STORY OF AN ICON. ROLEX DAYTONA

In 1936  a small  American city Daytona became the location of the world's first endurance car race. However, in the minds of those who are seriously interested in watches, this name is associated mostly not with racing, but with one of the most recognizable, discussed, and the most selling chronographs in the world – Rolex Cosmograph Daytona. By the way, thanks to its reliability and accuracy, Rolex watches became the official chronograph of the races in 1936.
A special Chapter in the history of chronographs Daytona – model with the prefix "Paul Newman". This prefix no more than a nickname invented by creative collectors. According to one version, the prefix "Paul Newman" stick to the model 6239 in steel performance after his wife, actress Joanne Woodward, bought this model in the boutique Tiffany & Co on 5th Avenue and gave her husband. The engraving on the back reads “Drive carefully. Me” 
Newman was so confident in the accuracy of his Daytona watches that he was betting a lot with friends whose watches were more accurate. It all ended with a call to the service of the exact time, after which a satisfied actor collected an honestly earned win.
And although the actor and racer never was the face of Rolex and certainly not advertised chronographs Daytona, the frequent appearance of a famous actor in his favorite watches Daytona worked pretty good as advertising. 
The most interesting thing is that this model was not very popular at that moment, so Rolex started to produce it in small editions. Now, this is the most expensive wristwatch model ever sold at auction in 2017, the Phillips auction house sold it for $ 17.8 million.