Hotel Indigo Chester: An Opulent Stay with Charm and Comfort

Few watches play a joke on attracted a mythology like that of the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona. Named for a burgh in Florida known as the capital of speed, it is arguably more acclaimed than the motor racing which takes place there. In tired with perhaps only the Submariner and the Speedmaster, it has attained a station that even lets it drop the name of its illustrious maker.

The at worst conventional chronograph made by Rolex for the last 54 years, its belated version always carries a lengthy waiting list, and classic models have become both the bedrock and the brightest superstars of the auction market.

The History And Heritage Of The Rolex Daytona

Inaugurated in 1963, the Daytona – like the Heuer Carrera and Omega Speedmaster – was ambition to tap into the rising popularity of motor racing (remember this is wish before the Speedmaster went into space). Rolex had produced a few of chronographs before, but they belonged to the previous generation, with all skin, elegant hands, Arabic numerals and in less substantial containerizes. At the start of the sixties, the sports chronograph was born.

And… it was a bit of a flop. Shopkeepers habitually offered attractive discounts on Daytonas, and far fewer were up than competing watches.

“We tend to think of Rolex as a simple focused and decisive firm,” says James Dowling, Rolex historian, initiator and collector. “This wasn’t the case in the 1950s and 1960s, when there was ordinarily indecision about model names. The Submariner was almost draw oned the Rolex Skin Diver and some watches found their way to the customer base with dials so marked; similarly, the Rolex Daytona was at planned to be called the Le Mans.

“When I bought my first Rolex in the recently 1970s (a 1675 GMT), I enquired about a discount and the salesman replied, ‘Sorry sir, we don’t discount Rolex, but if you want one of the Daytonas, I can give you 20 per cent off’.”

All that inaugurated to change when a certain Mr Paul Newman, a talented coursing driver as well as Hollywood star, took to wearing one. In the gen, he barely took his off.

From the inception, the Daytona was powered by a movement sourced elsewhere – as was the norm in those times. The Valjoux 72 was a well-made and reliable hand-wound chronograph degree, with a column wheel controller and lateral clutch. Spontaneous chronographs hit the watch market in 1969, but Rolex stuck by the enchiridion Valjoux, making the occasional upgrade, until 1988 when it solid the time was right to go automatic.

Rolex sourced El Primero chronograph moves from Zenith, detuning its trademark high frequency down to 28,800vph (and frugal Zenith’s bacon with the steady business that was to premiere c end). This also marked the most significant redesign of the Daytona since its inception; it overtook crown guards, a thicker steel bezel, new typefaces and subdials. The Daytona’s renown really begins here – the market was on the way back after the Quartz Danger and today’s notion of a luxury watch emerged.

In 2000 Rolex at sustained last introduced its own in-house chronograph movement, the calibre 4130. Mindful of its stature, Rolex made sure that it boasted unbeatable stipulations for anything else in the sports chronograph sector – daily Loosely precision of +/-2 seconds – as well as a 72-hour power reserve and fewer components than most exemplar chronographs.

Why The Waiting List?

The Rolex Daytona in stainless steel is one of utter few watches to come with a long waiting list; undoubtedly a year or two, and that’s if the dealer knows you, you put your name down the day it was issued and your middle name is “lucky”.

“The phenomenon of the waiting catalogue raisonn has been built up over decades, and started in 1988 when Rolex custom-made its Cosmograph with an automatic movement,” says Justin Koullapis, co-founder of WatchClub. “The stop list started to grow because Rolex was sourcing motions from Zenith and there was a shortage of them.”

These primes, it’s carefully managed marketing, with global annual oeuvre limited to a few thousand. Such is its icon status – and investment budding – that for some, the wait is worth it; others will either go away or cough up substantially more to buy from a (non-Rolex-approved) re-seller.

“Gold and platinum Rolex Daytona prototypes sell well, but they are not hard to come by,” says Koullapis. “The sincere waiting list is for the stainless-steel models.”

The Money

The Rolex Daytona in dirk, with the ceramic bezel as introduced in 2016 (also conscious as reference 116500LN), has a list price of £9,100 and features a deathly white or black dial. If you are buying from an approved dealer, ahead to to put down up to 50 per cent as a deposit.

Of course, there are numerous other seasonings of Rolex Daytona: it can be had in yellow, rose or white gold, as fabulously as platinum, and as of Baselworld 2017, the gold models now come on an Oysterflex rubber strap as justly as the full weight of a gold bracelet. The platinum Cosmograph Daytona retails at £54,300 at the outmoded of writing (officially price on request); exchange rates being what they are, Rolex has entranced to increasing prices at least annually.

If you venture into the pre-owned or vintage alert for market (the difference being mainly age; “vintage” being no youthful than roughly 25 years ago) then expect to piece with at least £9,000 for a watch in decent condition from a not enough desirable era (say, the early 2000s). From there on upwards, the sky is the limit.

New imitation 116500LNs are trading for £14,000 or more, and there really is no such attitude as an undesirable Daytona from the Valjoux era, 1963-1988. An “bizarre” Paul Newman is going to run north of £50,000, while the overcome pieces comfortably break six figures. At auction, where the creme de la creme faades, the record is currently held by a yellow gold Paul Newman (one of upstanding three) which sold at Phillips auction house earlier this year for $3.7m.

“The A- starting point for a collector would be the Ref:6239 Daytona non Unfamiliar dial variety,” says Paul Maudsley, UK watch foreman for Phillips. “This model is the classic Daytona with deviate from dial variations and the look equally as good on a bracelet or strap.”

The secure news is that – so far – Rolex Daytonas have held their value or admired significantly. Buying now might feel like coming in at the top of the sell, and past performance is no indicator of future success, as the banks inform us, but experts see no sign of prices going into reverse any for the present soon. Braver buyers might feel like enchanting a chance on the hitherto less expensive references, particularly from the news 1980s and early 1990s.

Owning A Rolex Daytona

How To Impair It

Let’s look ahead to your Daytona ownership and bask in its over glory. You would be forgiven for wearing it morning and night, to boardroom, bedroom and ballroom, but no-one wants to be a hollow out about it. Assuming we’re talking the steel Daytona here (look advice for the yellow gold and brown dial is a whole conflicting ball game), what’s your best look?

You can get away with eroding it with a suit – helped by the 40mm diameter – but it’s not a watch for formal calls and you’d be best advised to keep the bracelet well-fitting. Nothing trim about that hanging-down-the-back-of-your-hand look.

Where the Daytona ordain shine is – happily – nearly everywhere else. As a Rolex Oyster on a screw up ones courage to the sticking point bracelet it is sufficiently bombproof to wear knocking about on the weekend, and it will be in its environment in the mainstream minefield that is smart-casual.

Maintenance

Despite its ambiance of greatness, the Daytona is not immune to wear and tear, and you will emergency to care for it like any other mechanical watch. Rolex alerts come with an unbeatable guarantee, but you should still check up on it in for a service every five years or so. That won’t come shoddy – but by now that shouldn’t be a shock. Expect to pay around £450 for the fundamental service, more if it needs work doing, and brace yourself for being for all practical purposed from it for several months if it has to head back to Switzerland.

While that’s episode, your local dealer should be able to offer you something else to assume damage in the meantime – assuming you bought it through them in the first niche. The good news about servicing for you as a Rolex owner is that as of 2015 the tag extended its warranty from 2 to 5 years; if you bought a Daytona between 2013 and 2015 the pledge was retrospectively increased by a year.

Not that you should expect much to go off the target with a Daytona, unless you subject it to unusual punishment. Rolex’s raise quality is peerless, and the addition of the ceramic bezel only make outs the Daytona tougher. The steel is high-grade 904L and the watch is water-resistant to 100m – good remember to screw down the chronograph pushers.

How To Buy A Rolex Daytona

We’ve already take advantage of landed on buying a new Rolex Daytona – to summarise, be extremely persistent and unfailing. Be careful paying top dollar to skip the waiting list; there’s a wager it might be a fake and even if it’s not, make sure you can really belief the seller.

Online, don’t be afraid to ask for more high resolution portraits, and get the serial number (you can check it against registers of lost and lurked watches).

If you’re buying second-hand, a recent model should be involved a arise with all the paperwork. As they get older this will appropriate for less likely and more highly prized.

A good starting burden to browse online is Chrono24, a marketplace for approved sellers, both selling and private, with reasonably good buyer protection and cover against fake watches.

How To Buy Vintage

If the new Daytona isn’t your bag, or you can’t harbour the wait, consider going old-school. A vintage Daytona, as easily as a great investment, is unquestionably cool.

The single best crack up smashed of advice when buying vintage is “buy the seller”. Trust is entire lot – if something looks too good to be true, it always always is. “I inclination buy one online from a reputable auction house or dealer, but I inclination be very cautious in buying one from what you would phone a total stranger,” says Maudsley. “But that would be the in any event on any object of significant value.”

If you are buying online, make reliable it’s a reputable retailer by asking around on forums such as vintagerolexforum.com or popular media. Do your homework and make sure you know what serial platoon range your target watch should fall into, as fortunately as other details like the typography of the Rolex logo – it has changed down the years. There is a lot of ready money to be made in fake Rolexes, so the fraudsters are accomplished at their art. Scrutinise the dial (the lions share of the value lies in its condition and authenticity) and if in doubt, seek out second, third and fourth beliefs. In the rabbit warren that is Rolex collecting, there is no such item as too much information.

The Best Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Iterations

So which are the literal models of Rolex Daytona that you should be looking at? Mislaying aside the idea of bagging a Paul Newman, here are six of the vanquish from down the years.

Ref. 16520

Undoubtedly a collector favourite, which is throw back in the prices, the 16520 is the original steel automatic Daytona. There are innumerable of them out there than the manual models that happened before, and values are probably still on the way up.

Ref. 6263

The 6263 was in production from 1971 to 1988, and revives in a wide range of metals and dial configurations. If you have your pluck set on a pre-Zenith, manual winding Daytona, a 6263 is probably contemporary to be the easiest to find – but bear in mind there is no such responsibility as an “undervalued” Daytona.

Ref. 16523

The steel and yellow gold iteration of the “Peak” Daytona, this has historically been less sought-after than its all-steel cousin in the seasoned market. But bi-metal watches are back in fashion, and as collectors initiate to turn their attention to the 1980s and early 1990s, these could be on the elevation.

Ref. 116520

The most recent stainless steel Rolex Daytona but one, the 116520 has now been supplanted by the 2016 model (116500LN). Admittedly, that will keep led to a bit of a spike in prices, as the end of production means a finite number are out there, but on the furious side there will be many who were on the waiting enumerate that will now have turned their attention to the new one. At a glisten, it’s very nearly the same watch.

Ref. 116509 (pre-2017)

If there is such a preoccupation as the stealth-wealth Daytona, this is it – at least, from the modern era. Undeniably mistaken for steel, this is 100 per cent white gold, issue you all the wrist presence with none of the brashness of yellow or push gold bracelets. The telltale feature is the Arabic numerals, which together with the coloured and red “racing” subdials make for a punchy combination.

Ref. 116500LN

We could only just miss the reigning Daytona off this list: today’s perfect might be hard to get hold of but they are out there. The big change is the combining of a ceramic bezel, and the big decision is black dial or white dial; each communicates a distinctly different character to the watch. Ultimately, though, most groupies would bite your arm off for either.

Alternatives To The Rolex Daytona

If, after all this, you’re not honestly sure a Daytona is for you, the good news is that it is far from the at best show in town. Assuming the money burning a hole in your swipe is destined to go on one watch, and that it should be an automatic chronograph with a top grade movement, where else could you go?

Breitling

One chronograph with identically as much cachet, an equally compelling history and ample raise quality is the Breitling Navitimer. It has an in-house chronograph movement, the size B01, and a largely untouched design – although the slide rule-style telemetric ranks are something of a Marmite element. You can certainly spend Daytona scratch on a Navitimer but the good news is you don’t need to: the one you want is the 43mm classic, which advances for £6,750.

Buy Now: £6,750.00

IWC

In a similar vein, you could head to IWC. The newest Ingenieur distance includes some handsome chronographs, if you still want a dose of petrol with your keep ones eyes peeled. The entry-level piece, oddly enough, is a limited edition – the Printing 125 at £6,450 – then there’s the standard Ingenieur Chronograph at £7,250 or the Chronograph Fun, which costs £9,850 and comes with a funky lightning stamp seconds hand.

However, you would likely be better off circumventing that confusing set of prices and going straight for the Portugieser Chronograph (£6,550): it’s not so like to a Daytona in looks but is unarguably one of the great chronograph designs and a incontestable investment.

Buy Now: £6,550.00

Blancpain

If you’re prepared to break five figures and presume something that – whisper it – betters the Rolex for technical hints while retaining a link to the past, how about the Blancpain Fifty Determines Bathyscaphe chronograph? It’s a flyback, meaning you can more easily ever consecutive events, features a ceramic case and is water intractable to 300m. Yours for £12,490.

Buy Now: £12,490.00

Zenith

Lastly, you could do a lot worse than look to Rolex’s one-time supplier of parties. Zenith’s El Primero is still going strong, and your Daytona budget make give you the pick of the range. There’s a model for everyone these hours (and some that might not be for anyone) but we’d recommend the smart new panda dial variants in disgraceful ceramic, currently retailing at £7,200.

Buy Now: £7,200.00