DAYTONA MODELS – TIMELINE

STEEL DAYTONA DIALS ROLEX OYSTER COSMOGRAPH (ROC)

With the emergence of the screw-down pushers, first on reference 6240, then on references 6263 and 6265, Rolex added the name OYSTER on their Cosmograph dials. One of the two possible text configurations was ROLEX OYSTER COSMOGRAPH, in the upper part of the dial.

The script was produced in different forms, changing the position on the dial depending on production batches. While some examples have the text suspended downwards, others are printed higher as well. These “High ROC” and “Low ROC” dials often bear the Sigma sign around T SWISS T (see pp. xx) and are therefore named “High ROC Sigma” and “Low ROC Sigma”. The combination of 1) the position of “ROC” and 2) the absence or presence of three different Sigma variants results in approximately 11 script variants.

“Low ROC” dials are more rarely observed, most of them between 1972 and 1974.

Finally, a very rare “Low ROC” variant, called Big Eye, has slightly larger subsidiary registers. As a visible result, the lower register touches the SWISS script.

This dial configuration was used for less than a decade, from approximately 1971 to 1977.

The model designation can be high (black dial, left) or low (black dial, right). Some very rare variants have larger registers (silvered dial, left) compared to that of the classic version (silvered dial, right).