Rolex Daytona Ref. 6262 - 'Blue' Daytona Unpolished

The Rolex Daytona model, since its initial release, has been at the forefront of the market as the most desirable chronograph in production, and of almost any vintage.Early Daytona’s in particular can be a lot of fun to collect not just because of the recognition they have these days, but also, as with so many other Rolex models early in their life-cycles, because of how many subtle changes they underwent in the fist decade or so, resulting in a plethora of nuanced configurations.

One feature that they all shared, however, was the movement. Prior to the introduction of the automatic-winding Daytonas beginning in circa 1988, all previous Rolex chronographs had been manually-wound, and anything with "Daytona" on the dial, powered by a modified version of Valjoux's highly respected and now very desirable, Calibre 72.

The Daytona that we have here is regarded as something of a transitional reference, having been produced for just one year in 1970. On the surface, this looks almost identical to a Valjoux 722-powered Ref. 6239, but this piece houses the updated Valjoux 727, resulting in its own reference number: 6262.

This piece comes to us in fantastic overall condition, with a seemingly unpolished 37mm case that shows normal signs of wear from age with no noteworthy damage or blemishes to speak of. The 'reverse-panda' dial within is exceptional, with a clean matte black surface and crisp silver subsidiary registers, lending to that highly desirable and legible contrast that we love. The Tritium plots remain fully-intact with the exception of some minor loss at the 3 o'clock position, and the handset matches beautifully. The steel bezel is also in excellent overall condition, showing normal wear from age and almost no loss of the black paint within the numeral engravings. Last but not least, this piece comes fitted to a period-correct Oyster bracelet with a signed blade clasp.

Its hard to say more said about vintage Daytonas.... They are highly collectible, beautiful to behold, and of course, functional and robust watches to wear. And while there are some pieces (see 'Paul Newman'-dialed examples) that tend to steal the spotlight, this is an example of a much lesser-know reference that is worthy of your attention.