(Photo credit: Sotheby’s)
A modest New York City civil servant who said he and his wife lived paycheck to paycheck will receive roughly three-quarter of a million dollars, after a watch auction at Sotheby's closed Friday.
The Brooklyn resident inherited a gold Rolex from his uncle in 1998 and kept it in a safe deposit box, wearing it only on special occasions — while believing it was worth $10,000.
A chance conversation during a recent cruise revealed his Daytona, reference 6238, known as the “John Player Special,” was actually worth far more than he had imagined.
“A presentation [on the cruise] about Rolex watches piqued my interest,” he wrote in a letter to Sotheby’s. “After showing a picture of my watch to a fellow passenger, he exclaimed, 'That watch is worth a lot of money. Be careful where you take it!’”
The owner decided to visit Sotheby's, traveling by subway with the “John Player Special” tucked in his pocket. The watch ultimately sold for $768,000.