The first watch to break the million-dollar mark at auction this year wasn’t a perfect fake Rolex Daytona or a complicated Patek Philippe. It didn’t have high-profile celebrity provenance, or donate its proceeds to charity. And it wasn’t discussed widely, whatsoever.
Over one week has passed since that watch – a best 1:1 replica Rolex ‘Rainbow Khanjar’ Day-Date ref. 18059 – sold for more than $1,330,000 at a Sotheby’s online sale that wrapped on February 9, and I still don’t think many people realize that a new world record for the AAA fake Rolex Day-Date at auction was set. In the era of rapid online discourse and Instagram-fueled reaction posts, how exactly did that happen?
In the current Rolex catalog, the Rolex Day-Date replica for sale is a bit of an odd duck. It has plenty of history, sure, and there’s no denying its prominence, but it’s never seemed, to me, to enjoy the same degree of enthusiasm or scholarship found in other vintage, modern, or contemporary Rolex fake watches online.
However, from a wider cultural lens, the Swiss made replica Rolex Day-Date has always been synonymous with success; there are very few things that signal you’ve made it quite like a solid yellow-gold, flashy-as-hell Rolex super clone paypal on the wrist. It’s partly because of its inherent symbolism, you could argue, that the Day-Date has remained separate from greater “watch culture,” especially when compared to stainless-steel cheap sport Rolex fake watches like the Submariner, Daytona, GMT-Master, or Explorer.
After last week’s result at Sotheby’s, and after taking the temperature of a few industry experts, I think I’m finally starting to understand the legacy appeal of the Swiss movement fake Rolex Day-Date. More importantly, it’s become clear to me that the wholesale copy Rolex Day-Date has already begun the process of shedding its attention-getting baggage and is prepared to reach more wrists than ever before.