Rolex Daytona watches

The Rolex Cosmograph Daytona is Rolex's racing chronograph, made since 1963, with a tachymeter scale engraved on the bezel. The first reference, the 6239, was sold simply as the Cosmograph. The Daytona name refers to Daytona Beach, Florida, a centre of motor racing in the early 20th century, and Rolex became official timekeeper of the Daytona International Speedway.

The early watches used hand-wound movements based on the Valjoux 72 and had acrylic crystals. Screw-down pushers arrived on the ref. 6240 in 1965 and became standard on the 6263 and the 37.5 mm 6265 from 1971. In 1988 the ref. 16520 brought the first automatic Daytona: a 40 mm case, a sapphire crystal and calibre 4030, based on Zenith's El Primero. In 2000 the ref. 116520 switched to Rolex's in-house calibre 4130, raising the power reserve to 72 hours. The ref. 116515LN of 2011 was the first Daytona with a ceramic bezel, and the steel ref. 116500LN followed at Baselworld 2016, replacing the 116520. A new generation with calibre 4131, led by the ref. 126500LN, followed in 2023.

Among the six-digit references, the number tells the metal apart: the 116500LN and 116520 are steel, the 116503 and 116523 steel and yellow gold (Rolesor), the 116505 and 116515LN Everose gold, the 116508 and 116518 yellow gold, and the 116509 and 116519 white gold. Platinum versions sit above them. Dials run from black, white and champagne to pink, meteorite and mother of pearl, and some models swap the tachymeter bezel for a Cerachrom insert or a gem-set bezel, as on the Rainbow, or the bracelet for an Oysterflex strap.