Where the sand meets the water · Photo: Hameen Reynolds / Unsplash
The Rolex story

The Daytona, reference by reference

Built for endurance racing drivers in 1963 and named after the Florida speedway. Here are the main references, in order, and what changed each time.

First made
1963
References shown
11
Status
In production
Steel Daytona with a black dial, red Daytona text, and an engraved tachymeter bezel
Photo: Quang Viet Nguyen · Pexels License

The timeline

Drag the timeline, pull the slider below it, or jump to a decade.
  1. 1953–68
    [PHOTO NEEDED
    REF. 6036]
    REF. 6036 · 6234 · 6238BEFORE

    Before the name

    Rolex made Oyster chronographs (watches with a built-in stopwatch) for a decade before the Daytona. These are its ancestors.

  2. 1963–69
    [PHOTO NEEDED
    REF. 6239]
    REF. 6239

    The first Cosmograph

    Rolex launches the Cosmograph for endurance race drivers: a hand-wound chronograph with the speed scale engraved on a steel bezel. The word “Daytona,” after the Florida speedway built in 1959, didn't appear on dials until 1965. Paul Newman's own 6239 sold for $17.8 million in 2017.

  3. 1965–69
    [PHOTO NEEDED
    REF. 6241]
    REF. 6241

    Black bezel

    Same idea with a black acrylic bezel insert. Some 6239s and 6241s left the factory with “exotic” dials, the style collectors now call “Paul Newman.”

  4. 1965–69
    [PHOTO NEEDED
    REF. 6240]
    REF. 6240

    Screw-down pushers

    Made in very small numbers. It tried out screw-down chronograph pushers, which seal the buttons against water.

  5. 1970–72
    [PHOTO NEEDED
    REF. 6262]
    REF. 6262 · 6264

    A new movement

    The newer calibre 727 movement arrives. The steel-bezel 6262 was made for about one year, so both are rare today.

  6. 1971–88
    [PHOTO NEEDED
    REF. 6263]
    REF. 6263 · 6265

    Waterproof at last

    Screw-down pushers become standard, so the Daytona can finally take water. The 6263 has a black acrylic bezel; the 6265 has steel. From 1972, “Big Red” dials printed “Daytona” in red. These were the last hand-wound Daytonas.

  7. 1988–2000
    Steel Daytona with a black dial, red Daytona text, and an engraved tachymeter bezel
    Photo: Quang Viet Nguyen · Pexels License
    REF. 16520

    The Zenith Daytona

    The first self-winding Daytona: a 40 mm case and a movement built on Zenith's El Primero, then heavily reworked by Rolex (calibre 4030).

  8. 2000–16
    [PHOTO NEEDED
    REF. 116520]
    REF. 116520

    Made by Rolex

    Calibre 4130, the first chronograph movement Rolex designed and built itself. It ran 16 years.

  9. 2013
    [PHOTO NEEDED
    REF. 116506]
    REF. 116506SIDE ROAD

    50th birthday in platinum

    A platinum Daytona made to mark the model's 50th anniversary.

  10. 2016–23
    Steel Daytona with a white dial, black subdials, and a black ceramic bezel
    Photo: Lightscape · Unsplash License · cropped
    Shown: a white-dial “panda” Daytona of this generation, on an aftermarket rubber strap
    REF. 116500LN

    Ceramic arrives

    Shown at Baselworld 2016: the first steel Daytona with a black Cerachrom bezel, Rolex's scratch-proof ceramic. Still calibre 4130 inside.

  11. 2023–today
    [PHOTO NEEDED
    REF. 126500LN]
    REF. 126500LNTODAY

    Today's Daytona

    The headline change is inside: the new calibre 4131 movement.

1953–68 · REF. 6036 · 6234 · 62381 / 11

What never changed

THE TACHYMETER BEZEL

The speed scale on the bezel, for timing a lap and reading your average speed.

THREE SUBDIALS

Small dials that count running seconds, minutes, and hours on the stopwatch.

BUILT FOR RACING

Named for Daytona Beach, Florida, where the speedway opened in 1959.

Through every generation

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Sources and photo credits

Dates and reference years come from Rolex and the dealer and auction sources below. When sources disagree, we show a range or the word "about." Last checked November 7, 2026.

Sources

Photos