A Rolex watch belonging to the late Hollywood star Paul Newman has sold for a record price at auction in New York.
The watch was given to him by his wife Joanne Woodward as they filmed the 1969 movie Winning together.
Newman, who died in 2008 aged 83, later used it to time car races in which he took part.
The stainless steel watch was sold to an unnamed telephone buyer for $17.8m (£13.6m) – much more than the $1m it had initially been expected to fetch.
It is a record for a wristwatch sold at auction, but a Patek Philippe pocket watch sold for more than $24m in 2014.
In Winning, Newman played a racing car driver, a role which spurred his interest in the sport. He went on to take part in the 24-hour Le Mans race.
Before giving him the watch, Woodward had it engraved with the words “Drive Carefully, Me.” He had been injured in a motorbike accident in 1965.
Woodward bought him a new watch in 1984, and he gave the Daytona Rolex to his daughter’s then-boyfriend, James Cox.
Cox put the watch up for auction. Some of the proceeds will go towards the Nell Newman Foundation, a charity set up by Paul Newman’s daughter, and Newman’s Own Foundation.
The Rolex Daytona Watch Has Seen Three Separate Series
Series one. The original Cosmograph Daytona has lived through three separate series. The original series was produced in very small quantities, beginning in 1963 and lasting through the 1980s. These watches have a four-digit model number and feature a manual-wind movement.
Series two. Because of the demand of the iconic first Daytona series, a second series was introduced in 1988, with automatic winding. These watches feature a five-digit number and were produced up until 2000.
Series three. In 2000, Rolex began producing a third Daytona series, equipped with a movement made in-house and a six-digit model number. These watches are self-winding and have chronograph functions.
Although Daytonas continue to be relatively abundant, the rarest and most sought-after of these watches continue to be the “Paul Newman” variety, a version of the Daytona made famous by the actor of the same name.
