Sotheby’s latest watch events went rather swimmingly.

The auction house’s earnings in Geneva yesterday closed at $27 million. Helping Sotheby’s achieve such an eye-watering figure was an ultra-rare Rolex prototype worn by the first British women to swim the English Channel on one of her many journeys across the water. And plenty of , part of Sotheby’s blockbuster sale from the watchmaker (the largest in decades), hammered down for quite the pretty penny, too.

Gleitze’s Rollie ended up fetching a whopping $1.73 million, heading home with an Asian private collector after they battling with three other bidders for the prize. And there was a good reason for all the hubbub. This 27 mm, 9-karat-gold Oyster helped Rolex garner recognition for producing tool . It had taken the watchmaker over 10

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