Sixty years ago the Daytona was born, one of the most successful watches, and not only in Italy. The name refers to the historic Daytona 24-hour race, sponsored at the time by Rolex (the first reference had the fateful circuit reference on the dial).
Since 1963, this chronograph has not lost its strong appeal in the hearts of enthusiasts and, just a few months after its restyling, it is back with a special version in white gold Ref.126529 LN dedicated to the centenary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which took place last weekend and of which Rolex has been the Official Watch since 2001.
Referring to the race is first of all the number '100' filled with red ceramic on the tachymeter scale of the black Cerachrom bezel, while the other graduations, numbers and inscriptions are coloured by means of platinum deposition using a PVD technique.
The reverse panda dial, which echoes the style of some historic Paul Newman dials, differs from the other Daytona dials in the collection in that it features a 24-hour chronograph hour counter instead of 12, another reference to the famous Le Mans race.
The different display led to a modification of the movement launched this year on the Daytona. An evolution of Calibre 4131, in the new 4132 the number of components in the chronograph function has been considerably reduced, to the benefit of the movement's functional safety.
Counting the hours of the 24-hour chronograph function is achieved thanks to an additional patented mechanism composed of seven elements, comparable to a differential revisited by Rolex. This gear reduction system, called a planetary gearbox in technical jargon, makes it possible to halve the rotation speed of the gear train driving the 24-hour hand.
It is a device integrated into the movement without having to modify its architecture. In fact, the mechanism simply replaces a transmission wheel and its operation in no way affects the performance of the movement. A movement that, as in the platinum edition presented at Watches and Wonders, with a yellow gold oscillating weight, is revealed through the sapphire crystal back.
Priceon request.
