The Rise of the Rolex Replica Paul Newman Daytona

You have to know about how it came to be in the first place before we get into the value of the Paul Newman Daytona.
We have covered the Paul Newman Daytona extensively, so you are likely no stranger to the differences between a 6263 and a 6241. But what you might not know is that when the first Daytona with an “exotic” dial hit the market in the 1960s, no one wanted it. In the 1960s and ’70s, the fake Rolex Daytona was, as a matter of fact, one of the most undesirable models made by the Crown. The Day-Date, Submariner, and Datejust all surpassed this “ugly” steel chronograph, further burying the stainless steel chronographs on the shelves of the dealers unable to sell them. Those were even less desirable, so much so that they would sometimes be sold at half price. Anyway, I’m serious about that last bit. Let it really sink in.
After 20 years of unpopularity, a group of dealers – Italians and Americans – started to notice the vintage Rolex Daytonas and began to purchase them. According to Parmegiani, it was this small group of dealers that coined the nickname “Paul Newman” for the exotic-dial watch worn by the famous actor. They would regularly call one another to talk about the number of Daytonas they had in stock – it became boring to refer to “exotic dials,” so one day in the late 1980s the name “Paul Newman” was used and it stuck nearly at once. Now it’s impossible to call the replica watches by any other name.
However, it never ends there. The Paul Newman Daytona, as some of you may know, grew to superstardom over the years. After its re-discovery in the late 1980s and early ’90s, prices kept on growing at a steady rate, rarely faltering. What started off as a very cheap fake watch in the late 1980s soon became an expensive watch in the early 1990s, before achieving the triple digits at that time. Till today, the rarer the configuration, the better the condition, the more expensive the Paul Newman Daytona. The numbers continued to rise, with the most expensive Rolex Daytona ever sold, a perfect replica in yellow gold with the lemon-colored dial, making a worthy watch after that.