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WatchesSTRHeritage

by Dara Morgan

Watch the Icon: How Rolex’s Slowest Seller Became the World’s Coolest Watch

14 Jul 2025

Episode 5 of Watch the Icon has arrived — and this one smells faintly of petrol and success.
The Rolex Cosmograph Daytona may be one of the most desirable watches on the planet now — but when it launched, nobody wanted it. Retailers begged customers to take it. The dial was “weird.” The market said “meh.”
Today? Vintage Daytonas sell for millions, and you would be lucky to even see one in a shop window, let alone buy it.
In this episode, Sofia Brontvein takes you from the racetrack to the auction house, tracing how a misunderstood racing chronograph — worn by an actor-turned-driver — became the symbol of understated power.
Here are five things you probably didn’t know about the Rolex Daytona — unless you have been flipping one on the secondary market since 2006:
1. It flopped — hard. The early Daytonas were practically giveaways. Some sat in display cases for years. Today, those same watches go for seven figures at auction. Timing is everything.
2. Paul Newman saved it — accidentally. He just wore one because his wife gave it to him. Then people saw the photos, gave the dial a nickname, and sparked a 50-year obsession.
3. Rolex didn’t build its own movement until 2000. For decades, the Daytona ran on the modified Zenith El Primero — a brilliant automatic movement Rolex stripped down and toughened up. The in-house Caliber 4130 changed the game, but it took them over 30 years to get there.
4. It is still a proper racing tool — just a very expensive one. Three sub-dials, a tachymeter bezel, and screw-down pushers. It isn't just for show — though it wears a tux surprisingly well.
5. Scarcity is part of the design. Daytonas are hard to get. On purpose. Rolex keeps production limited, demand sky-high, and the secondary market in a constant state of frenzy. You don’t find a Daytona. It finds you — eventually.

Listen now

This is the story of how a forgotten chronograph found its audience, its identity, and its place in the pantheon — all while keeping perfect time.
Missed previous episodes? Here you go: