6239 Rolex Cosmograph Daytona

There is an intangible allure to true vintage Rolex which has lived with just a single owner. Is watch really any different if one person or two have owned it? That depends entirely on the people in question. The majority of us won’t have ever had the option to have purchased a 6239 new. If you fall in love with the reference, the next best thing is getting one from someone who got one new, simply because you know where it’s been. This all might sound a bit silly, but with the amount of tomfoolery these days, it really isn’t. This a 6239. It isn’t in absolutely perfect condition. It isn’t the rarest Daytona. But it’s overflowing with a sense of honesty and, I’ll say it, charm.

That feeling happens to align really well with the watch. Non-Oyster Daytonas have always sold below their screw-down pusher peers. But the 6239 is more important than most. The 6239 is the first Daytona, it introduced the panda dial and simultaneously moved the tachymetre to the bezel. But, more importantly for our purposes, it was one of the last pure pump pusher-only manual chronographs in a line that extends straight back to the 3346 Zerographe through the POW and Pre-Daytonas to this capstone. Today, it is a Daytona for the collector that emphasizes restraint or simplicity above frills and art deco fonts.

Dials here span the gamut from the OG double Swiss underline straight through to cherry red Daytona above 6 and everything in between. This is nothing fancy, a standard large Daytona at 12. But it has some flashes of character. To start, it’s a 300 Mark 1 bezel. Rolex would produce the 300 scale until end of ’67, then drop it to 200. And if the bracelet looks a little more ridged than you’re used to seeing, these are original and quite uncommon 71N endlinks which have more of a raised center. And the subdials are just starting to move off black, which doesn’t hurt either. This is just a very charming Daytona that doesn’t take itself too seriously, just very likable and no hype nonsense.

I’m also really enjoying the fact that the more approachable Daytona variants are getting out of silly-value-land. This is under 70K US, which is a ton of money . . .but not for a watch this significant. These were over 100K consistently as recent as a few years ago. Now, not all single owner watches are so charming, some owners are jerks. But this one has been worn, loved, and looked after (ie not horrifically abused on a Rolex polishing wheel); it’s more a feeling that the watch gives you than anything. That sounds very fluffy, but aren’t watches all about evoking emotion?

Condition is everything and this 6239 comes pretty close. The dial is near-as-perfect. All the tritium is obviously original, dial and hands, and it’s aged to whatever one step further than cream is. Perhaps butter? The subdials are not tropical, but just beginning to move off black. The case has been lightly polished, but not at all abusively. Lugs are still even and defined. The bezel is also well-preserved. Its bracelet is original and dated correctly, all of it syncs up. It comes from a well-regarded London retailer.