Phillips auction house is back in the watch world with a bang. Now under the direction of living watch auction legend Aurel Bacs, it immediately announced two sales: the Rolex Day-Date anniversary sale on the 9 May 2015 and the large watch auction on 10 May. A total of 22.5 million euros were traded in total. Even though the top lot of the auctions, a historic Patek Philippe chronograph which was sold for an incredible 4.5 million euros including premium, the Rolex Daytona owned by Eric Clapton also achieved a remarkable record.

The guitarist is not only known for his penchant for fast sports cars from Maranello, but also for his very select watch collection. The Rolex Daytona Cosmograph with the nickname ‘Albino’ is one of the rarest watches he's owned. Referred to as the Daytona REF. 6263, its entirely white dial also carries the strange nickname. Currently, only four of these variants are known to exist. Eric ‘slow hand’ Clapton is always very cautious in the selection of his watches and pays great attention to originality. For this reason, his Daytona has not only the right 727-caliber, but also the right trigger, used in 1971 for the Cosmograph. Clapton is one of those collectors who repeatedly rotates his collection to finance new acquisitions. As a result, you can never be sure which watch (or which Ferrari) will make it into the collection of the music star in the future.

Photo: Phillips auctions