When it was launched more than 60 years ago in 1963, the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph was already late to the party. Omega had launched the Speedmaster years ago (in 1957) and was the front-runner in the race to be the official watch of NASA's Apollo space programme. American astronaut Walter Schirra had famously worn his privately bought Speedmaster Ref. CK2998 in space on October 3, 1962.
As the title 'Cosmograph' suggests, Rolex was hoping to get in on a bit of the space action. However, when the Omega Speedmaster was "Flight Qualified" by NASA in 1965, Rolex was quick to align themselves with motorsport, specifically the Daytona International Speedway in Florida. So, while the first reference, the Ref. 6239, introduced in 1963 didn't have the verbiage Daytona on the dial, models produced from 1965 onwards featured the name of the circuit on the dial. Sixty years on, the Daytona is probably the most important steel chronograph wristwatch in history with endless waiting lists at authorised dealers around the world.
To mark the milestone anniversary last year, Rolex introduced a series of new models including one that no one saw coming—a white-gold Ref. 126529LN to mark 100 years of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the world's oldest endurance race. The most striking aspect of the watch was that its reverse panda configuration includes white registers that pay homage to the exotic dials seen on the legendary Paul Newman Daytona models. This year, the brand unveiled versions with mother-of pearl dials. Read about Rolex launches of this year here.
No doubt, this is going to emerge as a hot-ticket Daytona in the years to come, but it also makes sense to look back at some of the most collectible and interesting manual-winding Daytona models.
Ref. 6239 Paul Newman 'Panda Dial'
The first Cosmograph reference and the watch that started the whole Paul Newman Daytona craze. This first reference included an 'exotic dial variant that had a tricolour scheme and Art Deco-inspired numerals. These exotic dials weren't necessarily popular when they were launched, but their demand reached stratospheric levels when legendary actor Paul Newman was spotted wearing this model on the cover of an Italian magazine. In 2017, Christie's sold an example that could be considered the Paul Newman archetype: In fact, this was among the very first Daytonas to be fitted with a Paul Newman dial. More recently in 2021, an example from 1968 was sold for CHF 275,000 at Christie's Geneva.
Ref. 6263 'Legend' with Lemon Paul Newman dial
The yellow-gold vintage Paul Newman Daytona represents a rarefied sub-set even within the esoteric community of Paul Newman collectors. The Ref. 6263 in yellow gold with the 'Lemon' Paul Newman dials in a rich lemon-yellow hue (hence the nickname) was considered a mythical reference-only three have ever been seen in the open market.
The widely accepted belief was that yellow-gold Paul Newman models were all presented with pump chronograph pushers, not the screw-down pushers seen on the Ref. 6263 models. Extremely collectible, an example sold at Christie's Geneva for CHF 3,414,000 in November
2022. So rare and collectible, it even has three nicknames to go with the three million plus figure it fetched at the auctions.
John Player Special Daytona models
Arguably the most handsome Daytona model ever made, the yellow gold Ref. 6264 and
Ref. 6241 with black dials were nicknamed 'John Player Special' or ‘JPS' because the gold and black colour scheme of the watch echoed the livery of the Lotus Formula 1 team that was sponsored by John Player Special (the cigarette brand's distinct gold and black colour branding was adopted by the Lotus F1 team).
The Ref. 6264 was only produced for a few years between the end of the 1960s until the beginning of the 1970s. Only a fraction of these were fitted with the exotic Paul Newman dial, making it an extremely collectible Daytona.
The Daytona Ref. 6241 was made between 1966 and 1969, a relatively short production period in the iconic chronograph's history. It was distinguished by its black acrylic bezel insert and pump pushers for the chronograph function. It is believed that about 300 pieces—a tenth of the total estimated Ref. 6241 production-were cased in 18K yellow gold and even fewer examples in 14K yellow gold. The latter versions were made for the North American market; the 14K alloy versions helped Rolex avoid import duty.
It is a given that vintage Daytona models are extremely collectible. Now within this category, you are looking at a subset of yellow gold-cased chronographs and within this select group is the exclusive set of Paul Newman dial models. And now consider how few of these watches with a Paul Newman dial were cased in 14K yellow gold-yes, you are looking at a truly rare wristwatch. The JPS has been spotted on the wrists of celebrities like Maroon 5's Adam Levine and experts believe that fewer than 10 examples of the JPS (both Ref. 6264 and 6241) have turned up at auctions in the past two decades.
Ref. 6239 'Solo'
Reference 6239 'Solo' gets its nickname from the minimalist dial that only features the verbiage 'Rolex'. Available in both silver and black dial versions, very few 'Solo' dial watches have surfaced over the years. What's also special about these dials is that 'Rolex' is positioned lower down on the dial than on examples of Ref. 6239's signed 'Rolex Cosmograph', which gives these watches a pared-down, almost minimalist aesthetic.
The 'Solo' dials are part of the early evolution of the Rolex Cosmograph model, and due to the existence of period Rolex advertisements illustrating Ref. 6239 watches with 'Solo' dials, it is indeed certain that some examples of the 6239 were originally manufactured with 'Solo' dials.
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