Record price for Heuer Monaco and Rolex Submariner ref. 5512

During the last Antiquorum auction, held at June 11th, several pieces that belonged to Steve McQueen sold for record prices.

Earlier this month Antiquorum auctioned 2 wristwatches and a motorcycle that belonged to Steve McQueen. Of course it’s always the question if McQueen really used the watches and motorcycle frequently or not. Fellow blogger Robert-Jan wrote about the McQueen Submariner last month. Looking at the price these pieces went for, the bidders apparently didn’t worry about that.

All McQueen’s pieces, the Rolex Submariner ref. 5512, the Heuer Monaco worn in the movie Le Mans and his old motorbike went for much more than initially estimated.

The vintage Rolex Submariner was estimated to sell between € 7.500 and € 15.000 and sold for, hold on to your panties… € 167.000 !! This is a record price for a Rolex Submariner ref. 5512.

Usually vintage Sea-Dwellers like the ref. 1665 double red or single red fetch extraordinary prices. Also the earliest vintage Submariners go for immense prices. BJSOnline made a short historical overview of the different Submariner models, including the early Submariners with gilt dials and no crown guards i’m referring to.

Another record price was set for the legendary Heuer Monaco, McQueen wore in the 1971 racing film Le Mans. This vintage Heuer Monaco ref. 1133 sold for around € 63.000. Never before a Heuer Monaco was sold for such a high price.

In addition, McQueen’s Scott Super Squirrel motorcycle, painted by Von Dutch, fetched an astounding € 198.000 — more than double its estimate.

Although we are in the middle of a severe economical crisis, it seems that prices paid for extraordinary watches increases more than ever before. Not only prices paid for very rare or very complicated watches rise, but now also watches owned by famous people fetch much higher prices than ever before.

Now i’m curious how the next auction will go… check the catalog of the upcoming auction in Hong Kong out on Antiquorum’s website!