Inside Rolex’s ‘watch for nerds’ that just smashed sales records: a rare Milgauss sold for US$2.5 million, the highest amount paid at auction, but was originally made for Swiss scientists

May 18 , 2023

The Rolex Milgauss was originally made for Cern scientists, hence its nickname as a watch for nerds. Photo: @phillipswatches/Instagram

‘No one famous wears a Milgauss,’ say experts of the antimagnetic watch, which was created in the 1950s for Cern scientists in Geneva – but Phillips just sold one for US$2.5m in Geneva

A Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711 made for Tiffany & Co. and a Rolex Daytona John Player Special, named for the Formula One racing team, with a Paul Newman dial also fetched millions

A rare and pristine condition Rolex Milgauss watch just sold for US$2.5 million, smashing records for the highest amount paid at an auction for the Swiss brand’s timepiece that was originally made for scientists.

Rolex Milgauss smashed records and became one of the highest-priced timepieces sold at an auction in Geneva. Photo: Phillips

The stainless steel watch, produced in 1958 and designed to resist magnetic fields, features a black honeycomb dial, rotating bezel and a seconds hand shaped like a lightning bolt. The Milgauss was one of the highest-priced timepieces sold during a weekend of watch auctions in Geneva.

It was sold by Phillips Auctioneers on Saturday for 2.24 million Swiss francs (US$2.5 million) to a bidder in the room – a record for any Milgauss and double the pre-auction high estimate of 1 million francs. A similar version from 1958 sold at Christie’s in 2013 for 317,000 francs. Another, sold by Phillips in 2022, fetched just over 300,000 francs.

Produced in 1958, the Rolex Milgauss has a seconds hand shaped like a lightning bolt. Photo: Phillips

The winning bidder, who topped a rival offer from the US, bought the watch on behalf of Rolex, according to people familiar with the matter. Rolex declined to comment.

It’s not unusual for luxury watch companies to buy their own timepieces at auction for their archive collections or museums. The result shows watch collectors are still willing to pay record values for rare, vintage Rolex timepieces in top condition, said Tony Traina, an editor at Hodinkee, the US-based online watch magazine and retailer.

The Rolex Milgauss was originally created for scientists who work in environments with strong magnetic fields. Photo: Phillips

Rolex discontinued the latest version of the Milgauss in March. The antimagnetic watch was created for people working in laboratories and was never as popular as Rolex’s other “Professional” models made for deep sea divers, pilots or racing car drivers.

The watchmaker was approached in the early 1950s by scientists at Geneva’s Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, better known as Cern (and now home to the Large Hadron Collider), according to a research article by Logan Baker, senior editorial manager at Phillips’ digital marketing department.

The Cern scientists asked for a wristwatch that could tell the time accurately even in the presence of strong magnetic fields. Rolex produced the first Milgauss in 1956. With a soft iron cage surrounding the movement inside the case, it was named for its ability to withstand exposure of as much as 1,000 gauss or mille gauss in French.