Rolex Cosmograph Daytona
The chronograph for racing drivers, with a tachymeter scale on the bezel for working out speed.
The Cosmograph came out in 1963 and was named Daytona after the racetrack at Daytona Beach in Florida. The actor Paul Newman wore one with a special dial, and those models became much sought after. Only in 2000 did the Daytona get its own self-winding Rolex movement.
Materials: Steel or gold; chronograph movement
Manufacture: Made in Geneva; the first had hand-wound Valjoux movements.
The tachymeter scale on the bezel.
Three small subdials for the chronograph, often in a contrasting colour.
Three subdials, a tachymeter scale on the bezel and, from the mid-1960s, chronograph pushers that screw down to make the watch more watertight.
From 1988 the Daytona had an automatic movement based on the Zenith El Primero, and from 2000 Rolex’s own calibre 4130.