SJX Watches
Stopping Time: Rare Rolex Chronos with Pucci Papaleo Provenance
This November, Phillips will present Stopping Time, a selection of 16 Rolex chronographs owned by collector and publisher Pucci Papaleo, as part of The Geneva Watch Auction: XXIV, taking place on November 7 and 8 at the Hotel President Wilson. The selection is the first instalment of Mr Papaleo’s collection of approximately 70 Rolex chronographs, dating from the 1930s to the 1970s – and all in outstanding condition and some can even be rightly described as “unpolished”. Phillips presents these 16 watches as a compact survey of the Rolex chronograph: early pieces made before the Oyster chronograph was established, the waterproof chronographs of the 1940s and 1950s, and finally the Cosmograph Daytona. The Rolex ref. 6239 of about 1969 with the “Paul Newman Musketeer” dial, lot 22. Image – SJX composite/Phillips The publisher becomes a collector To say that Mr Papaleo loves vintage Rolex is an understatement — he even gave his children watch-inspired names. Besides building an impressive collection of vintage Rolex, Mr Papaleo contributed to horological knowledge as a publisher and has produced a number of reference books regularly cited in auction catalogues. Pucci Papaleo and his Rolex ref. 3233 being offered by Phillips. Image – SJX composite/Phillips His interest in watches grew out of his work in publishing. He began his career managing a small publishing house of his own, making guidebooks to Rome, Venice, and Milan, always with fine photographs. By hi...
