Why Did A Cheap Fake Rolex Milgauss Ref. 6541 Fetch CHF 2.2 Million?

A perfect replica Rolex Milgauss ref. 6541 UK was auctioned for CHF 2,238,000 this past March, I am sure you heard. Now that the dust has settled somewhat, we ask ourselves: was it worth it? What makes this such a special copy watch? And why did it outperform its estimate by so much?

Let’s have a look at one of the rarest regular production models from The Crown.

Milgauss history 101
Let’s kick things off with a very brief recap of what sort of watch we are dealing with. The story started in the mid-1950s. Swiss made replica Rolex UK was hard at work releasing watches for specific professional target audiences — the Submariner for divers, the GMT-Master for pilots, and the Explorer for, well, explorers. Omega’s Railmaster had already shown there was a market for a watch with great magnetism resistance. So luxury super clone Rolex followed suit with a specialist watch for scientists and others working in highly magnetic environments, such as hospitals and laboratories.

The first 1:1 fake Rolex Milgauss was ref. 6543 in a 38mm steel case with a rotating bezel. It featured an iron ring around the movement and an extra-thick case back for protection from magnetic fields. Reference 6541, as recently auctioned, used a full-iron Faraday cage inside rather than the thicker case back. The key visual difference to the 6543 was the lightning-bolt-shaped seconds hand. Both share a waffle dial, a dauphine handset, and the AAA copy Rolex caliber 1080 inside.

These early references are poorly documented. There are versions known with solid steel bezels as opposed to the Submariner-style rotating bezels. Swiss movement replica Rolex Reference 1019 replaced the 65xx models in 1960. There were likely only around 200 pieces produced by then as they did not turn out to be a great commercial success.