Getty Images/Sotheby’s
A legendary coach deserves a watch that’s downright presidential. So, it’s only fitting that the late Tom Landry wore an 18-karat gold Rolex Day-Date. Now, two decades after his passing, the x-and-o master’s regal timepiece is heading to auction.
On Wednesday, Sotheby’s announced it will offer the Rolex “President” once owned and worn by the founding head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. The piece started appearing on Landry’s wrist in 1979, which he often paired with a powder blue suit and his signature fedora. It’s now headed to market for the first time as part of the auction house’s Important Watches auction on December 7 in New York. Pre-sale estimates have the watch hammering down for between $30,000 and $60,000.
The watch’s case is crafted from a luminous 18-karat yellow gold, topped by a matching gold fluted bezel. A closer look reveals a Champagne dial with raised gold baton hour markers. The Day-Date also features a center sweep seconds hand, outer minutes and half-seconds divisions, a date aperture at 12 o’clock, and a Cyclops magnified date window at 3 o’clock. It comes with a matching 18-karat yellow gold bracelet that helps seal its “presidential” appeal.
Tom Landry’s gold Rolex “President” Day-Date watch.
Sotheby’s
“They said that dad was the first NFL coach to wear a Rolex Day-Date,” Tom Landry Jr., the coach’s son tells Sotheby’s in a statement. He was given the watch by his wife, Alicia Landry, in 1977 after he led the Cowboys to their second Super Bowl victory. “She didn’t want to just put it on his charge card, so she worked part-time for her father and bought dad the watch herself,” Landry Jr. says.
Landry was made the first head coach of the Cowboys upon the team’s founding in 1960. He went on win two Super Bowls, 5 NFC titles, 13 Divisional titles, and compiled a 270-178-6 record—the third most wins of all time for an NFL coach. By 1990, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame following his 29-year tenure. He died on February 12, 2000 at age 75.
Papers made out to “Mrs. Tom Landry” come with the coach’s Rolex Day-Date, as well as his infamous power blue suit, shirt, tie, and fedora that he won during Super Bowl XII. You can view the watch and its accompanying items on display at Sotheby’s New York from December 1 to 6 before it is auctioned off on December 7.
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