At Phillips’ Game Changers auction in New York, one of the headlining celebrity watches of the event, Jack Nicklaus’ yellow gold Reference 1803 Day-Date has sold for $1,220,000 including buyer’s premium. It’s a huge win for charity, as the proceeds will go to Nicklaus and wife Barbara’s Nicklaus Children’s Healthcare Foundation.
Before the sale of the timepiece from the legendary golfer, auctioneer Aurel Bacs stepped aside to show a 90-second video featuring Nicklaus and images from his career, with the Rolex often prominently displayed. As Nicklaus tells it, he was given the opportunity to choose a “Rolex of his choice” back in 1966 while attending the Canada Cup. Gary Player, already sponsored by Rolex, recommended Nicklaus choose the gold Day-Date, and so he did. Nicklaus would proceed to wear the watch for much of the next 50 years; photos abound of the Day-Date on his wrist raising the countless trophies he’s won over the years.
The auction action was exciting, as bidders in the room, over the phone, and online sought to knock off a determined commissioned bid. In the end, the Day-Date reached a hammer price of $1 million, with the buyer’s premium accounting for the rest of the sale price.
As we wrote earlier, the bidder on this watch will receive a healthy tax deduction from the bid. The estimate was set at just $100,000 to $200,000. According to the IRS, bidders can claim a deduction on the difference between their winning bid and the fair market value of the watch (with the estimate being likely serving as the basis for determining such that fair market value).