We may be immune to the power of the vintage Rolex Daytona at this point — every auction catalog seems to be filled with them, and they hammer at such stratospheric, eye-watering prices that they invariably evoke feelings of cynicism amongst horological aficionados. “Oh, look — another “f.u.” Daytona,” we say. Understandable.

Watches with significant provenance, however — and the case back engravings to prove it — are a slightly different story. Take this ref. 6265 with white dial, for example, which is being offered by Christie’s during its Discovering Time auction: This particular watch belonged to Carroll Smith, legendary driver, engineer and writer. Gifted to Smith by the Cuddy Racing team for the 1973 SCCA L&M F5000 Championship Series, it no doubt saw some serious track time.

Smith wore many figurative hats in addition to his own ten-gallon hat, but he’s best known for working with that other famed Carroll (one Carrol Shelby) and with the Ford Motor Company on the GT40 Le Mans project. (This is the race that inspired the recent Ford vs. Ferrari film, in which Matt Damon played Shelby.) The watch, which has an estimate of between $150,000-200,000, will be accompanied in the sale by two of Smith’s books: “Prepare to Win” from 1975, and “Drive to Win,” published in 1996.

Check out more details on this exciting lot with the link below.

More Info: Here

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io