WHY IS THE ROLEX DAYTONA SO EXPENSIVE?

The forever famous Rolex Daytona. With a horological presence so great it could even be considered a goose hold name, not only the brand, but the specific model itself. Sport fanatics, watch enthusiasts, people with a desire for phenomenal watches and successful people alike, the Daytona has paved its name in History. Starting its legacy all the way back in 1963, it got off to a rough start, unloved, unwanted and near unsellable. The to-be-famous watch was named after the race track circuit, Daytona race track in Florida USA, was built for timing races. Like with all Rolex watches, all of them were built with purpose, a real tool watch and it still remains that way today.

The Iconic Daytona can be recognised from just its silhouette, not many watches have such a distinctive look but they Daytona does. The crown with a pusher both above and below it, makes the watch easily identifiable. Unlike most time-only watches, the Daytona features a chronograph movement which tracks both the seconds, minutes and hours. However, you’d be mistaken if it was just a simple stopwatch because it is far more than useful for timing a lap or how long your dinner has been in the oven. From the first iteration of the Daytona with a metal bezel to the modern day ceramic bezel, all of their bezels feature a tachymetric scale.

Most owners of the Daytona may not even know exactly what this is but it serves a very useful feature. Just like the Submariner is used for divers, the Datejust for classy event-goers, the Daytona was built for endurance race drivers. The tachymetric scale allows a driver to read their average speed over a given distance based on elapsed time. Whilst maybe not as relevant in today's tech-geared society, back in the 1960’ car speedometers were nowhere near as accurate or reliable as they are today.

Rolex calibre 4030 chronograph movement seen from the rotor side on a grey textured background

Compared to making a time only watch, this calibre of movement obviously has a few more cocks and pins inside of it doing an awful lot more than moving just an hour, minute and seconds hand. As a result, the time to make one of these is far longer and added complexity requires a slightly higher skilled watchmaker. The cost of the research and development of the movement will also have been higher as it has more parts to it requiring more attention. With all this in mind, you can easily see why the costs of producing the Daytona’ movement, the calibre 4130, costs more than most other movements.

The Daytona movement also features more jewels in comparison to most other movements, it uses 44 jewels inside the calibre 4130 as opposed to the average of 31 jewels inside the Submariner, Datejusts, Oyster Perpetual etc… With more materials, and expensive ones at that, being consumed to produce the calibre 4130, it adds to the higher retail price of the Daytona compared to other lines within Rolex. The cost of producing the movement is often the main determining factor as to how expensive a watch should be.

Now we come to the case of the Daytona itself. The silk smooth curves in a mirror polished finishing, the elegant lugs and the additional purchases on the case. All these contributing factors add to more work required to have the case produced over a regular time only watch.

The ceramic bezel has more markings on it compared to any other ceramic bezel Rolex makes, everything about the Daytona just amplifies Rolex’s ability to manufacture complex watches both from a movement and case point of view. Slowly but surely you can easily start to see how the manufacturing process is considerably longer than other models.

Out of Rolex’s 1 million watches produced per year, it is estimated that between 20,000 and 40,000 of them are Daytona’s, a whopping low 2% to 4%. Don’t forget, that number is then shared between all the variations of the Daytona, with this in mind Rolex will naturally price the watch higher than most. For those who are interested in the secondary market value, along with the fact it takes a lot of money to make, it also takes a lot of time. Because of this, the Daytona is one of, if not the hardest, model from Rolex to obtain. Long waiting lists means the premium you will have to pay to acquire it instantly will cost you a pretty penny.

Hence the Daytona will retail for around 15,000 USD but it will resell for anywhere between 30,000 USD to 45,000 USD for a steel model depending on condition. That's Just for the steel models, despite the retail price of a precious metal Daytona being significantly higher. Rolex does not produce many of them and if it has any type of gem setting, the resale value of them can very quickly reach the price of a pretty nice house, which is crazy to think about. However, despite the retail being higher because of the use of precious metals and gemstones, the scarcity of them is what drives the prices up in this scenario.

Despite the Daytona being both expensive at retail, and extremely expensive on the grey market, there is something to be said about putting your luxury watch on rubber. The contrast between the metal and rubber makes for a sportier and more casual feel. It gives your Daytona a whole new feel to it and perhaps will even allow you to wear it more often as it would be harder to recognise in public. Additionally, it reduces the wear and tear on the bracelet, look no further than Rolex themselves, they even offer their precious metal Daytona’s on rubber. The contrasting look really resonates with Rolex’ origins of offering high quality watches but designed to be worn and used for almost all situations you could find yourself in. So to obtain that ultimate Sporty Rolex look, head over to the ZEALANDE website to select your perfect rubber strap!