About the Rolex Daytona

The Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona represents Rolex's ardent pursuit of speed and its love for motorsports. This chronograph born for speed, since its birth in 1963, has become a popular chronograph with its outstanding and reliable performance, and now it has become one of the classic watches.

The origin of the name "Daytona" is closely related to racing cars. Daytona Beach in Florida, USA has been known as the world's speed capital, thanks to its straight long sandy beach and cement-like hard sand. Since 1903 Since the beginning of the year, many racing events have been held here, and many world records have been set. There is no doubt that the name "Daytona" confirms the connection between Rolex and motor sports.

From 1903 to 1935, the hard sandy beaches of Daytona became the ideal location for breaking land speed records. More than 80 official records were set here, 14 of which were the fastest speed records in the world. Vanderbilt, Barney Oldfield, Rafe Dipama and many other drivers are here to refresh the absolute limit of human driving speed.

The king of speed, Campbell, drove his iconic chariot "Blue Jay", breaking world records several times at Daytona, and he was the first Rolex spokesperson for motorsport.

From 1936 to 1959, Daytona held many unique world events, attracting many spectators to watch. In the mid-1950s, as industrial development and deteriorating sand threatened competition on the beach, Daytona International Speedway, with its permanent hard-surfaced track, came into being. The fastest track is one of the world's top "super tracks".

Since 1960, the Daytona circuit has attracted the world's top racing drivers to participate. The "Rolex Daytona 24 Hours", which is as famous as the "Le Mans 24 Hours", has won an international reputation for this circuit.

Following the "Daytona Continental Race" held in 1962, the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona was launched just one year later. The race is named after Rolex, while the watch is named after Daytona, and the story of the two officially begins.

Since the first "Daytona Continental Race", the champion driver can win a Rolex watch in addition to the trophy. When the Cosmograph watch specially designed for racers came out, it naturally became the standard for the winner. In order to emphasize the relationship between the brand and the track, Rolex named this watch as the Cosmograph Daytona.

In 1992, Rolex sponsored the "24 Hours of Daytona", the two officially established a relationship, and the event has since changed its name to "Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona". Exciting and engaging, yet extremely difficult, the race challenges the limits of both human and machine for a full 24 hours, the only sports car race in the world other than the "24 Hours of Le Mans".

To this day, there are still many drivers from F1, NASCAR, IndyCar and endurance racing actively participating in this event. In addition to challenging the limit of human driving speed, it is also a big goal to be able to obtain a representative Daytona watch.

Some say the Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona is the perfect Rolex chronograph: efficient and precise, legible, robust, waterproof and comfortable to wear, this watch has won unprecedented success and World-renowned.

In the nearly 60 years since its inception in 1963, the Daytona watch has been washed over time and continuously improved. The rust-engraved text on the watch surface is the best proof: from the original only called cosmograph watch, The words "OYSTER", "PERPETUAL", "COSMOGRAPH", "DAYTONA" and "SUPERLATIVE CHRONOMETER OFFICIALLY CERTIFIED" have been named with the evolution, which records the continuous development of this watch.

The dial of the first-generation Rolex Cosmograph uses strong contrasting colors to create an eye-catching visual impression. The light-colored dial is matched with black, or the black dial is matched with light-colored. Rolex has laid the foundation for this series of watches from the first generation. Style features.

With the launch of many new models, the series is also enriched. One of the dials called "Paul Newman" is very famous, because the famous American movie star and racing driver Paul Newman often wears Daytona watches with this dial. The dial is designed to allow the wearer to read the time clearly in the tough racing environment, where the embossed seconds scale around the dial and the three chronograph counters are all in the same contrasting color, which is very eye-catching.

In 1965, the Cosmograph was further evolved, replacing the original pump pusher with a screw-down chronograph pusher, a change that protected the pusher from accidental pressing and prevented water from penetrating the case. The rust-engraved "OYSTER (Oyster)" word is to highlight the strong waterproof performance.

The "DAYTONA (Daytona)" arranged in an arc above the 6 o'clock position on the watch surface is to highlight the connection between Rolex as the designated timepiece of the conference and the Daytona International Raceway in Florida, and to highlight this watch. The close relationship between the model and the racing world.

In 1988, Rolex improved the mechanical movement. It chose a commercially available self-winding chronograph movement and made significant modifications, that is, the 4030 movement was born.

Entering the 21st century, Rolex has launched a reinterpretation of the Cosmograph Daytona. This watch is equipped with the 4130 self-winding chronograph movement entirely designed and manufactured by Rolex, which is also more reliable thanks to a 60% reduction in the number of parts.

It is worth mentioning that the 4130 movement is also the first Rolex movement to have its name rusted on the automatic rotor, echoing the red arc DAYTONA on the dial. Unlike previous models, this new Daytona has no new words on the dial, but that doesn't hide the watch's outstanding performance.

In 2016, Rolex innovated again, creating a smooth and shiny high-tech black ceramic Cerachrom outer ring, replacing the original metal outer ring. The new outer ring has a number of technical advantages: not only is it exceptionally hard against scratches and corrosion, but it also does not fade when exposed to UV light. In addition, the design of the watch has also been changed, with numerals and triangular marks engraved on the edge of the outer ring.

From being specially designed for racing drivers, to the fact that celebrities in the political, economic, and artistic circles are now fond of wearing Daytona watches. This upsurge has not yet subsided. And the legendary story of Rolex Daytona will continue to be interpreted.