Rolex Cosmograph Daytona

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Rolex Cosmograph Daytona

18k White Gold Daytona reference 116509 with Arabic Dial, discontinued in 2022
Type	Chronograph wristwatch
Inception	1963 (1963)
Manufacturer	Rolex
Current supplier	Rolex
Website	www.rolex.com/watches/cosmograph-daytona/

The Rolex Cosmograph Daytona is a mechanical chronograph wristwatch designed to meet the needs of racing drivers by measuring elapsed time and calculating average speed. Its name refers to Daytona, Florida, where racing flourished in the early 20th century. It has been manufactured by Rolex since 1963 in four distinct generations (or series); the second series was introduced in 1988, the third in 2000 and the fourth in 2023. While cosmetically similar, the second series introduced a self-winding movement (the first series is hand-wound), and the third series brought manufacture of the movement in-house to Rolex.

The first series included an "exotic" variant dial known as the Rolex "Paul Newman" Daytona, named after the famed actor, who received the watch as a gift from his wife, Joanne Woodward, and popularized it by wearing it consistently while pursuing his racing career. Years later, the actor's watch, which had been gifted by Newman to his daughter's boyfriend in 1984, was sold in 2017 at the Phillips New York Winning Icons auction for a record (for wristwatches) $17.8 million.^[1][2][3]

The latest Cosmograph Daytona is equipped with a tachymetric scale, a sweep seconds hand for reading to 1/8 of a second, and elapsed-time hours and minute displays. Its Rolex calibre 4130 has the particularity of using a vertical (rather than lateral) clutch to activate the chronograph, and was engineered to feature a reduced number of components for greater reliability. The minute and hour systems of this series is simplified with one single mechanism placed on a side of the movement (used to consist of two mechanisms placed on both sides of the movement).^[4] With a 40mm case, it is available in a variety of materials,^[5] including 18-karat gold as in the ref. 116598 timepiece owned by Elton John which sold at auction for $176,400.^[6]