Cosmograph Daytona
By LarryD
The Rolex Cosmograph Daytona is arguably, the most well known watch on earth. Say the name Daytona in almost any country and you get nods and murmers of understanding – even if there is an otherwise language barrier.
The Daytona has reached cult status it seems. Look at the wrists of celebrities, the wealthy, and the want-to-be’s. If there is a Daytona there, and there are a lot of them, it will be prominately displayed along with all the other badges and symbols that define us.
Sports watches and chronographs in particular, are constantly being re-defined and transformed, but the Daytona remains largely unchanged (visually) since its release in the early 1960’s.
Rolex introduced their chronograph watches in the 1930’s, with the basic two-button design we are familiar with appearing in 1937 with those watches that contained the Valjoux movement. Our beloved Daytona began to emerge in its present form in 1949 along with the Oyster case and familiar Cosmograh name. Finally, in 1960 with the appearance of the tachymeter scale on the bezel of the Cosmograph reference 6239, rather than on the dial, it morphed into its iconic present configuration.
By 1961 the name Daytona began appearing on the Cosmograph with the 6241 models, but the name stuck after a time and all Cosmos were known eventually as the “Daytona”, even if the name wasn’t there. Today the 6239 and 6241 references, manual wind, non-screw down pushers, are the grail watch for many collectors.
The 1970’s hailed the last major changes to the manual chronograph with the introduction of screw-down pushers in the reference 6263. This change allowed the Daytona to be listed as waterproof to 50 meters, and finally 100 meters in depth. In these early days, only the Gold and Two-Tone models sported “Chronometer” on the dial, the only manual wind models to do so.
The early Daytona used the very reliable Valjoux movement up until 1987 when favor turned to the Zenith El Primero movement which earned its’ place in history in 1969 as the worlds first automatic integrated chronograph movement. Zenith movements were a very fast beat 36,000 BPH, but Rolex redesigned the movement to operate at it's typical 28,8000 BPH. Likely this was done to keep grease and oils on the fast moving parts and to ensure that it remained reliable and stable for it's expected lifetime. Coined the cal. 4030, this impressive workhorse powered the Daytona 16520 from it's introduction in ~1987 until Rolex introduction of their own fully patented and in-house built Cal. 4130 just a short decade later in 2000 in the 116520.
The 4130 Movement:
The latest and possibly best Daytona was introduced at the Basel World Watch and Jewelery Show in March of 2000. The 4130 design allows truly unique actuation for the start/stop/reset mechanics, while taking up less room inside the case allowing a larger, therefore, more accurate or precise balance system. The movement incorporates some important Rolex traits: a balance bridge rather than the usual balance cock seen in other movements; a large balance wheel; and lately, their own Parachrom Bleu in-house hairspring. The 4130 also moved the sub-dial configuration around with the sub-seconds now in the traditional 6 o’clock position rather than the earlier 9 o’clock slot; the sub-minute dial at 3 o’clock, and the sub-hour dial at 9 o’clock. The two horizontal sub-dials are also now 7 degrees above the center shaft rather than straight across as before. It is likely that this configuration was done to thwart counterfeiters.
It is likely the latest Rolex Cosmograph Daytona has firmly cemented itself in horological history both from an engineering perspective, and as a worldwide watch icon.
(
Copyright 23 February 2008, Larry Draper)
The Daytona can look intimidating but it is a very simple watch to operate. The 3 sub-dials are, at the 6 o'clock position a standard seconds dial, at 3 o'clock a 30 minute timer for the stopwatch function, and at the 9 o'clock position a 12 hour timer for the stopwatch. The stopwatch is read with the main seconds hand and is activated by the pushers that are located on either side of the Triplock crown. The upper pusher is for start/stop, and the lower pusher is to reset to zero.
The bezel is a standard Tachymetre where the stopwatch is activated when an object first starts/crosses a measured mile/kilometer, and then stopped at the end of the measured distance. An estimate of speed is then read off the bezel.
Daytona Reference Numbers:
1960 to 1991 - 6239, 6241, 6240, 6262, 6263, 6264, 6265
1988 to 2000 - 16520
2000 to present - 116520
Date of production:
1960 to 1991 with Valjoux movements including the 72B, 722/1, 727
1988 to 2000 with modified Zenith movement
2000 to present (for the current 4130 in-house equipped model)
Movement: 4130
Case: 40mm Triplock
Weight:
SS - 146 grams
WG - 200 grams
WG w/strap - 121 grams
Power Reserve: ~72 hours without chronograph engaged
Daytona Zenith 16520 Dial differences
Photographs:
The 4130 Movement
(Courtesy Web File photo)
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The Daytona bracelet and Clasp is a great improvement over the earlier stamped steel offerings. A Daytona Clasp is a sought after up-grade for any Rolex:
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Beginning in about October of 2008, Rolex seems to have changed the Daytona Clasp to a more modern "channel" construction offering:
(Photo Courtesy Felly Jr.)
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