Daytona Winner's Watches

[powerfunk]

Since 1991, Rolex has been issuing Daytonas to the racers who win the Rolex 24 at Daytona (originally the "24 Hours of Daytona"). In 2001 they began offering Daytonas to winners of the 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as the overall championship winners for the year. This is my attempt at an analysis of the watches awarded. I've never seen anyone else assert that Daytona winners get white dials and Le Mans winners get black dials, but I strongly believe this is the case. I have found 0 examples of white Le Mans Winners, or black Daytona Winners, with provenance. Everything since 2015 is pretty much known for sure, but there isn't a ton of info about the earlier years, so feel free to let me know if I've gotten any of this wrong:

Rolex 24 at Daytona Winner (white dials): 16520 (1991-2000), 116520 (2001-2016), 116503 (2017+)

Le Mans Winner (black dials): 116520 (2001-2015), 116503 (2016), 116500 (2017+)

Rolex Sports Car Series Champion (not very much info available): Probably black dial 116520 (2001-2004ish), slate 116523 (in 2005 for sure, probably through 2015ish), and I think 116503 (2016+)

There are so many low-quality Daytona fakes with "Winner" engravings on the back that many assume they're all fake, and there's a famous story of one winning driver being told his watch was fake when he went to a jeweler to size it. But real ones do exist; they all have the year engraved, and they're all very expensive! Racing great Scott Pruett, the man with by far the most Daytona Winner's Watches, has an absurd collection of Winner's Watches.

Rolex 24 at Daytona Winner's Watches pics:


24 Hours of Le Mans Winner's Watches pics:


The only good pic I could find of a Championship Winner's Daytona (116523 awarded to Craig Stanton in 2005):


Other racing/car award watches
Rolex has also been giving out quite a few watches to other winners in the past few years, like the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion Overall Winner, the Goodwood Revival Meeting Driver of the Meeting, the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race Overall Winner, Pebble Beach Concourse Best of Show, and the Formula One World Champion (Rolex has been been "Global Partner and Official Timepiece" of Formula One since 2013).