The Rolex Cosmograph Daytona, and the best non-manufacture caliber for the job
Second only to the Submariner, and for some the epitome of Rolex, we do love the crowned chronograph known as the Daytona. So, after some historical and well-known chronographs with third-party movements, I’ll jump through the hoops of time. We enter the colorful Sixties and are faced with a watch which, to many, is the chronograph of chronographs, the Rolex Daytona. This is the usual ace up my sleeve when it comes to dispelling the Rolex in-house myth, and it is the most relevant for a younger audience.
Especially when this is one of the references that takes off like a rocketship at auction, fetching undeniably ludicrous amounts. Even without an in-house movement. The Rolex Daytona ref. 6239 made its debut in 1963. This was a year after Rolex first served as the official timekeeper for the famous 500 mile endurance race, at the Daytona International Speedway.
The ref.6239 “Paul Newman”
The most famous of all Daytonas, is named after Paul Newman, not the Actor, but the Gentleman Racer. Inside the 6239 and all hand-wound Daytonas was a thoroughly reworked Valjoux Caliber 72. Shocked? You shouldn’t be. At the time, this was simply the best caliber for the job. Obviously, it was thoroughly re-engineered by Rolex, with the brand’s own superior shock-absorption device. After all, this was no gala dinner trinket, but a steel sports watch and a timing tool. The charm of the Valjoux 72 is that you can have a piece of multi-million dollar history on your wrist for less than a thousand dollars in any other cool sixties watch.Unfortunately, this also makes it a tempting target for the most skilled counterfeiters out there. This is a watch with the price of a house (or several). The most expensive Daytona sold at auction? Please, sit down and take a deep breath. Ready? Well, it sold for a cool $17.75 million in 2017. Not bad for a Valjoux-equipped chronograph.
The previous modern Daytona was surely equipped with an in-house caliber?
Wrong! Sorry, but once again for Rolex, it was always a case of finding the best engine for the job. To pull out another car from my petrol-head past, look at the fastest most famous sports car of the nineties, the McLaren F1. The engine was not an all-British piece of engineering, but a bullet-proof BMW lump of steel. At the same time, the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Reference 4030 had just changed to a self-winding movement. What was the best choice in 1988? The Zenith El Primero.
Yes, it does translate to “the first”, and for a good reason. It would have been marvelous to have the full-fat 36,000vph movement buzzing away inside the racing-inspired icon, but Rolex had other ideas. Rolex made major changes to the El Primero, including slowing its frequency from 36,000 to 28,800 vph. This resulted in a longer power reserve and longer service intervals, and Rolex renamed the movement Caliber 4030, tough enough to last 12 years in production.
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