The Daytona – an intense love story with motor sport

The Rolex Daytona has a long turbulent story. Chronographs were already produced by Rolex in the 1930's and the first special edition for racing drivers were eventually launched in 1963. To express the close relation to the motor sport and to meet the amount of demands in the United States, Rolex started to print the name of the famous place DAYTONA (Beach, Florida) on the clock face. The Cosmograph Daytona Chronograph stands for the unconditional rapture of high speed which represents a great motivation for racing drivers round the world. They want to enter different time dimensions and go to the absolute limit. The design and clear lines of this iconic chronograph is the output of inimitable expertise and also demonstrates the high innovation power, the ability to a steady progress and the striving for unconditional and uncompromising perfection. So it is no surprise that William France Sr., founder of Daytona International Speedways, declares ROLEX in an advertisement already in the early 1960’s to be the official partner of the Daytona International Speedways - naturally he was wearing a Daytona on his wrist.

Legends among themselves: Paul Newman and his Rolex Daytona

Found in the best company: Throughout the years, the Rolex Daytona has become extremely popular among celebrities in politics, in the film industry and in the high society. For instance, football legend Christiano Ronaldo, France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy or Hollywood star and womanizer Leonardo Di Caprio - each of them likes to wear a Daytona Cosmograph by Rolex. But there is surely nobody like the iconic actor and race car driver Paul Newman who had such a great influence on this model and its image. After he had played the main character of the movie "Winning" in 1969, a movie about a race car driver, he started to become more passionate about motor sport. Newman's enthusiasm was steadily growing and he started his racing career as an amateur race driver in 1972. On this occasion Newman got the perfect present from his wife - the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona with an "exotic clock face" - ever since the watch is highly valued by collectors and is called "Paul Newman Daytona“ or simply "6239“ - the reference number of the classic timepiece.

An iconic timepiece at HORANDO

At HORANDO we are offering a wide range of outstanding and highly coveted timepieces of several manufacturers and with diverse styles. One wristwatch is still one of a kind and makes the hearts of each watch enthusiast and collector beat faster. Talking about Rolex Daytona you often talk about an icon among chronographs which can be a Vintage Daytona with a four-digit reference number, the classic model made of steel (reference number 116520) or the brand new Rolex Cosmograph Daytona (reference number 116506) in platinum with an ice blue dial, luminous hands, engraved digits and a bezel with a maroon Cerachrom-monoblock (e.g. reference 116506).