$3.5M watch: Rare Rolex sells for record price

A rare Rolex sold in Monaco for a record price.

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The Rolex 4113 brought in $3.5 million, higher than the previous record for the same model which was $2.6 million paid in 2016, Bloomberg reported.

It was sold by Monaco Legend Group on Saturday, according to the Robb Report.

Only a dozen 4113′s were made, and nine still exist. Monaco Legends Group said the watches were initially made for World War II pilots. But they were given to drivers in the Giro di Sicilia racing event in 1942, according to Watchtype magazine.

It is also the only split-second chronograph, which can have two separate time intervals, made by Rolex. The watch is one of the largest made by the luxury brand, measuring 44 millimeters or 1.73 inches. The biggest Rolex is the Deepsea Challenger, which is 50 millimeters.

The watch was owned by Auro Montanari as part of his collection. He is an expert in the field, writing several books under the pen name John Goldberger.

The watch winner also got a cheese knife that Montanari used to open the watch case to show the workings of the timepiece.

The auction of “exclusive timepieces” brought in €22,644,560, or about $24,123,249, and included other Rolex watches as well as timepieces from Cartier, Patek Philippe and Omega.

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