It’s easy to look at the world’s most famous watches today and assume they were always destined for greatness.
Not quite.
Some watches we now regard as icons were once difficult to sell. Others were criticised for looking strange, being too expensive or simply being too far ahead of their time.
A few even disappeared altogether before making an unlikely comeback.
Here are some of our favourite watches that very nearly didn’t become the legends we know today.
Rolex Daytona – the watch nobody wanted
Today, the words Rolex Daytona are enough to get watch collectors interested.
Back in the 1960s and 70s? Not so much.
The early manually wound Daytonas were notoriously slow sellers. In fact, there are records of some examples made in the early 1980s remaining unsold until years later. Can you imagine?!
Then there were the unusual so-called “exotic” dials.
These were even less popular.
The contrasting subdials, unusual numerals and splashes of colour weren't what Rolex customers were looking for at the time. Dealers struggled to shift them and some were reportedly sold at significant discounts.
But - and you can probably guess where this story is going -
Actor and racing driver Paul Newman famously wore one of those exotic-dial Daytonas. Years later, collectors began referring to them as Paul Newman Daytonas and watches that had once been unwanted became some of the most desirable vintage Rolexes in existence.
When Newman's own Daytona was auctioned in 2017, it sold for $17.75 million.
Not bad for a watch people once struggled to sell.
The Daytona story also changed dramatically in 1988 when Rolex introduced the automatic reference 16520. Demand took off and the Daytona gradually became the phenomenon we know today.
And yes, more than half a century after those early watches were sitting unloved in dealers' windows, the Daytona remains one of the stars of the Rolex collection.
Check out Watch Buyer's Daytonas here.
TAG Heuer Monaco – perhaps just too different
Imagine seeing the Monaco for the first time in 1969.
Watches were generally round. Then along came Heuer with a large square case, blue dial, bright red details and the crown sitting on the left.
It looked like something from the future. It was instantly a 'marmite' watch - you loved it or you hated it.
And technically, it was rather special too. The Monaco was launched as one of Heuer's first automatic chronographs and became the first water-resistant square automatic chronograph.
Then came Steve McQueen.
McQueen wore a blue Monaco while filming Le Mans in 1971, creating an association between the actor, motor racing and the watch that remains incredibly powerful today.
Surely that guaranteed its success just like Paul Newman's part above?
Apparently not.
Heuer continued experimenting with different versions of the Monaco, but sales were difficult. By 1975 dealers were being offered Monacos at close-out prices and production came to an end.
That might have been the end of the story.
But in 1997, TAG Heuer brought the Monaco back.
The design that had perhaps been too radical for buyers in the early 1970s suddenly looked brilliantly distinctive. The Monaco has since appeared in numerous versions and is now one of TAG Heuer's most recognisable watches.
Sometimes being ahead of your time simply means waiting for everyone else to catch up.
TAG Heuer Monaco at Watch Buyers.
Rolex Milgauss – made for scientists, ignored by almost everyone else
The Rolex Milgauss had a rather unusual problem.
It was extremely good at solving a problem that most people simply didn't have.
Introduced during the 1950s, the Milgauss was designed for scientists, engineers and others working around strong magnetic fields, which could interfere with a mechanical watch.
Its name tells you exactly what it was about: mille means one thousand in French, while gauss is a unit of magnetic field strength.
Clever? Absolutely.
Mass-market appeal? Less so.
Vintage Milgauss watches could sit with dealers for years. One reference 1019 cited by Hodinkee carried a serial number dating it to 1979 but wasn't actually sold until 1990.
Rolex eventually discontinued the Milgauss in the late 1980s.
And then something interesting happened.
Collectors began appreciating precisely the things that had made the watch unusual in the first place. Its scientific history, relatively small numbers and distinctive design suddenly made vintage examples rather desirable.
Rolex revived the Milgauss in 2007, complete with that wonderfully odd lightning-bolt seconds hand, before discontinuing the collection again in 2023.
The Rolex nobody particularly wanted had become a Rolex people collected.
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak – the watch people thought was mad
We need to be slightly careful with this one.
You'll often hear that the Royal Oak was a complete commercial failure when it launched.
It wasn't.
But people certainly thought Audemars Piguet had lost the plot.
Introduced in 1972 and designed by Gérald Genta, the Royal Oak broke just about every convention of traditional luxury watchmaking.
It was big.
It was made from stainless steel.
It had an octagonal bezel with visible screws.
And despite being steel, it cost about as much as a gold watch.
Can you imagine the outcry! Even Audemars Piguet's own historical records acknowledge the scepticism surrounding it.
But here's where the often-repeated story goes wrong.
The Royal Oak actually sold 490 pieces during 1972, making it Audemars Piguet's most successful single model since the company had been founded in 1875. Almost 1,000 had been sold a little over a year after launch.
So it wasn't really a watch that nobody bought.
It was a watch that many people thought shouldn't work – but did.
And in doing so, it helped create an entirely new category: the luxury steel sports watch.
Today, the Royal Oak is instantly recognisable and one of the most celebrated designs in modern watchmaking.
Sometimes getting it wrong is exactly right
There's something rather satisfying about these stories.
The Daytona's unusual dials weren't wanted.
The Monaco was so radical that it disappeared from production.
The Milgauss was designed for such a specific audience that many buyers simply passed it by.
And plenty of people couldn't understand why Audemars Piguet was asking luxury-watch money for something made from steel.
Yet those same characteristics are now part of what makes these watches fascinating.
Watch collecting has a habit of proving that today's oddity can become tomorrow's icon.
Perhaps that's worth remembering the next time a watch manufacturer unveils something and the entire watch world responds:
“What on earth were they thinking?”
They might just be onto something.
At Watch Buyers, we've been buying and selling luxury watches since 1994.
Whether you're looking for a Rolex Daytona, TAG Heuer Monaco or something a little more unusual, take a look at our latest collection – or speak to us if there's a particular watch you'd like us to source.
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