As Rachel Cormack wrote for Robb Report, it was the “timepiece that helped cement Rolex as a maker of impenetrable tool watches …” [1]. And thus began an important horological thread to the association of that watchmaker to the world of James Bond, via Ian Fleming and his 1954 novel, Live and Let Die.
This past Sunday, Sotheby’s sold “The Companion Oyster” worn by the late Mercedes Gleitze [2] during the “vindication swim” that she undertook on October 21, 2027, originally worn on a ribbon tied about her neck.
It was a highlight of the “Important Watches Including the Gunter Sachs Cartier Portico Mystery Clock and the Mercedes Gleitze Rolex Oyster” auction, closed November 9, 2025. Its selling price of 1,392,000 CHF is equivalent to approximately $1.746 million U.S. [3].
In its original listing, Sotheby’s went on to note that “Mercedes Gleitze became Rolex’s first brand ambassador, redefining the purpose of collaboration between a brand and a celebrity in the process.”
Last year, Rolex officially acknowledged the James Bond tie in Oyster Perpetual – Submariner: The Watch that Unlocked the Deep, by Nicholas Foulkes [4].
— Dell Deaton
off-site
References
- “The Rolex Worn by the First British Woman to Swim the English Channel Could Fetch $1.3 Million” / October 6, 2025 / Rachel Cormack / Robb Report (accessed November 1, 2025).
- “Mercedes Gleitze – Hall of Fame Pioneer” / 2014 / Swimming World (accessed November 12, 2025).
- “134. Rolex: ‘The Companion Oyster’ Mercedes Gleitze Rolex Oyster” / November 9, 2025 / Sotheby’s (accessed November 9, 2025).
- Oyster Perpetual – Submariner: The Watch that Unlocked the Deep / 2024 / Nicholas Foulkes