My Favorite Rolex Watch Box Of All Time: The King Midas Urn

When it comes to epic Rolex boxes, there is only one, the legendary King Midas urn. Shaped in the style and size of a beautiful Grecian urn from before Christ, the urn is black and red just like the ones seen in the British Museum in London. This is part of the interesting design and history of the Rolex King Midas. Until recently, the King Midas was a rather obscure model that did not get much attention from collectors. When you hear King Midas, you often think of Elvis Presley, but little else. In fact, the Rolex King Midas was introduced in 1962 as one of the first integrated style watches ever made. To the best of our knowledge, it was the first watch to ever be made with a sapphire crystal. It was also unusual because the crown was placed on the left of the case, but was intended to be worn on the left hand, similar to the “Destro Sprite” GMT-Master II we see today, and other unusual Rolex models that were made over time. The left-handed aspect of the watch was supposedly in homage to King Midas himself, who, according to mythology, had the golden touch. As the legends go, King Midas could only use his left hand, as anything he touched with his right hand would turn to gold. On the Rolex urn are depictions of battle scenes and spear-bearing soldiers, amidst the act of warfare. The King Midas is also interesting because we associate Rolex watches with both the Oyster watches, which are water resistant, and the Perpetual watches, which are automatically wound. The Midas is neither; it is a manually wound watch that is not water resistant. The first generation of Midas watches had the word Midas written in Greek above the 6 o'clock position. The earliest versions are now quick sellers whenever we get them, and have skyrocketed in value. The Midas box is interesting; it's plush, it’s black-tooled leather, with a beautiful suede interior. Some years ago, these boxes could be found for one or two thousand dollars. We have heard tales of these boxes going for well north of ten thousand dollars when they hit the market today, and can make the difference between a watch selling fast or languishing. Some of the boxes have different interiors. Some examples feature a small holder for the watch, whereas others, like the one pictured above, do not have a holder. We don't believe the holder was lost; it’s likely the watch was meant to be placed inside the box. We find the King Midas to be an extremely interesting watch. It was made as a model line starting in 1962 until at least 1990 with the asymmetrical case shape. The watch was initially released with a fully integrated bracelet and, in later references, on a strap, with a large variety of dials, including stone dials, various gold textures, and different styles of engravings. Overall, the King Midas and its urn-style box are an extremely interesting part of the Rolex story.