Words by Corey Copeland
The Rolex crown has become engrained into hip-hop culture. The Rolex brand epitomizes the exquisite taste of the upper echelon. According to New York auction house Phillips, on October 26, a Rolex Daytona that used to belong to actor Paul Newman set a new world record for a wristwatch sold at auction.
The Rolex wrist watch will cost the unnamed bidder a hefty 17.8 million dollars including additional buyer fees.
With that many millions spent on the “Rollie,” do you think Meek Mill would drop a bag of this size on this model? Fans have been highly critical of his repetitive Rollie references. In fact he has referred to the brand 51 times across all 14 of his musical projects, not including the undocumented count from his latest Wins and Losses album. Still the Philly MC continues, ” flood[ing] the Rollie tryna’ kill time.”
You will be astonished to know that this Rolex Daytona is not “flooded” with diamonds, it’s not even gold. It is rather simple, With what appears to be a silver or white gold accented face finished with a leather band.
The Rolex was originally given to Newman by his wife Joanne Woodward around the time he was filming the auto racing movie “Winning” in the late 1960s. The synonymous crown of wrist wear, combined with the dashingly debonaire actors ignited a craze among watch fans, who lent his name to that particular style of Rolex dial. He would eventually give the iconic timepiece to his daughter Nell’s college boyfriend—James Cox in 1984. Newman died in 2008.
Cox put the original 1968 “Paul Newman” Daytona up for auction. According to the New York Times, the watch was projected to sell at a minimum of $3.2 million and capped at $10 million.
Clearly projections were wrong.
In the words of The Notorious One,“Where the true players at? Throw your Rollies in the sky. Wave em side to side and keep their hands high”
