We deep dive into the Daytona’s most radical facelift ever and how it led to the genesis of the saga we know of as the most coveted watch of all-time
2023 is a special year for Rolex’s most iconic sports watch, the mighty Daytona, as the sports chronograph celebrates its 60th anniversary. To mark the occasion, Rolex gave the line a complete makeover. This was a very rare occurrence for the brand, as usually we are treated to new models a year at time, usually starting with precious metal and working through to steel. This year, however, Rolex discontinued every Daytona and replaced them with a new range that all encompassed a tweaked aesthetic. And that’s what we love about Rolex, its rarely radical changes but incremental steps. In 1988, however, the Daytona received its most radical facelift ever that was the genesis of the saga we know of as the most coveted and sometimes-hyped watch of all-time.
Regular readers will remember that we recently published a general overview of the Rolex Daytona here. Today we will take a more granular approach to the subject and take a deep dive into the watches that, as hard as it is to believe today, arguably saved the Daytona from extinction. The pre-1988 Daytona was never a popular watch in its day, probably for a couple of reasons; it was small at 37mm and the manual winding movement was inconvenient when other Rolex watches were automatic.
At some point in the 1980s, having spent decades languishing unloved in dealers’ window displays, the brand decided to overhaul the Daytona. I would go out on a limb and say that whoever designed the chronograph should be regarded as one of the most important watches designers of the 20th century. The enduring nature of that design is second to none.
Daytona Perpetual
One of the Daytona’s biggest problems had been its manual wind movement and so the new watch addressed that. The 16520 series was the very first automatic chronograph to bear the coronet, even though other brands had been utilizing self-winding chronograph movements since 1969. Of further interest is that Tudor, Rolex’s sister brand, began producing automatic chronographs in 1976. For the Daytona, Rolex opted for an ebauche from Zenith, which is of course why collectors refer to watches of this era as Zenith Daytonas.
The chosen calibre was the El-Primero 400 that underwent a significant number of modifications to meet Rolex’s exacting standards. In fact, the base calibre went through more than 200 upgrades and then was christened the calibre 4030. Tweaks were primarily, but not exclusively, focused on the balance bridge, with the addition of Rolex’s Micro-Stella adjustment system, as well as a shock-proofing system. The rotor, lower plate and escapement wheel were replaced entirely, and Rolex significantly increased the power reserve to 52 hours from the El Primero 400’s standard 42. Naturally, Rolex submitted the calibre 4030 for COSC testing which it passed with flying colors.
Case Change
The biggest aesthetic change was the 16520’s case. The size had been increased to 40mm and the case introduced crown guards on either side of the winding crown. Up until 1988, the Daytona had been available with either an all-steel tachymeter bezel or a steel bezel ring with black plastic tachymeter insert. 1988 was decades before Rolex had begun to use ceramic and so it instead opted to only offer all-steel bezels as the plastic bezels were delicate and easy to damage. The plastic crystals of the manual wind era watches were also replaced with a flat sapphire glass.
The new case had 20mm wide lugs, a little bigger than the previous watches’ 19mm but very different when on the wrist. Rolex utilized its professional line bracelets on the new Daytona with reference 78360. This reference bracelet was used until 1994 when a new Oyster bracelet reference 78390 with short flip-flock clasp and polished center links was introduced.
At the time of launching in 1988, Rolex offered three versions: 16520 in steel, 16528 in yellow gold and, for the first time, a two-tone or Rolesor model 16523. In 1992, the first Daytona on a leather strap was launched, reference 16518 (the ‘1’ denoting the leather strap) and then in 1997, reference 16519 was unveiled; a white gold Daytona on leather strap. There were other precious metal references too, with gem-set bezels on gold bracelet, 16568, and leather strap, 16588, 16598, 16599, and 16589. Each of these references was followed by four letters that represented the stone used on the bezel, EMRO for emeralds for example. Some of these references were made in very small numbers, however, and warrant an article all to themselves!
Daytona Details
It was Patrick Heiniger that led the charge to integrate all of Rolex’s manufacturing. Now, Rolex has a fully integrated manufacturing process where before, importantly at the time of the Zenith Daytona, Rolex used a number of companies to make its watch components, known as horizontal manufacturing. As a result, the Zenith Daytonas have a number of variations, especially concerning the dial, that make them so appealing to collectors.
These differences have resulted in an identified chronology and so-called marks (Mks) in the dial versions. There are eight different dial versions that have been identified and, scholars, collectors and enthusiasts, have made a concerted effort over the years to understand which dial version fits which year and there accepted serial numbers. There were also six different bezel variations used, although Mks 3 to 6 are based on the same layout.
The most desirable is the first series watch with a Mk1 dial and Mk1 bezel. The Mk1 dial is also known as the Floating Cosmograph, because in the five lines of text in the upper half of the dial, there is an obvious gap between the word “COSMOGRAPH” and the other lines…like it's almost floating away! Some of the very first versions of this dial have a high-gloss finish, known as porcelain by collectors, and this is highly desirable.
Alongside the Mk1 dial one would expect to see a Mk1 bezel. This combination was only really seen in watches from 1988, so R-Serial watches. The Mk1 bezel was calibrated to only 200 units, like the previous manual wind Daytonas, and has the “UNITS PER HOUR” text at three o’clock.
In 1989, L-Serial, came the Mk 2 dial, which had only four lines of text in the upper half of the dial and has the nickname Four-Liner. Collectors love a four line dial watch to have a Mk2 bezel fitted. The Mk2 was calibrated to 400 units, but has the peculiarity of having a reading for 225 units between 200 and 250. For this reason, its nickname is the ‘225’ bezel. The following differences in dial variations was subtle and mainly focused on the font used in the sub dials, especially the orientation of the ‘6’ in the hour totalizer, and the use of tritium and then luminova on the hour markers.
Waiting Game
The Daytona Perpetual was an instant classic and collectors were very keen to get their hands on one, pretty much as soon as it was unveiled at Baselworld in 1988. When I mentioned at the top of this article that the first Perpetual Daytonas were the genesis of the saga, I was referring to the fact that their demand immediately far outstripped supply and so, the waiting list was born. This phenomenon has pretty much been the norm for the steel Daytona for the past three and half decades and, especially considering the feverish response to the new 126500 at Watches and Wonders this year, it doesn’t look like it will slow down any time soon!
