Apr 22, 2016

The One Everybody Was Waiting For

by Aleta Saeger

rolex daytona ceramic everybody is waiting for

Three years ago the platinum & ceramic 50^th Anniversary Cosmograph Daytona dropped at Baselworld 2013. The watch was beautiful – chocolate Cerachrom bezel contrasting with an ice blue dial, and the magnificent white that belongs only to platinum. But of course, over the following couple of years, it also prompted all sorts of pleading, complaining, and gnashing of teeth in the blogosphere and on social media.

Steel! Where was the steel version?

A little over a month ago at Baselworld, the steel & ceramic version everybody’d been wailing over became official.

The new near-panda dialed, stainless steel Rolex Cosmograph Daytona

And, perhaps in an effort to satisfy the loyalists, the new pieces are faintly reminiscent of the old panda-dialed Paul Newmans. Black Cerachrom bezel, and black mini chapter rings on the sub-dials (silvered on the black dialed version).

Now, to be sure, every watch blog on the planet (and some that aren’t watch blogs) reported on the new Daytona the instant it was announced. And we at Everest Journal jumped on that bandwagon as quickly as we could.

Now, to be truthful, our early reporting of the new steel Daytona was more in the vein of lamenting that it wasn’t a closer homage to the original 6263, with its black bezel insert, panda dial, and screw-down pushers. That seemed obvious to us, and frankly, still does.

But to emphasize those cosmetics is to ignore the awesome watch the current Daytona really is. Just take a look at the image below (from the inimitable Rolex Passion Report).

(Image credit: Rolex Passion Report)

That’s a helluva good looking watch! Patina lovers may wince, but that Cerachrom bezel is simply never going to get scratched in normal daily use. And the 904L stainless steel is going to resist wear and tear nearly as well.

Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona in Black

And the engine purring beneath that modified panda dial? None other than Rolex’s own calibre 4130 column wheel movement. Parachrom hairspring, -2/+2 seconds per day precision (Rolex’s new definition of “Superlative”), and a power reserve of 72 hours.