In the second installment of our Reference Points series we will tackle perhaps the most discussed family of watches in modern timepiece collecting. This watch is as infamous as it is famous, it’s as dangerous as it is beautiful, and valuable as it is rare. I’m talking about nothing short of the Cheap Rolex Replica “Paul Newman” Daytona, and here we will explore the six references of this absolutely legendary timepiece, as well as go into its history, ups, downs, ins and outs. But first, if you haven’t read our first “Reference Points” feature on Patek Philippe perpetual calendar chronographs, we encourage you to do so here.First things first, this report will not be an exposé on the life of Paul Newman, nor the several watches that he wore. For that, I encourage you to read this story over at Jake’s Rolex World.
Both of the watches you see above are Cheap Rolex Cosmograph Daytonas Reference 6239 in stainless steel with black dials. Both were made in 1967.To be specific, the watch on the left sold for $28,750 in December of 2013, while the one on the right sold for $93,750 in the very same auction. These two watches are all but identical mechanically, and in fact the case of the 6239 on the left appears to be even stronger than the case of the 6239 on the right – so why was there a price difference of $65,000 between the two? Because the watch on the right is a Paul Newman Daytona, and the one on the left is not. The only difference, really? The dial, and that’s it. The only thing that makes a vintage Daytona a “Paul Newman” Rolex Replica Watches Daytona is the dial. And that is why the Paul Newman is one of the most dangerous vintage watches to buy. More on that shortly.In the two photos above, you can see the differences quite clearly. The Paul Newman features an art deco style font for the numerals, and the hash marks have a small square at the end. Additionally, there is a small “step” in the dial between the outer minute track and the center of the dial. In this particular example of the 6241 PN, the dial features a third color (red) which adds a bit of character. But, are a few little design traits worth paying that much more for a Cheap Rolex Replica Daytona? When the exotic dials were first shown by Rolex, not many believed so.
In fact, these dials sat on shelves for years and years. The traditional Cheap Rolex Daytona dials were much preferred by Rolex clients to the funky multi-colored dials that now fetch so much money to collectors. As such, it is not uncommon to see Paul Newmans with original sales receipts in some cases several years, if not decades, later than the production date. This is just one reason why the world of Paul Newmans is so murky.And, because these exotic dials didn’t sell well, Rolex simply didn’t make that many of them. Andrew Shear of ShearTime estimates that for every 20 normal Rolex Replica Watches Daytona dials, there would be one exotic dial made. And we mustn’t forget that Rolex was not the vertically integrated manufacturer that it is today – it was another company, Singer, who was making the dials for them. And Singer was making “Paul Newman” style dials for not just Rolex, either. For example, here is a two register Vulcain with exotic style dial that we sold in our Chicago Pop-Up last year for practically nothing.
It is Singer’s involvement with the production of these massively valuable dials that makes the whole situation even murkier still. In the period of the 1980s through the early 2000s, when exotic dial Cheap Rolex Replica Daytonas gained in popularity and Italian collectors soon proclaimed them The “Paul Newman” Daytonas, we began to see an enormous up-tick in the numbers of these dials. And this is when the slow-seller of the 1960s and 70s became the hottest vintage watch in the world.