Our first live auction of 2025, the PHILLIPS Geneva Watch Auction: XXI, takes place on 10 - 11 May, at the Hotel President, at Quai Wilson 47, in central Geneva. The auction includes nearly 200 of the world's finest watches – and though we are loath to boast, we truly think it's one of the best catalogs we've ever put together. We'll be highlighting a number of the most interesting lots and stories featured in the sale over the next month, including the Rolex Triple-Calendar ref. 6062 detailed below.
– By Logan Baker
In the world of vintage Rolex, few references sit on a higher pedestal than the 6062. It’s the full package: automatic movement, triple calendar, moon-phase, and an Oyster case. The 6062 isn’t just rare — it’s a blueprint for Rolex's few but mighty ventures into complicated watchmaking. So when an example this good pops up fresh-to-market, heads turn fast.
At the Geneva Watch Auction: XXI this May, Phillips is offering a 6062 like you've never seen. Yellow gold, 36mm, with a bracelet and the original box, consigned by the original owner. But what really makes this watch special isn't the case metal, or even the condition — it’s the dial.
You’re looking at a Rolex 6062 with a soleil (sunburst) dial, and it’s not some later swap or service replacement. It's original to the watch, part of a tiny batch sold a full decade after Rolex stopped making the 6062.
Let’s back up for a second. Rolex built the 6062 between 1950 and 1953, at a time when the brand was really starting to look toward the future. The ‘50s gave us the Submariner, the GMT-Master, and the Milgauss — hard-wearing, professional tool watches made for adventure. Complicated watches like the 6062 didn’t fit the mold, and they didn’t sell well.
That’s why today, they’re some of the rarest vintage Rolexes you’ll find.
Experts estimate Rolex made somewhere between 500 and 1,000 examples, and maybe 110 of them have surfaced publicly. Most collectors chase the "Stelline" dial versions, with star-shaped markers. Others prefer triangle, Explorer-style, dagger, or pyramid ("Egyptian") markers. Rolex mixed case metals and dial styles, trying to spark more interest, but the 6062 remained a tough sell.
Now here’s where this example flips the script.
When the Phillips team first examined the watch, the soleil dial raised eyebrows. At first, we thought it was a service dial — a later addition during maintenance. But that theory fell apart once we dug deeper.
Turns out, this watch is one of three identical 6062s originally sold in 1964 by Gübelin, the famous Swiss retailer. A mother bought them new to gift to her three sons. One sold his privately years ago. The other two — including the example coming up for auction — have stayed in family hands ever since.
That timeline matters. It explains why the dials look the way they do. It's likely that after sitting in inventory for about a decade, Rolex gave these watches a facelift — fitting them with updated sunburst dials to match mid-'60s tastes. It worked. The watches found buyers. And it left us, 60 years later, with something even more collectible: a Rolex 6062 that never quite fit the original mold but still holds Rolex’s own fingerprints all over it.
Only these three soleil non-service dial 6062s are known to exist. They serve as evidence of Rolex adapting, improvising, and surviving.
There are a few other fascinating details. The luminous material on the dial is tritium, but the dial is still marked “Swiss,” not “T Swiss T” like you'd expect. That’s because Rolex had just switched from radium to tritium around 1963, and they were likely still using leftover dial stock. Swap out the luminous paste, leave the print — a classic Rolex move from an era when production wasn’t nearly as industrialized as it is today.
At 36mm, the watch wears beautifully, especially on the gold bracelet purchased by the consignor in 1968 four years after originally acquiring the watch. The case remains sharp, the dial crisp, and the sunburst effect catches the light with just the right amount of drama.
The soleil non-service dial ref. 6062 is a watch that Rolex never really intended to create, yet somehow, by accidents of time and taste, it's become one of the most fascinating vintage Rolex watches on offer this auction season.
You can learn more, place a bid, and view the entire Geneva Watch Auction: XXI catalogue right here.
About Phillips In Association With Bacs & Russo
The team of specialists at PHILLIPS Watches is dedicated to an uncompromised approach to quality, transparency, and client service. Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo holds the world record for the most successful watch auction, with its Geneva Watch Auction: XIV having realized $74.5 million in 2021. Over the course of 2021 and 2022, the company sold 100% of the watches offered, a first in the industry, resulting in the highest annual total in history across all the auction houses at $227 million.
About Logan Baker
Logan has spent the past decade reporting on every aspect of the watch business. He joined Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo at the start of 2023 as the department's Senior Editorial Manager. He splits his time between New York and Geneva.
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