Rolex Daytona Ref. 16520 'Zenith' - Black 'Floating Cosmograph' Dial W/ Box, Booklets, & Hangtags

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 Ref. 16xxx series of watches, looking for the best movement available. and settled on the best that was available at the time: the famous They used this movement as the basis and then fortified it, performing approximately 200 modifications to the base movement 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. In this Reference, Rolex also incorporated the more resilient sapphire crystals, a contributing factor to the increased depth rating guaranteed at 100m or 330ft.

The piece that we have here is one of the earliest examples from the Reference 16520 run. It is an L-serial example dating to circa 1989 and it comes to us is fantastic overall condition. The case remains very strong, having probably been polished very, very lightly in the past, and shows just light signs of wear. The matching steel bezel shows light wear from age with its black paint almost entirely present within the engraved markings. Being an early example, this piece comes fitted its correct fully-brushed stainless steel Oyster blade with a blade clasp. These bracelets were ultimately replaced with an updated design featuring polished center-links and a fliplock clasp, a design which continues to this day. It must be stated that the highlight of this piece is that gloss black dial inside. Like other early 'Zenith' Daytonas, it features an 'Inverted 6' within the 6 o'clock sub-register, applied Tritium-filled white gold indices, and contrasting sub-registers rings — which in this case, exhibit an attractive cream-colored patina. But it is only the earliest examples of the reference that have the word "Cosmograph" spaced lower than subsequent dial variants. Because of the unusual spacing, we call these 'Floating Cosmograph' Daytonas. Of course, that modified El Primero automatic-winding movement beats away within the case.

Last but not least, included with the purchase of this piece is its inner and outer boxes, green leather cardholder, booklets, and serialized hangtag.

These neo-vintage pieces still present exceptional value in todays market and are becoming a modern classic in a big way, and these early 'Floating Cosmograph' simply do not surface often.