Rolex

Baron - Mr Red
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The 6263 - a watch with "soul"

Vintage Daytonas have a special place in my horological heart. The first vintage Rolex that I bought was a 6239, with silver/pearl dial and black sub-dials. It was a watch in mint condition. When my wife saw it, she fell in love with it. My wife has never taken any of my “things” before, but she looked at me and said that she had fallen in love with this vintage piece because it had real “soul”. It did, but I was more than happy to pass it to her, and she has worn it ever since. That, in itself, has given me great pleasure. Importantly, though, that led me to seek out a replacement Daytona, and it was to be a turning point for me with my affair with Rolex. The 6239 Paul Newman and I fell in love! It remains one of my favourite watches in the collection. Not many things are cooler than a 6239 exotic PN!

But this story is not about the 6239 PN. It is about something different. Back in June 1988, Italy were doing well in the European football cup. Perhaps spurred on by the national football team,  a certain Italian restaurateur decided to pay a visit to a local authorised dealer and buy himself a Rolex Daytona. The AD provided the typical bill of sale, and also covered insurance of the watch. As the bill shows on the picture below, on 3rd June 1988 a sum of £882 was handed over. The watch was then placed in a safe and rarely used over the coming 22 years. Until now. Preferring instead a rather beautiful piece of art, the said Italian decided to sell the watch and all of the original parts that came with it. The inner and outer box. The original bill of sale. The punched papers and even the bill for the first year of insurance! The watch is very complete and in mint condition.

The 6263 and 6265 were first introduced at the beginning of the 1970s and were produced until the end of 1987. This 6263 was one of the very last produced. Rolex introduced these new models with some modifications from the 6262 and 6264, with the screw-down push buttons and a larger winding crown. The 63 and 65 were also improved to be more waterproof. Up to the early 1980s, they were 50m proofed, and thereafter 100m proofed.

Service dials can be determined from original in several ways. Perhaps the easiest is the printing of the A in the word Daytona. Originals had a much flatter roof to the letter A, as can be seen in the last picture below.

Another quite unusual feature of the watch is that it still has its original bracelet. Bracelet reference 7835 with curve fitting 371 was used up until the mid-70s. Thereafter, bracelet reference 78350 with curve fitting 571 was used. The pictures below detail the latter.

One thing that I am not certain about is the manual. Pre-1980 versions did not include the word Daytona on the front of the manual, whereas in the 1980s the word Daytona is used. It is possible that this is not the original booklet because the original owner had  purchased previous Daytonas and booklets may have been mixed.

So, joining the 6239s I now have a most beautiful 6263. There is something about Daytonas. There really is soul to these watches. Regrettably, they have now become very popular and so ironic that when they were first released they were anything but popular. When one looks at so many of today's modern chronographs through many makes, the Daytona DNA is quite clearly imprinted in so many. For me, the longevity of the Daytona and its imprint on horology generally makes this one of my favourite hunts!

I am still very much a novice to vintage and hope that the information I have provided is accurate. I know that the true experts will correct what i have got wrong.