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rolex space-dweller 1016

Rolex Space-Dweller up for auction

July 11, 2020

The Rolex Space-Dweller is one of the most mysterious watches in all of vintage Rolex. I’m always conflicted about pieces like this: When one looks at just the watch, it’s simply a Rolex Explorer reference 1016, but for one pesky line of text. But it’s the story that one line of text tells that makes the Space-Dweller reference 1016 so rare and special.

There’s a bit of an urban legend that the Rolex Space-Dweller was inspired by a 1963 visit to Japan by astronauts of Project Mercury, the U.S.’s first man-in-space program and Rolex sought to capitalize on this popularity by introduced a special edition of the Explorer, but with the “Space-Dweller” name instead of Explorer at 12 o’clock. The watch was released as a test to only the Japanese market shortly after the astronauts’ visit to Japan (though, it’s not entirely clear why Japan was chosen as opposed to say the United States — these were American astronauts after all).

That said, I’m not sure I (or anyone) has seen any real evidence for this story. So it remains just that – a myth.

rolex space dweller 1016

But still, it’s so exciting that an example is up for auction at Christie’s Important Watches Auction in Hong Kong on July 13. Christie’s puts the estimate at $50,000 to $100,000. But with a watch as seldom seen as this, there’s no telling what it could hammer at.

Hodinkee spotted one back in 2016 listed by a dealer for $85,000. Antiquorum sold an example back in 2008 (2008!) for $48,000. Sotheby’s sold a few “Space-Dweller” dials for handsome sums back in 2008 as well. Since then, we know that at least a couple of these has made their way into a 1016 case.

See Christie’s Lot 2346 here

 
In Auctions Tags Rolex
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