In the pantheon of watch collecting, the Rolex Daytona with Paul Newman dial is unquestionably one of the most sought-after timepieces. These exotic dials were introduced in the late 60s with reference 6239, and have been at that time not well-received by clients: this lack of interest led Rolex to produce very limited quantities, making these watches exceedingly rare today. 

Rolex released reference 6263, along with reference 6265, in 1969 as an upgrade to its first Oyster Daytona, reference 6240. Daytona models featuring Paul Newman dials together with screwed pushers have been produced for an extremely short period of time, and are a sort of chimeras: the “Panda” variation for reference 6263 is probably the grail version. The present watch, fresh to the market and in completely original conditions, has since always been in the same family until offered here for the first time. It is elevated to an even higher level due to its very early configuration, that can be found on watches bearing a serial number around 2.1/2.2 million.

It features a “Mk 1” Paul Newman Panda dial (distinguishable mainly by the writing without any serifs and the font type of the “R” of Rolex which is wider), the “Millerighe” pushers (with flat-top ridges), and a case back correctly stamped 6239 (indicating that Rolex was using left over case backs for their newer models during assembly). The Paul Newman Panda dial is virtually flawless, with a very bright grené surface and perfectly intact tritium dots with warm patina.

A similar specimen, featuring the case serial number only 3 digits apart from this specific watch, has been sold in 2018 at Christie’s for Usd 730,000.