While the international attention watch collecting in general - and Daytona collecting specifically - are receiving nowadays is a joy for the community, which in the past few years has thrived and grown as never before, it comes also with a downside. Namely, there being more collectors, collectible timepieces are more and more difficult to acquire. That is especially true for never before seen timepieces, especially if offered by the original owners: such gems are actively hunted down by both dealers and private collectors with such a passion that their number is growing thinner by the month.

Luckily, while more and more scarce, such pieces do still happen to appear on the auction market, offering unmissable opportunities to the collectors who want to enjoy the ineffable thrill of being in possession of an “original owner” timepiece, whose history can be traced back to the moment of sale in the boutique and which has been a treasured possession for one or at times even more generations of the same family.

The present watch not only is indeed offered by the original owner himself, but it furthermore is no simple chronograph, but rather a representative of what can be considered at the moment one of the most collectible models ever made: the Daytona "Paul Newman".

Purchased in 1969, the history of this specimen fully embodies the core values that made the Daytona the icon it is today. In 1967, the future owner of the piece acquired his first high performance car. It was a small step getting from that to the world of car racing, of which he soon became an avid fan. Over the next two years he attended more and more racing events and then he decided he needed a watch suitable for the race track. Needless to say, the choice was indeed the present Cosmograph Daytona with exotic dial. True to his intention, the owner used it as a racing tool, sporadically wearing it on the racing track Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. For the rest of the time, the piece was stored at home, unused. It was only recently that the owner was made aware of its appeal and collectability, and decided to allow it to make its way to a new home.

Its provenance and collectability are fully matched by the condition of its dial: it is virtually flawless, without any mark or scratch; all the luminous accents - a very delicate detail which is gathering more and more attention by purists of the brand - are all present and original, perfectly preserved without any sort of loss or flaking.