When the Rolex Daytona first appeared in 1963, it was not the super desirable status symbol that it is today. It was not until the introduction of the self-winding movement in the late 1980s that the Daytona really began its trajectory of what is now considered one of the most important sports watches of the 21st century.
Thanks to its success in recent years, the Cosmograph Daytona has become one of the most diverse models in the Rolex Professional collection, with more than 60 different models now available. You can have the Rolex Daytona in 18k gold, white gold or eternal rose gold, as well as in two-tone steel and gold, all stainless steel, or in the last word in glitter: solid platinum. To top it all off, there is a choice of Cerachrom or metal bezels, two types of bracelets, stick or jeweled hour markers, and an exhaustive list of dial colors and materials.
However, this is not the end of the story. For some time now, there has been a collection behind the collection that is not available to the public and not listed anywhere on the Rolex website. These out-of-catalog watches are very rare pieces, often with a plethora of top-notch visuals, and so few in number that many of us will never get to see them in person.
Many of these super unique Rolex watches offer a truly gorgeous and in-your-face aesthetic, and because of their bold design, they don’t always match everyone’s personal taste (think Leopard Daytona ref. 116598 SACO) . Many of these models are too far ahead of their time, but the so-called Rainbow Daytona is so well suited to today’s times that it is currently changing hands for more than three times its already staggering retail price.
So while it may not be the kind of watch that sends writers scurrying to their thesaurus for synonyms of “understated” and “restrained” (or anything close to those words), it is certainly a stunning example of Rolex’s ability to be both watchmaker and jeweler. Below, we look at this amazing statement in more detail.