Rolex Daytona. Time runs fast

The Rolex Daytona, a milestone in watchmaking, is a watch loved by fans of the crowned brand, which has bewitched and made entire generations fall in love with it, because it is timeless and has always been considered the status symbol par excellence, for every age and sex group. When it was presented in 1963, the Oyster Cosmograph model was briefly named ‘Le Mans’, but when it was presented on the American market, it adopted the name ‘Daytona’ in honour of the 24 Hours of which it became the official sponsor.

The ‘Paul Newman’ Daytona model is a must in Swiss sports watchmaking of the 1960s and 1970s because of its contrasting minute track, which makes the dial look smaller, and the typical lollipop index with square tops printed in the sub-dials, making it totally different and much more visible than the normal dial. A steel example from 1968, Ref. 6241, with a diameter of 37 mm, will be sold at the Monte Carlo Watch Auction on 14 July with an estimate of € 130,000 – 230,000 (lot 270).

The 1995 steel Daytona ‘Winner’, Ref. 16520, is one of the four watches officially awarded to the winners of the 1995 competition with the German Kremer team in a Kremer K8 Spyder-Porsche. This watch is particularly rare because it was only awarded to members of the winning crew (lot 288, estimate 160,000 – 280,000 euros)