RELEASED IN 1963, PAUL NEWMAN’S FAVORITE TIMEPIECE STILL HAS COLLECTORS CLAMORING MORE THAN 60 YEARS LATER
By Josh Hendizadeh
Within any collecting category, there are certain items that transcend the category and become larger-than-life. The Rolex Daytona is one of them. It is not the most expensive watch, nor is it the most beautiful. It is not the most robust, and it is not the rarest, but far and away it is the most popular.
Named for Florida’s famous speedway, the Daytona comes from a long line of Rolex chronographs that include the pre-Daytona reference 6234. The Daytona has always been one of Rolex’s flagship models and arguably the flagship sports model within the brand’s catalog. Born in 1963 with the reference 6239, the four-digit manual-wind Daytonas had staying power until about 1988 when Rolex decided to go automatic. During this 25-year span the Daytona grew from a watch to legend and is most closely associated with actor and race car driver Paul Newman.
This circa 1969 14k gold variant of Rolex’s Daytona reference 6241 ‘John Player Special’ featuring the highly desirable ‘Paul Newman’ dial realized $804,500 in an October 2018 Heritage auction.
In the late 1960s Joanne Woodward gifted Newman a manual-wind reference 6239 Rolex Daytona because of his keen interest in racing. Woodward engraved the watch with “Drive Carefully Me” on the case back to reflect her concerns about her husband’s need for speed. That same watch, Newman’s “Paul Newman,” sold in 2017 for the princely sum of $17.8 million. The watch became one with Newman’s name, and he regularly wore various Rolex Daytonas until his death in 2008.
Not many watches are collecting categories on their own; the Daytona has become that watch. The Daytona has long been on collectors’ wish lists because of its chronograph counters, screw-down pushers and sporty look. Few watches on the market can be dressed up or down and look the part perfectly. This is where the Daytona excels. It is a lesson in good design that can be worn anywhere and in every situation.
This rare stainless Rolex Cosmograph Daytona reference 6241 with ‘Paul Newman’ dial sold for $168,750 in a November 2022 Heritage auction.
Since 1988, when the automatic models debuted, Rolex has had trouble meeting demand for the Daytona. The watch is so popular, in fact, that Rolex refuses to put clients on a wait list. Instead, one must be a regular customer of the crown to be deemed worthy to get the call to purchase a Daytona. This hysteria started in 2016 with the introduction of the reference 116500 and continues with the newly released 126500 reference. These two references catapulted the Daytona into a different stratosphere, cementing it as the most popular watch on the planet. The main reason was the dramatic redesign of the dial and the addition of a ceramic bezel, hearkening back to the original Paul Newman Daytona.
This circa 2011 Rolex Daytona reference 116505 in 18k Everose gold is available in Heritage’s November 20 Watches & Fine Timepieces Signature® Auction.
The Rolex Daytona has transformed watch collecting in a way no other watch has, and it is arguably the watch against which all other watches are compared. While Rolex makes millions of watches every year, the Daytona remains a small fraction of that count. Demand for the model has increased tremendously, but production has stayed the same year after year. That relative rarity combined with the model’s rich history and masterful design maintains the Daytona’s status as the watch to watch.
JOSH HENDIZADEH is Consignment Director of Watches & Fine Timepieces at Heritage Auctions. He can be reached at JoshH@ha.com or 310.492.8610.