A 1973 Rolex Oyster Cosmograph Reference’ 6265′ owned by famous American racecar driver Carroll Smith will be up for sale at Christie’s Watches Online: Discovering Time auction (1-13 October). All the motor racing fans will remember Carroll Smith as one of the most successful professional race car drivers, engineers, and writers. The American’s storied racing career also includes the famous stint with Carroll Shelby and the crucial role on the GT40 Le Mans Project. He was directly responsible for overseeing preparations of the winning cars in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in both 1966 and 1967. The Rolex was gifted to Carroll Smith by the Cuddy Racing team for the 1973 SCCA L&M F5000 Championship Series, and he frequently wore the watch to race tracks. “This watch was constantly around cars, and it was used during races. It hasn’t spent its life in a sock drawer,” said Christie’s watch specialist Mike Fossner.
A vintage Rolex Daytona is considered one of the favorites amongst watch collectors, and these watches often end up making new sale records. Touted as the pinnacle of vintage Rolex sport watches, the storied Swiss watch brand made many different combinations of references, dials, pushers, and bezels for the Daytona. What makes the ‘Reference 6265’ unique is that it was the last reference with hand-wound movement along with the 6263. It is also distinguished by its screw-down pushers and the polished steel b...