Weekend Watch Lists Top 10 Daytona References

February 15, 2022

Time for the Weekend Watch List! This week our focus is on the Top 10 Daytona references, both for all models made as well as for all (vintage) models before 1990. We did an article on the Daytona models before (click here), from the introduction in 1963 till introduction of the most recent models. From 1963 till 1988, the Daytona was a hand-wound chronograph using Valjoux 72 movements. From 1988 till 2000, used a tweaked El Primero movement for their Daytona models. In 2000, introduced their in-house caliber 4130 chronograph movement for the most popular chronograph in the world.In this Weekend Watch List we show you the Top 10 Daytona references for vintage models up to 1990. This includes those first (Zenith) El Primero Daytona references, 1652x. The other overview is a Top 15 Daytona references overview includes all requests for Daytona watches, including the most recent ones. We made the overall list a bit longer, to include as much references as possible.Our overviews are based on data from on-line watch consumers. Per list we will indicate the countries from which we used the data, as this will vary to keep it interesting. It will be interesting to see how much taste in watches can differ per country and continent. Data is retrieved from?Chronolytics.ch, watch market research company that operates under the flag of Ebner Verlag (publishing house of magazines like WatchTime, Uhren Magazine, Chronos etc.).For these two overviews, we requested data from Q1 2015. Based on 1,000,000 unique requests for Daytona ads/classifieds only, world wide. Perhaps interesting for you to know, the average price of a Daytona in the ‘vintage category was $43.036.- Euro while the average price of a Daytona in the overall category was $18.680,- Euro. However, keep in mind that some ads of Daytonas have a ‘price on request mention, so ?that might suggest they have very high price tags.Top 10 Daytona References – VintageTop 15 Daytona References – All YearsAbove, you ll find the Top 10 Daytona References (1963 – 1989) and the Top 15 Daytona References (1963 – now). It is interesting to see that in the overall list, the ‘real 4-digit vintage reference number is only on #11. The majority of the million tracked people searching for a Daytona is looking for a modern piece. The reference 16520 is ranked 2 in the overall overview, but our guess is that these are mainly Daytona watches later than 1990 since in the vintage Top 10 Daytona References overview, the ref. 16520 (1988 -1990 in this list) is ranked #4. The Daytona reference 6262, only made for one year (1970) and perhaps one of the rarest references, is ranked #5 in the Top 10 overview.The absolute number 1 in the vintage Top 10 overview is the reference 6263, perhaps with Paul Newman dial the most sought-after Daytona anyway. An interesting write up on these vintage Daytona reference numbers was done by our friends from Hodinkee, here.With regards to the overview of all Daytona references, the modern stainless steel 116520 performs best. When asked which dial color is more popular (black or white), the black dial receives 51% of the total demand for them and the white gets the remaining 49% of the interest.Click here for our other Watch Weekend List overviews.