The Makings of the Rolex Daytona

The Rolex Daytona has been a cornerstone in the world of sports watches for 60 years, with a lineage that can trace its history back even further to the 1940’s with references such as the “Pre-Daytona” Chronograph 6238.

The Daytona has been made in numerous metals and colorways over the years, however it is instantly recognizable by having three distinct subdials indicating running seconds, the elapsed minutes and hours for the chronograph, a tachymeter scale on the outer bezel for measuring land speed and an “Oyster” style bracelet.

While the style of a Rolex Daytona has always been a distinct, purpose driven design, there have been significant changes over the years including the name of the model. In this article we will follow the history of this sports model, which has developed over four significant chapters.

The Origins of Rolex and Chronographs

Prior to the “Daytona” branding, a number of early Rolex Chronographs laid a foundation for what would be a successful series over the last 60 years. These references include rare chronograph calendar models such as the “Killy” ref. 4767 and the “Pre-Daytona” reference 6238, which used movements sourced from Valjoux rather than having been made in-house.

©Collector Square

The Daytona name itself came about in 1962, with the advent of Rolex becoming the official timekeeper of the Daytona International Speedway in Florida, USA; a racetrack originally made of compacted sand on Daytona Beach.

©The New York Times

This association with auto racing was impactful on the development of the series, and a natural development as successful drivers at Daytona Speedway had already been fans of Rolex, such as driver Sir Malcolm Campbell who had been wearing Rolex watches for the prior 30 years and even wrote to Rolex about his admiration for the durability of their watches.

The same year as the brand attained “official timekeeper” status, the first Rolex chronograph with “Daytona” on the dial was launched, the reference 6239 powered by a handwinding Valjoux Caliber 72. It was this very series that the famous “Paul Newman” Daytona was produced, made popular as the popular actor, successful racing driver and philanthropist wore the Daytona with “Panda” dial throughout his racing career, again entering the public eye when it hammered for $17.8 million USD at the Phillips New York Winning Icons in 2017.

©SwissWatchExpo

Several years later and always improving, Rolex adopted screw-down pushers for the 6240 reference, making it more water resistant to 100 meters instead of 50 meters, more in line with other Oyster models available at the time. This reference with acrylic inlay, and the 6262 reference with steel bezel, were only produced for a few years, making them extremely rare. The references 6263 and 6265 were the last handwinding models produced, coming to a close in 1988.

Introduction of Automatic Winding and the Zenith Daytona

Around 20 years after the Daytona series Adopted its name and entered more regular production, Rolex decided to adopt a new, automatic winding movement sourced from Zenith, denoted with a new reference 16520 in 1988. This change coincided with the “quartz crisis” affecting the entirety of the watch industry with numerous brands folding, while others sought to innovate and offer something valuable to the market.

While the base ebauches were procured from outside, Rolex did perform numerous additional steps of refinement, modifications and adjustments to the movements including lowering the beat rate to 28,800 vph from 36,000 vph for a better power reserve (72 hours from 52) and longer service intervals. These updates were deemed sufficient and performed well in the field, as the brand continued to use these Zenith movements for the next 12 years, and today, Zenith Daytona’s are interesting and collectable pieces for collectors.

©AP Watches

In addition, Rolex made extensive updates to the design of the case. Most, but not all, of these Daytona references with Zenith movements can generally be externally indicated by thinner subdials than the later Caliber 4130 powered references, hollow end links and a running-seconds indication at 9 o’clock instead of the modern 6 o’clock position.

In total, these updates made the new Zenith-powered Daytona more modern and practical as a daily wearable, racing sports watch.

Rolex Movement Production Moves In-House

In the year 2000, Rolex launched the 116500 series of Daytona’s with the new in-house produced Caliber 4130 movement. Visually very similar to the outgoing Zenith-powered Daytona, the new reference is the same diameter, but slightly thinner, with larger hour markers, hands and a new bracelet with solid end links and Easy Link adjustment.

With this new movement, the Daytona gained a vertical clutch (eliminating the “jump” upon starting the chronograph), a paramagnetic hairspring and hacking seconds.

Launch of the Modern, Cerachrom Bezel Daytona

In 2011, the first notion of what we know today as a Daytona was launched. This reference 116515 was a rose gold reference, featuring the first Cerachrom full-ceramic bezel, increasing the wear resistance and longevity of the case This brown ceramic bezel was seen again a short two years later in 2013 for Daytona ref. 116506 commemorating fifty years of the Daytona.

In 2016, Rolex launched what we know today as the Daytona with the reference 116500LN. Offered in white and black variants with complementary subdial colors, this reference brought together historical elements from the Daytona’s history, most notably a “Panda” style dial. It is no surprise that this model has been extremely popular with hard core enthusiasts and sports watch lovers alike: it is an extremely capable, practical, and historically relevant modern sports watch.

The Daytona Releases From Watches And Wonders 2023

Early last year, Rolex released an update to the Daytona series with a few notable refinements. On the ceramic bezel, Rolex has added a steel ring on the outside, giving it a similar look to bakelite bezels on vintage Daytonas, such as the reference 6263.

In addition, the series gained a new dial design with thinner subdials, which reference the earlier “Zenith” Daytona series. Under the dial, the watch has a new Caliber 4143 movement, shown off only on the platinum Daytona reference 126506 display back.

In June 2023, Rolex announced a special edition Daytona Le Mans’ Reference 126529LN to mark the 100th running of Le Mans. This new reference emulates the Paul Newman Daytona look, including down to the “lollipop” subdial markers, but with a modern, symmetrical white gold case and ceramic bezel. The “100” tachymeter marker is filled in red to mark the anniversary.

These latest updates to the Rolex Daytona are subtle, but give this legendary model a refresh while paying respect to the historical references on which its fame was built over the last 60 years.

Are you interested in owning any of the Rolex Daytona models mentioned here? Contact our team of watch advisors by phone at (+63) 917 159 1211, Instagram, or [email protected] for more information or to set up a viewing.