FAP 6263 Rolex Daytona

This is one of those exceptions we love here where the caseback holds more interest than the dial. Say what you will about the Peruvian Air Force (Fuerza Aérea del Perú or FAP), their military had style. FAP military engravings on provenance cover basically all the best professional 60s offerings. Where the UK military made due with a few Subs and the US was telling its crew to buy Tudors themselves, Peru ordered Pre-Daytonas, Subs, Seamasters, GMT-Masters, Speedmasters, Railmasters, and this 6263. Some officer in charge of an equipment budget must have been a watch guy. I like to imagine they also had their flight jackets made by Chanel. Rolex then really had a job to do as a tool, not just fashion. There’s no clearer evidence than the Armed Forces of Peru choosing a Daytona for their Air Force.

Most think that between 6238 and 6263/6265, fewer than 700-800 FAP Rolex Chronographs were ordered. Correct case numbers can range from 1 to 6M, so that’s not much help. They are all stamped precisely the same on caseback outer with the full FAP, but rather unusually also include the serial on the caseback inner. So you can match the case. Usually, the dials are like this, without a ‘Daytona’ printing on them. And rather unusually, the last three digits of the serial number were often (but not always) in miniaturized font. Many of them have serial numbers extremely close to prior examples that have appeared at auction. It’s like a Milsub, just even scarier to buy, and not a Sub.

These were, until 2016, regularly 50K watches. Now, they’re considerably over double that. However, that’s not as absurd as the above mentioned Milsub, which can easily command a 10x premium to the standard 5513. This is closer to a 2x premium, which makes sense and the handset and dial are unaltered from the standard 6263. However, if what you like in military issued watches is the history, that makes this a bargain (in some sort of strange watch-math equation that does feel contrived to justify a 100K Valjoux 72 purchase). Is there a cooler aviation watch than this, which was never intended to be?

This example looks fantastic. The case is extremely sharp, these were often abused and used hard. Its dial is lightly patinated but with a golden tritium that you just love to see. No cracks in the acrylic. It’s a sigma dial as well. It comes from a well-regarded Miami retailer.