Impeccable movement? Yes. Icon of our time? Yes. Inspirational piece? Yes. But you could perhaps say the same of a Calatrava, for example, without those indicia necessarily identifying an 'intellectual' watch.
Is it pushing the envelope a bit to be saying that 'before the Dato comes into the scene, a chronograph is just another chronograph'? That's a bit hard on a plethora of great chronos, don't you think? Pateks, Breguets, Rolex, Zenith, Omega, to name just a handful. The big date? Done before. The jumping minute? Hmmmm.
Please don't misunderstand - it is a drool-worthy watch and on the top of the 'must have one some day' list, but it does stand out as being the 'odd one out' in your original list, given your premise.
Anyone else want to chip in here?
Cheers,
pplater.