(Image credit: Jake’s Rolex World)
A Rolex GMT-Master worn by a pioneering pilot, who was featured in a vintage Rolex ad, is heading to auction, and Rolex may be interested.
Sheila Scott wore the watch, a reference 1675, during her record-setting solo flight around the world in 1966, covering over 31,000 miles in 189 flying hours. She went on to set more than 100 aviation records, including the first solo flight over the North Pole in a single-engine aircraft. Scott died of lung cancer in 1988 at the age of 66.
Scott is also widely believed to have inspired the character Pussy Galore in Goldfinger, a female pilot who wore a GMT-Master in the 1964 film.
Scott’s watch gained recognition when it appeared in a 1960s Rolex advertisement, one of the rare times a sports watch was marketed to women. Scott called it “a marvelous watch.”
(Photo courtesy of Spink)
The watch, along with other personal items and archives, will be auctioned by Spink in London on Apr. 24, with an estimate of £20,000–30,000. It was first sold at Phillips in 1989.
In 2023, Rolex acquired at auction a GMT-Master that had belonged to a Pan Am pilot known for breaking multiple aviation records. The pilot also appeared in a famous Rolex ad. The watch was then displayed by Rolex at Watches and Wonders in Geneva.