AN exclusive wristwatch has broken the world record when it came up for auction today.

An unnamed collector has paid £86,000 for the Rolex timepiece after frenetic bidding during the auction in Newcastle, the highest price ever paid for a watch of this type.

The rare watch, a 1964 steel-cased Oyster Perpetual Submariner with an explorer dial, smashed the existing record of £62,000 when it went under the hammer at the Anderson and Garland auction house.

There are believed to be fewer than 50 of its type left in the world.

Andrew McCoull, managing director of Anderson and Garland, said: "This is a great result for our client and is even more of a success than we had anticipated.

"It’s a nice timepiece and the buyer did well to secure it.

"Occasionally we do see lots like these generating huge amounts of interest and bidding wars can break out."