Paul Newman's Rolex Daytona

The Watch That Became a Legend

How a Rolex chronograph, a Hollywood star and a handwritten warning from his wife created one of the most famous watches in history.

There are valuable vintage watches, there are historically important vintage watches — and then there is Paul Newman's Rolex Daytona.

In October 2017, a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona ref. 6239 once owned and worn by Paul Newman appeared at auction in New York.

By the time the bidding was over, the watch had sold for an extraordinary $17,752,500, becoming the most expensive wristwatch ever sold at auction at the time.

But the remarkable thing about Paul Newman's Daytona isn't simply its value.

It is the story of how a relatively unsuccessful Rolex chronograph became one of the most recognisable and desirable vintage watches ever made.

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THE WATCH

Rolex introduced the reference 6239 in 1963, establishing the first reference of what would become the Cosmograph Daytona family. One of its defining changes was moving the tachymeter scale from the dial onto the bezel.

Paul Newman's particular watch was manufactured in 1968 and featured what is now known as an "exotic" or "Paul Newman" dial.

Today, collectors instantly recognise the design.

Contrasting subsidiary dials, distinctive typography and unusual detailing gave these watches a considerably different appearance from conventional Daytonas.

But there was a problem.

Buyers didn't particularly want them.

The exotic dials were poorly received when new and were produced for only a relatively short period. That scarcity would eventually contribute to their desirability.

Decades later, collectors wouldn't simply call them exotic dials.

They would call them...

"Paul Newman" dials.

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FROM HOLLYWOOD TO THE RACETRACK

Paul Newman was already one of Hollywood's biggest stars when another passion began to take over his life.

Motor racing.

While filming the 1969 movie Winning, in which Newman played racing driver Frank Capua, he became increasingly fascinated by motorsport.

And unlike many celebrity associations with watches, Newman's connection with racing wasn't manufactured for advertising.

He became a serious competitor.

His wife, actress Joanne Woodward, would eventually give him a particularly appropriate present.

A Rolex Cosmograph Daytona ref. 6239.

The Daytona was designed with motorsport in mind. Its chronograph could be used to time events, while the tachymeter bezel allowed average speeds to be calculated.

For Newman, it wasn't merely jewellery.

It was a tool.

But Woodward added something that would ultimately make this particular Daytona unlike any other.

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"DRIVE CAREFULLY ME"

On the back of Paul Newman's Daytona are four words:

DRIVE CAREFULLY ME

Woodward had the message engraved on the caseback.

It wasn't simply a romantic inscription.

Newman's increasingly serious involvement with motorsport understandably concerned his wife. The engraving therefore became both an affectionate message and a reminder every time Newman went racing.

And he wore the watch extensively.

This wasn't a Daytona destined to spend its life inside a safe.

It was being used.

That distinction would become enormously important decades later.

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THEN THE WATCH DISAPPEARED

By the 1980s, Newman's famous Daytona appeared to vanish from public view.

Newman continued wearing other Daytonas, but the exotic-dial ref. 6239 wasn't seen again.

For collectors, its whereabouts eventually became something of a mystery.

The explanation turned out to be remarkably simple.

Paul Newman had given it away.

The recipient was James Cox, who was dating Newman's daughter Nell.

According to the provenance later documented around the auction, Cox was helping Newman repair a treehouse when Newman asked him what time it was.

Cox replied that he didn't own a watch.

Newman handed him his Rolex Daytona.

And Cox kept it for more than three decades.

One of the most important vintage Rolex watches in existence had effectively been hiding in plain sight.

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26 OCTOBER 2017

The day everything changed.

On 26 October 2017, Paul Newman's Daytona appeared at Phillips' Winning Icons — Legendary Watches of the 20th Century auction in New York.

Then the bidding began.

$1,000,000...

$5,000,000...

$10,000,000...

until eventually:

$17,752,500

At the time, it was the highest price ever achieved for a wristwatch at auction.

And consider what had actually been purchased.

A manually wound stainless-steel Rolex chronograph from 1968.

There were mechanically more complicated watches.

There were watches made from more valuable materials.

There were rarer watches.

But none could replicate what this particular Daytona possessed.

PROVENANCE.

This wasn't simply a Paul Newman Daytona.

It was Paul Newman's Paul Newman Daytona.

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COLLECTOR'S CORNER

I'd turn this into a cream-and-forest-green MWW information card on the actual website.

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WHY THIS WATCH MATTERS

Paul Newman's Daytona demonstrates something fundamental about vintage-watch collecting.

The story matters.

Two watches can leave the same factory in the same year, powered by the same movement and carrying the same reference number — yet decades later their values can be dramatically different.

Condition matters.

Originality matters.

Rarity matters.

But provenance can elevate a watch into something else entirely.

Paul Newman's ref. 6239 connects Rolex with Hollywood, motor racing and one of the most recognisable actors of the twentieth century.

But perhaps the most fascinating part of the entire story is still found on the back of the watch.

DRIVE CAREFULLY ME.

Four simple words transform the watch from an important vintage Rolex into something deeply personal.

Behind the multi-million-dollar valuation was ultimately a watch given by a wife to her husband because she worried about him racing cars.

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THE MWW TAKE

Paul Newman's Daytona perfectly demonstrates why we find vintage watches so interesting at Mr Watch Winder.

The appeal isn't simply what's written on the dial. Every vintage watch has already lived a life.

Sometimes that history survives through boxes, papers, engravings, photographs and previous owners. Sometimes much of it disappears with time.

Paul Newman's Daytona happens to have one of the greatest stories of them all.

And it provides an important lesson for anyone collecting vintage watches: don't underestimate provenance.

Because when you're buying vintage, you're not only buying the watch.

You're becoming the next custodian of its story