Loading...
The Rolex Daytona was introduced first around the same time as the Porsche 911 in 1963. The Daytona is named after the famous Daytona International Speedway located in Daytona Beach in Florida which has been in operation since 1959.
This specific Rolex Daytona Paul Newman is reference 6239 dates to 1969 based on its serialnumber of 2.0xxxxx. I researched quite a long time to find out when the first “Paul Newman Daytona” was introduced, but I cannot find a safe year of introduction. It is known that Paul Newman received his Daytona with the exotic dial in 1972. The whole history of the Rolex Daytona has been extensively written up on Hodinkee in three parts.
Paul Newman was not only a famous actor, but a famous racecar driver who finished second at Le Mans while Laurent Ferrier made third. Laurent Ferrier is the founder of the watchbrand with the same name, a small manufacture making very highend timepieces in small amounts. I visited them some years ago, unfortunately, my contribution is written only in German.
Paul Newman is the namesake of this watch. And for a reason. He made this watch famous. He wore this same kind of watch which was given to him by his beautiful wife Joanne Woodward. She engraved in the back to remind him to “drive carefully me”. A caring sign of love.
The exotic dial which you find in the socalled Paul Newman Daytona is truly rare compared to the amount of Rolex Daytonas produced. Nobody knows any true numbers of production as Rolex keep it secret, however, estimations from experts are that about 5% of the references 6239, 6241, 6262, 6263, 6264 or 6265 ended with the exotic dial. That limits it even further.
Rolex 6239 Newman is “the real Paul Newman”!
This configuration of the Paul Newman watches, the 6239 with its superb three color white dial was until October 2017 still completely underrated in comparison to other Newman models. But now finally it got the attention that it really deserves due to the legendary sale by Aurel Bacs of the real Newman for about 17,7 Million USD. To find one of these examples, in the same configuration as the real Newman and in superb condition, is not the easiest task to manage. The present example of this legendary reference is in superb condition. An extraordinary clean dial, stricking colors and sublime original lume. Even more, the case is in very strong and sharp shape, which is very important as well.
This 6239 “the real Newman” is certainly a great addition to every distinguished gentlemen collector as Christian Bissener from the Watchcollector Boutique in Luxemburg says. And that is now even more true than ever before. This is a watch that may not last for long.
The three color dial is probably the most wanted dial, definately the most popular.
For more information and details how to acquire this timepiece, please contact me at my email or visit the Watchcollector Boutique.
The watch can be viewed upon appointment only.