For its first two decades the Daytona was an unloved stepchild in the Rolex catalog—dealers gave them away with Datejusts to move inventory. History has been kind. The manual-wind era (1963–1988) is now the most scholarly corner of vintage collecting, defined by the Valjoux 72–powered references 6239, 6241, 6262, 6263, and 6265. Within them lie dial variants that trade for six and seven figures: the 'Paul Newman' exotic dials with art-deco fonts and stepped sub-registers, the 'Big Red' Daytona script, the 'Sigma' dials with white-gold hour markers, and the transitional 'MK' printings. The 1988 Zenith El Primero–powered 16520 modernized the case with sapphire and screw-down pushers, launching the modern Daytona era and, eventually, the multi-year waitlists of today.
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Model
Rolex Cosmograph Daytona
A slow-selling chronograph that became the most coveted Rolex on earth.
- Introduced
- 1963
- Case sizes
- 37mm (manual) · 40mm
- Notable references
- 6239624162626263626516520116520116500
What to watch for
Redialed Paul Newmans, refinished pump-pusher cases, and service Valjoux 72 movements without matching serials.