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Lot Essay
The so called "‘RCO Paul Newman Daytona", or "Oyster Sotto", is a legend among the collectors' community and represents what is most exciting about Rolex sports watches: the mystery of how particular dial variations have come to exist. While there are many so called "Paul Newman Panda" exotic dials in the reference 6263 and 6265, for case number ranging approximately from 2 million to just over 3 million, the black Paul Newman exotic dial in Oyster case, with the three lines of text in an alternate order, are significantly rarer, and according to record, with less than 20 pieces appearing at auction in the last 10 years.
The names "RCO’" and "Oyster sotto", meaning "Oyster below" in Italian, have arrived in the common lexicon of watch collectors thanks to the fact that rather than the familiar "Rolex", "Oyster", "Cosmograph" that is seen on the panda dial variant (and the later "big red" non-Newman dials), for these rare black exotic dials, the text is displayed as "Rolex", "Cosmograph", "Oyster". The reason for the rearranging is due to the fact that these dials were originally destined for pump pusher models, but were repurposed for Oyster cases and had the all important word applied, before an extremely small number were sold to the public.
It is generally accepted among collectors that the most desirable case number range for the "RCO" is around 2.085 million, which this example fits in perfectly, and is in fact only one number away from an example of an "RCO" that surfaced in Sweden from the original owner in 2013. The curious note regarding the watch offered here is the typography: while the majority of "RCO" dials from this case range feature so called "Mark 1" print with minimal serifs to the letters, the watch presented here is far closer to the so called "Mark 2" print, with pronounced serifs, such as the example with case number 2’197'870 sold at the Rolex Daytona “Lesson One” auction held by Christie’s in November 2013. How this combination of dial and case shown here came to exist is open to speculation, but one possible explanation is Rolex had both "Mark 1" and "Mark 2" dials prepared, and simply fitted them ad hoc into the two batches of case numbers around 2.085 millions, and 2.2 million.
The present watch represents an extremely rare opportunity to acquire one of the “Holy Grail” models for vintage Rolex collectors.
The names "RCO’" and "Oyster sotto", meaning "Oyster below" in Italian, have arrived in the common lexicon of watch collectors thanks to the fact that rather than the familiar "Rolex", "Oyster", "Cosmograph" that is seen on the panda dial variant (and the later "big red" non-Newman dials), for these rare black exotic dials, the text is displayed as "Rolex", "Cosmograph", "Oyster". The reason for the rearranging is due to the fact that these dials were originally destined for pump pusher models, but were repurposed for Oyster cases and had the all important word applied, before an extremely small number were sold to the public.
It is generally accepted among collectors that the most desirable case number range for the "RCO" is around 2.085 million, which this example fits in perfectly, and is in fact only one number away from an example of an "RCO" that surfaced in Sweden from the original owner in 2013. The curious note regarding the watch offered here is the typography: while the majority of "RCO" dials from this case range feature so called "Mark 1" print with minimal serifs to the letters, the watch presented here is far closer to the so called "Mark 2" print, with pronounced serifs, such as the example with case number 2’197'870 sold at the Rolex Daytona “Lesson One” auction held by Christie’s in November 2013. How this combination of dial and case shown here came to exist is open to speculation, but one possible explanation is Rolex had both "Mark 1" and "Mark 2" dials prepared, and simply fitted them ad hoc into the two batches of case numbers around 2.085 millions, and 2.2 million.
The present watch represents an extremely rare opportunity to acquire one of the “Holy Grail” models for vintage Rolex collectors.