Today, the Rolex 116520 Daytona is regarded as one of the world’s most famous watches, and it is a model that has become almost synonymous with the Rolex brand itself. However, for much of the collection’s history, Rolex’s iconic chronograph did not feature an in-house movement. That all changed with the introduction of the reference 116520.
Although it was not all that aesthetically different from the previous generation of stainless steel Rolex Daytona watches, the ref. 116520 represents a major step forward for the collection. No longer in production, yet still offering all the benefits of Rolex’s current in-house chronograph movement, the Rolex Daytona 116520 may just represent the best value for the money among all of the different steel Daytona references.
A Brief History of the Rolex Daytona
First launched in 1963, the Rolex Daytona is the brand’s line of chronograph watches that draws its inspiration from the world of automotive racing. Although it was by no means Rolex’s first chronograph wristwatch, the introduction of the Daytona marked the first time that a Rolex model featured its tachymeter scale engraved on its bezel, rather than being printed along the periphery of the dial. Now one of the defining characteristics of the Rolex Daytona collection, the external tachymeter bezel traces its roots back to the ref. 6239 – the very first Daytona from 1963.
Although automatic chronograph movements first appeared in 1969, it was not until 1988 – a full twenty-five years after the introduction of the Daytona – that Rolex’s chronograph collection finally received a self-winding movement. By the 1980s, quartz and even digital watch movements were already well-established, making the Rolex’s Daytona’s manually-wound movement seem especially outdated. Despite finally getting an automatic movement, the first self-winding Daytona was powered by a caliber that was a heavily modified version of the El Primero movement from Zenith.
It would not be until 2000 that the Rolex Daytona would finally receive an in-house movement, making it the last Rolex model to be powered by an off-the-shelf caliber. With that in mind, when Rolex finally introduced its own in-house Caliber 4130 movement for the Daytona, the collection received one of the best mechanical chronograph movements ever created. Reliably powering watches for the last twenty years and still in use today, the Cal. 4130 can be found inside every single modern Rolex Daytona watch.
Over the course of the Rolex Daytona’s history, the collection has expanded to include an increasing number of dial and metal options. Today, it represents one of the brand’s largest and most diverse lines of watches, despite still only being available in a single case size. Although there was a time during the 1970s and 1980s when Rolex Daytona watches lingered on dealers’ shelves, today they rank among the most famous and instantly recognizable luxury timepieces in the entire world.
The Last Daytona with a Stainless Steel Bezel
The current-production stainless steel Rolex Daytona is the reference 116500LN. While it is easily one of the hottest and most desirable luxury watches in the world with multi-year waiting lists present at dealers ever since it was first announced in 2016, there is one key detail that separates it from the original design DNA of Rolex’s legendary racing chronograph.
The very first Rolex Daytona featured a stainless steel bezel engraved with a tachymeter scale, and in many ways, a steel tachymeter bezel represents Rolex’s original vision for the watch. Even when Rolex experimented with black acrylic bezels during the first Daytona generation with manually-wound movements, a stainless steel bezel was always still an option within the brand’s catalog. However, ever since the reference 116520 was discontinued in 2016, there has not been a Rolex Daytona with a stainless steel bezel.
While the solid gold and two-tone models are still fitted with metallic bezels rather than Cerachrom (ceramic) ones, these bezels are crafted from solid 18k gold rather than traditional stainless steel. As Rolex continues to fit ceramic bezels to a greater number of its models, the likelihood that a steel bezel Daytona will return to the lineup becomes increasingly thin. While there is no way to predict the future, there is a very good chance that the reference 116520 is the last Rolex Daytona to ever feature a stainless steel tachymeter bezel.