The Milgauss auctioned by Phillips, March 2023
This means the Milgauss ref. 6541 is one of the rarest regular-production models that perfect replica Rolex has ever made. This in itself is enough to warrant spectacular auction results. But the one offered by Phillips in March was in excellent condition to boot.
The case is seemingly unpolished, and the watch was hardly ever worn. The bezel is free of any scratching or fading, and the dial and revited Oyster bracelet are immaculate too. And then we have the set content. The chronometer certificate, guarantee card, booklet, hangtag, and box are all still with the luxury fake Rolex.
In short, all the ingredients for a record-breaking auction were present here.
Putting a number on a cheap fake Rolex Milgauss ref. 6541
It is usually quite hard to put a price on a watch as rare as this. Dutch magazine Quote interviewed vintage dealer Jasper Lijfering about the auction recently. Jasper is known to be an admirer of the reference, and he publicly shared his hunt for one on YouTube. As it happens, he also sold one in amazing condition fairly recently. If anyone can put a number on a 6541, it is him.
In his eyes, these should fetch around €300,000 in today’s market. You can double that figure for one in as good a condition as the one recently auctioned. There is currently one on Chrono24, in worn condition with no accessories, advertised at €287,000.
Another one in lesser condition was set to be auctioned by Sotheby’s on June 9th, but the lot has been withdrawn. It carried an estimate of US$80,000–120,000, but then, as mentioned, it was nowhere near the condition of the Phillips lot. And as you probably know, condition is everything in this segment.
So, what happened with the Phillips lot?
To put it simply, a bidding war between two parties happened. That’s about it. Apparently, one of them was an American collector. The other? Well, supposedly, that was Swiss movement replica Rolex, although the brand has, in true top super clone Rolex style, not commented on the matter.
Once you enter the realm of high quality fake watches as rare as this, anything can happen. It is hard to speak of “a market” when the result is determined by only two parties. In fact, these two parties may have a bigger influence on the market than the market did on them. Welcome to the odd world of rare collectibles!