Daytona 6263 Dials

[Fourwize]

I am new here, so Hi everyone.

I have a 1970 Daytona Oyster 6263 with the white dial black sub dial arrangement. It has the screw down stopwatch buttons. I am the original owner, wore it for 30 years, its in retirement now.

I have seen some other Daytonas online and have a question about the dials.

The 1960's dials say "Rolex Cosmograph" and the sub-seconds dial is marked at 15, 30, 45 and 60. These are non-Oyster watches and do not have screw down stopwatch buttons.

The 1970's dials say "Rolex Oyster Cosmograph" and the sub seconds dial is marked at 20, 40 and 60. These have the screw down stopwatch buttons and are "Oyster" watches.

My dial says "Rolex Oyster Cosmograph" like the 1970's units, but the sub-second dial is marked at 15, 30, 45 and 60, like the 1960's units.

Can anyone explain the dial situation with these watches, specifically why mine is marked the way it is?

Also, was there a specific time frame within which dials were made like mine? It seems my dial is somewhat transitional from the 1960's units to the 1970's units.

Thanks for all your help, looking forward to hearing what you all say.

[mike]

Here's a good read,

http://www.minutemachines.com/massen...naDaytona.html

[SPACE-DWELLER]

Welcome to TRF!

The 6263 is my favourite Daytona! Such a beauty!



Here's another good link about Daytona dials.

[Fourwize]

Thanks Mike and Bo. Good stuff. You guys are a good resource.
My dial is exactly the same as picture number 3 in the BSJOnline article. It would be exactly the same as the William Massena article at Figure 5 under the heading III The Exotic dial also known as "Paul Newman", except that mine has the word "Oyster" under Rolex, and does not have the red "Daytona" on top of the hours sub dial at 6:00. I find it very interesting the comments Massena makes when he says "It is also believed that the 6263 and 6265 did not have a red outer track and some did not have the words Daytona around the subsidiary dial at 6 O'clock. Some dismiss the latter exotic dials as an invention of forgers. We believe that indeed the latter dial existed."
I can verify for Mr. Massena that the latter dial exists, I have it, and it is pictured in the BSJOnline article under Bo's message.

I did not understand the basis for calling a dial a Paul Newman dial, and did not understand the criticism I have seen online for misuse of the nomenclature "Paul Newman" in reference to other Daytona dials. But thanks for the links, you have explained the situation well and now I understand. The Paul Newman dial is a very limited sub-set of Daytona dials.