about 1,000 pieces

Movement

Rolex self-winding, chronometer, 18 jewels; full calendar and moonphase

Case

18k yellow gold Oyster; 36 mm per the sale catalog (38 mm in a reference guide)

Case number

916'366

Known black diamond-marker 6062s

3

Timeline

1. Oct 22, 1913

   Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy, the future Bảo Đại, is born.

2. Jan 8, 1926

   He becomes emperor at 12 (some accounts say 1925).

3. Aug 1945

   Bảo Đại abdicates.

4. 1949

   France installs him as chief of state of the State of Vietnam.

5. 1950

   Rolex begins making the reference 6062, approximately.

6. 1952

   This 6062, case 916'366, is made.

7. 1954

   During the Geneva Conference, Bảo Đại buys the watch from a Geneva retailer.

8. 1955

   Bảo Đại is removed from power and goes into exile in France.

9. Jul 31, 1997

   Bảo Đại dies in Paris.

10. 2002

    The watch sells at auction in Geneva for 370,000 Swiss francs, a Rolex record.

11. May 13, 2017

    It sells at auction in Geneva for 5,066,000 Swiss francs after eight minutes and thirteen bidders, a new Rolex record.

12. Oct 26, 2017

    Paul Newman's own Daytona sells for $17,752,500, taking the Rolex record.

The world in 1954

• Jan 21, 1954

  USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, is launched in Connecticut.

• Apr 26, 1954

  The Geneva Conference on Korea and Indochina opens.

• May 6, 1954

  Roger Bannister runs the first sub-four-minute mile, in Oxford.

• May 7, 1954

  The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in French defeat.

• May 17, 1954

  The U.S. Supreme Court rules segregated schools unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education.

• Jul 4, 1954

  West Germany beats Hungary 3-2 to win the World Cup.

• Jul 21, 1954

  The Geneva Conference divides Vietnam into north and south.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Rolex 'Bao Dai' Ref. 6062 is number 5 of 100 in the watches entries of the FLOAT 100. 54 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (100 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Bảo Đại asked a Geneva retailer for 'the rarest and most precious Rolex ever made', and Rolex sent this watch over from its workshops.
• The diamond at 12 o'clock pushed the Rolex crown logo lower on the dial.
• It is the only one of the three known black diamond-dial 6062s with diamonds at the even hours.
• It set the Rolex auction record twice, in 2002 and 2017.
• Its 2017 price was more than ten times what it brought in 2002.
• Thirteen bidders competed for it in 2017, and it took eight minutes to sell.
• Bảo Đại became emperor at 12.