Rolex Daytona Ref. 116520 - White 'APH' Dial w/ Full Set

The Rolex Daytona model, since its initial release, has been at the forefront of the market as the most desirable chronograph in production. Prior to the introduction of the automatic-winding Daytonas in 1988, all previous Rolex chronographs had been manually-wound. Rolex decided to outsource their movement for the first of the 5-digit references (16xxx), looking for the best movement available, and settled on the legendary Zenith El Primero. They used this movement as the base, and then fortified it, performing approximately 200 modifications to meet the expectations prestigious of the Wilsdorf group. This created the workhorse Rolex 4030 movement that was put in production for an era of 12 years. It was also at this time that Rolex incorporated more resilient sapphire crystals — which contributed to an increased depth rating of 100m, a larger case diameter coming in at 40mm, and a more robust, updated Oyster bracelet design.

Eventually, the so-called 'Zenith Daytona' was replaced with the first of the '6-digit' references in 2000, now utilizing the fully 'in-house' Calibre 4130 automatic-winding chronograph movement, an updated design-language on the dial, and a significant bracelet update.

The piece that we have here is the white dial variant of the Ref. 116520. It comes to us in good overall condition, showing normal signs of wear from use. The crisp white dial inside is immaculate — seemingly flawless and devoid of any wear. It features what is ultimately a manufacturing mistake which, for Rolex, makes for an extremely usual quirk. The last three characters of the word "Cosmograph" are spaced out from the rest of the word, which appears to read more like "Cosmogr aph.' With this neat quirk, these have become know as "APH" dials and naturally, were corrected quickly and thus uncommon. Additionally, the dial has applied Chronalight-filled white gold indices, beautiful silver subsidiary registers, and a matching Chromalight-filled handset.

It comes fitted to its correct, updated Oyster bracelet, which we simply cannot stress enough how incredibly handy and functional Rolex's Easylink system is. Built into the fliplock clasp, a 5mm extension can be effortlessly deployed for when it gets warmer out and your wrist expands.

It is also accompanied by it's inner and outer boxes, booklets, COSC hangtag, serialized hangtag, and warranty card dated 2014.

Like so many Daytonas it seems, these 'Pre-ceramic Daytonas' have become immensely desirable in the years following their launch and it doesn't take spending too much time with them to understand why.