Solo Dial 6240 Rolex Daytona

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This is a Daytona with just one line of text. One. Walt Disney was said to repeatedly answer questions with, ‘observe the masses and the do the opposite.’ In the modern era, the Rolex Daytona has more script written at 12 than a Star Wars opening crawl. Today, it reads ‘Rolex Oyster Perpetual Superlative Chronometer…

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‘FIFA World Cup Netherlands’ 116519 Rolex Daytona

Netherlands-116519-Rolex-Daytona

Yes, Rolex made an orange racing dial, white gold Daytona. Rolex almost never create limited editions or collaborations. But the operative word there is almost. If you’re 22 SAS, a winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, or Dutch Football Team competing for the World Cup, you just might get your own take on…

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Tropical 6265 Rolex Daytona

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Tropical doesn’t always mean caramel. I find a lot of visual delight in the shade where dials are just starting to move off black, it’s subtlety. You’ll be used to seeing tropical subdials on the white dial 6265, often wildly so. But the black dials can also go brown, it’s just often not as dramatic…

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Qaboos 6263 Rolex Daytona

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This is very literally Daytona royalty. The red signature at 12 is that of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said, then Sultan of Oman. Qaboos was a well-known watch lover and would occasionally gift visiting foreign dignitaries, heads of state, high ranking government officials, or noteworthy servicemen a Rolex. Most were gifted with…

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6238 Rolex Pre-Daytona Chronograph in 14k Yellow Gold

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If everything Cosmograph is what gets you turned on, and you happen to be an American, I’m sorry for what I’m about to do. Nothing else come close to this 6238. With dial marked simply as ‘Rolex Chronograph’, as opposed to a movie credit scroll of modernity, a smooth, scale-less bezel, and in 14k yellow…

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FAP 6263 Rolex Daytona

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You should always read the caseback, but also know what you’re looking at. There’s the famous story where Dr Jim Norton, driver of the Porsche Cayman team which won the GX Class at the 2013 24 Hours of Daytona, brought his Daytona to a Tampa jeweler to be told it was ‘likely’ a fake because…

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Tropical 6262 Rolex Daytona

If there is a god, I like to imagine that tropical dials are his way of saying, ‘wear your damn watches’. The sun is a ball of nuclear chaos 8.3 light minutes away from Earth. But its effects are not always this attractive. Consider for example the female residents of Florida between the ages of…

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116520 ‘Panna Dial’ Rolex Daytona

This is the next Patrizzi. It’s not often I get to say that, so let me elaborate. Osvaldo Patrizzi was first to clock a change in some 16520 Zenith Daytona dials, where subdial rings would turn a taupe golden tan with sun exposure. Watch collectors adore a good defect. We also adore a cream or…

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Tropical 6262 Rolex Daytona

Tropical-6262-Rolex-Daytona

Tropical dials have a tendency to polarize watch collectors like few other topics. Godiva 1665 DRSDs, caramel 321 Speedmasters, and latte Cosmographs all have one thing in common: encompassing adoration or outright hatred. Think Patek’s green 5711 caused division? Bring a hazel-tan 3700 to your nearest watch group. I’ll warn you now, I tend to…

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‘Desert Eagle’ 6263 Rolex Daytona

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Imagine being invited into Jean-Frederic Dufour’s palatial office, sitting in some absurdly sumptuous modern leather chair, and asking him if he might be able to remove the name ‘Rolex’ from his dial for you. Just a few pieces, of course. You think asking an AD for ceramic Daytona is implausible? I suspect Mr. Dufour would…

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