Category: Rolex

The original Paul Newman Daytona had taken on Holy Grail status by 2016. Every serious replica watch collector knew of its existence, and they knew it hadn’t been seen on his wrist since the mid-eighties. But actually, nobody knew where it was. All the speculation only served to deepen the interest in the fake watch, which fuelled an even greater premium on the price of the other exotic dial models.
Newman’s daughter Nell had by this time established a charitable organization called the Nell Newman Foundation, to carry on her father’s extensive philanthropic work. It’s to help the foundation that Cox has decided to finally sell the watch, who works as treasurer. 
Thinking about heading to the auction? Let’s take a look at what you’ll be bidding on. Physically, it’s in great shape for a 45-year-old. That nice dial is absolutely original and not restored and the white face has faded to a familiar vintage cream, with a warm patina. All the lime indexes are intact and greatly aged. However, there’s no strap on the fake Rolex watch; Newman changed the original steel bracelet and only ever wore it with a three-piece military Fatstrap that’s been lost to the ravages of time. The back, still perfectly legible among the scratches of an active life, is the inscription entreating the racer to drive carefully.
But of course, it’s not the watch that’s being bid on. As for the collectors, this is the most significant piece of history there is. The esteem in which Paul Newman is held and the place he has in the American psyche make this a momentous event.
As an actor, he was as iconic as Brando or James Dean, but his integrity and generosity set him apart. That he gifted the watch so easily to James Cox should come as no surprise for someone who donated every profitable cent from his food line to charitable causes.
As a man, he marched alongside Martin Luther King and was most admired by his children for breaking the top 20 on Nixon’s list of enemies. He was anti showboating, tough, and enigmatic. So what else would he wear but a replica Rolex Daytona?

In March of 2015, that is almost two years ago, something happened that we had always dreamed of but never really expected: we were given access to all four of the replica Rolex’s main manufacturing centers. Les Acacias Plan-Les-Oates, Chene-Bourg, and actually, Bienne, where Rolex movements are made, were all on the itinerary and while we went there with a lot of assumptions about what does and doesn’t go on during the innovation of Rolex watches, many of those assumptions were overturned and as well, we were exposed to an incredible wealth of new information. 
All in all, what we have discovered was the fact that much more hand-work goes into making the fake Rolex watches than we’d realized and that indeed, Rolex is one of the most thoroughly vertically-integrated watch manufacturers on the planet, a situation which is partly responsible for the amazing degree of uniform top quality of manufacturing and performance on which the fake Rolex’s reputation has been built, and which has made it what it is today.
Besides, we weren’t just wowed by all the new information we got; we saw the proof that the Rolex replica is doing things its own way and doing them extremely well. An independent watchmaker – not a Rolex employee or associate – whom we consulted for the story in order to get another perspective, told us in part: 
“Setting Dufour and Voutilainen level movement finishing aside, from a pure engineering perspective, the best fake Rolex’s 3130 based calibers have reigned supreme for close to 30 years now. No mass-produced movement outside of Rolex comes close to matching their quality, durability, and reliability. They have come terribly close to defining the epitome of what a perfectly conceived mechanical watch movement should be.”
Therefore, if you missed the story when we first ran it, or if you’re a new reader here and community member, or if you just want to step back into one of the most thoroughly interesting and genuinely revelatory factory visits we’ve ever done, check out Ben’s take on what we discovered when we went Inside All Four Rolex Manufacturing Facilities, in 2015.