Daytona

The Rolex Daytona Cosmograph has become a legendary automobile racing watch. The name itself comes from the famous racetrack in Daytona Beach, Florida, where many famous car races where held. The watch gained popularity in the race circuits due to its useful ability to calculate average lap times. Daytonas are Chronographs, which basically means that they can also be used as stop watches. The Daytona model became even more popular after the Academy Award winning actor and watch lover Paul Newman played race car driver Frank Capua in the 1969 film “Winning.” An “exotic” dial version of the watch would soon bear his name. Mr. Newman also appeared on the cover of a famous Italian magazine and in movie posters wearing his Daytona, which fueled the popularity of the watch around the world even further. The Rolex Daytona is another great example of elegance and chronometric precision on and off the track.

Rolex Daytona Reference 6239 debuted in 1963. The watch was built for professional racecar drivers and had a tachymeter scale on the bezel to calculate average speeds over a mile. Its stopwatch and sub-dials added to its motorsport-inspired appearance. Rolex had sponsored the Daytona International Speedway since the early 1960s, therefore later models added "Daytona" to the dial. Racing fans and watch collectors loved the watch's motorsports connection. The Rolex Daytona's design has maintained its ageless elegance and sporting performance. The Rolex Daytona's hands and hour markers are precision-made for legibility and elegance. Elegant, luminous hands make reading in dim light easier. Some watches have 18-karat gold hour markings, adding luxury to the display. These pieces are meticulously designed to blend together.