Synonymous with speed since its launch in 1963, the Cosmograph Daytona was designed for professional racing drivers. Its tachymetric bezel, in combination with its mechanical chronograph movement, was a track-side favourite in measuring time intervals and determining average speeds. Of course, a certain Hollywood actor may have helped drive the watch into legendary status. Nevertheless, today, it remains indelibly linked to the world of motorsport as it turns sixty years young.
The first high-frequency, automatic chronograph was also the first chronograph to feature a running seconds hand and measured in at a slim 6.5mm thick. Much thinner than the traditional chronographs at the time. The first watch to feature the new movement was the El Primero reference A384 in March 1969.
In the early 1920s, the world was a living laboratory for Rolex...In the 1930s, Rolex would approach one of the world’s fastest drivers, Sir Malcolm Campbell, and offer to assist him in his quest for speed.
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