Rolex finally introduced its own in-house chronograph mechanism, the calibre 4130, in 2000. The Daytona’s appeal truly began here – the market was recovering from the Quartz Crisis, and the concept of a luxury watch arose. The Daytona had its most substantial facelift since its introduction, with crown guards, a thicker steel bezel, new fonts, and subdials.
ROLEX TIMEPIECE MANUAL
Automatic chronographs first appeared on the market in 1969, but Rolex remained committed to the manual Valjoux, making the odd update, until 1988, when it thought the moment had come to go automatic.Įl Primero chronograph movements were supplied from Zenith, detuning its signature high frequency down to 28,800vph (thus saving Zenith’s bacon with the consistent business that was to come). The Valjoux 72 chronograph calibre was a well-made and dependable hand-wound chronograph calibre with a column wheel controller and lateral clutch. The Daytona was powered by a movement supplied abroad from the start, as was the practice in those days. Paul Newman helped make the Rolex Daytona iconic
ROLEX TIMEPIECE DRIVER
“When I got my first Rolex in the late 1970s (a 1675 GMT), I asked for a discount, and the salesperson said, ‘Sorry sir, we don’t discount Rolex, but if you want one of the Daytonas, I can give you 20% off.'”Īll of that changed when Mr Paul Newman, a superb racing driver as well as a Hollywood figure, started wearing one.
ROLEX TIMEPIECE SKIN
“This was not the case in the 1950s and 1960s, when model names were frequently ambiguous.” The Rolex Submariner was almost dubbed the Rolex Skin Diver, and several watches were released with such dials similarly, the Rolex Daytona was almost called the Rolex Le Mans. “We like to think of Rolex as a highly focused and resolute corporation,” says Rolex historian, author, and collector James Dowling. Daytonas were frequently discounted by dealers, and significantly fewer were produced than competitor watches. The sports chronograph was invented at the beginning of the 1960s. Rolex had previously created a few chronographs, but they were of a prior generation, with thin, beautiful hands, Arabic numerals, and smaller casings. The Daytona, like the Heuer Carrera and Omega Speedmaster, was introduced in 1963 in order to capitalize on the growing popularity of motor racing (remember this is long before the Speedmaster went into space).
Rolex‘s sole conventional chronograph for the previous 54 years has always had a long waiting list, and older examples have become both the cornerstone and the brightest stars of the auction market. It has achieved a stature comparable to possibly only the Submariner and the Speedmaster, allowing it to lose the name of its legendary manufacturer. It is named after the Florida city known as the “Capital of Speed,” which is possibly more famous than the motor racing that takes place there. Few watches have sparked as much mystique as the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona.
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