INTRODUCTION

BELOW:

Sir Malcolm Campbell in his new Blue Bird V at Daytona Beach, Florida, 1935. He set a land speed record of 276.82 mph (445.5 km/h) with his supercar powered by a 2,300 hp, 36.7-liter Rolls-Royce V12 engine.

DAYTONA… a legendary name among watch aficionados, one that conjures up montages of speed, engines whirring dust, sound and most of all, glamor. The origin of the myth that is the Cosmograph Daytona is linked to a city in Florida, named Daytona, which was later renamed Daytona Beach.

From the 1900s to the 1950s, its beach was the site of many motorcycle and automobile races, thanks to its smooth and compact sand. It also became the playground for numerous land speed record attempts, with the most prestigious drivers, such as Malcolm Campbell. It was in 1959 that the Daytona 500 race was born. It took place on the newly built Daytona International Speedway – hence, a central start to the Cosmograph Daytona story.

Paul Newman And Daytona

One cannot discuss the success and popularization of vintage watch collecting as a whole without acknowledging the impact Paul Newman has had in this world. Starting from the middle of the 1960s, Rolex further expanded its existing catalog and commercialized Cosmographs with so-called “exotic” dials. These dials are immediately recognizable due to the Art Deco-style numerals found in the subsidiary registers. Moreover, these dials are three-dimensional in construction: the main portion is higher than the registers and the contrasting minutes track is delimited by a step.

Today, these exotic dials are synonymous with philanthropic actor and motor sportsman Paul Newman – and watches with such dials are now commonly called “Paul Newman” Daytonas. In fact, during the filming of Winning, Paul Newman fell in love with racing and became a true motorsport enthusiast. His wife, Joanne Woodward, consequently gifted him a sports chronograph, an exotic Daytona variant (reference 6239), with a personalized and now famous inscription on the caseback:

This chapter identifies the milestones that have shaped the Cosmograph Daytona as we know it today.

From the birth of Hans Wilsdorf to the development of the chronograph movement, Oyster case and crown: the Cosmograph Daytona was not conceived in a creative vacuum, but represents the culmination of Rolex’s efforts in technology, combined with world events.