Rolex 'Paul Newman' Daytona Ref. 6241

The 6239 with a black bezel

Rolex launched the Cosmograph in 1963 with the reference 6239, a racing chronograph that moved the tachymeter scale off the dial and onto the bezel so the dial could stay clean and readable. The 6241 followed in the mid-1960s. Mechanically and in silhouette it is the same watch: the same manual-wind Valjoux-based movement, which Rolex called the caliber 722 and later 722-1, the same pump pushers that do not screw down, and the same three-register dial layout. The one deliberate change was the bezel. Where the 6239 has an engraved metal ring, the 6241 has a black acrylic insert carrying the tachymeter scale in white.

That single change gives the watch a darker, heavier look on the wrist. One 2025 catalog put it this way: the acrylic bezel lends the 6241 a 'more imposing aesthetic reminiscent of a modern timepiece.' Collectors have long agreed that it looks the more purposeful of the two, and the reference has generally sold at a premium to an equivalent 6239.

Sources disagree slightly on its dates. A reference table compiled from the published literature and two major auction catalogs give 1965 to 1969; other catalogs and a dealer's reference guide give about 1966 to 1969. All agree it ended around 1969, when Rolex moved to the faster-beating caliber 727 and the transitional references 6262 and 6264.

Production was small. Published estimates put the total at roughly 2,700 to 3,000 watches across all metals. One auction catalog stated that 'no more than 3000 examples were made' and that fewer than a quarter were cased in precious metal. Estimates for gold examples vary by source: one says fewer than 300 were cased in 18k gold; another says fewer than 300 were made in 14k; a 2026 report put the 14k count at fewer than 400. Those figures cannot all be reconciled, and none comes from Rolex.

The exotic dial on the black-bezel watch

What makes a 6241 a 'Paul Newman' is only the dial. The exotic dials were made for Rolex by its dial supplier, Singer, and they differ from the standard dial in small ways: Art Deco numerals, square-tipped hash marks in the registers, crosshairs across each sub-dial, a seconds register marked 15, 30, 45 and 60 rather than 20, 40 and 60, and a small step between the outer minute track and the center of the dial. On the 6241, as on the 6239, the steel versions carry a third color, red, on the outer seconds track and on the word 'Daytona'; on gold examples that track is printed in gold.

When these dials were new, few people wanted them. They sat on dealers' shelves, sometimes for years, which is why some surface with sales receipts dated long after production. One veteran dealer estimated that for every 20 standard Daytona dials, Rolex fitted one exotic dial. The nickname came later, from Italian collectors in the 1980s, after the actor and racing driver Paul Newman was seen wearing his own exotic-dial 6239.

Within the 6241 family the configurations multiply. Steel watches came with white dials and black registers, or the reverse. Gold watches appear with a 'champagne' dial, a warm grained dial with black registers and gilt printing, and with the rarer black dial and gold printing that collectors call the 'John Player Special.' Some steel dials have aged unevenly to a tobacco brown, which collectors call 'tropical'; a white-dial steel 6241 whose registers had turned that color was offered in New York in June 2025 with an estimate of $400,000 to $800,000.

The 'John Player Special'

The name comes from motor racing. In 1972 the cigarette maker John Player & Sons sponsored the Lotus Formula One team, whose cars ran in black and gold to match the brand. That year Emerson Fittipaldi became the youngest world champion in the sport's history in the Lotus 72, and the livery became one of the most recognizable in racing. The gold 6241 with a black exotic dial looks strikingly similar, though the watch was made several years before the cars and has no connection to the team.

Most black-dial 'John Player Special' Daytonas are 6241s. The dial also appears, extremely rarely, in the 6239 and in a small group of later 6264 cases. Gold 6241 cases came in both 14k and 18k. A long-standing belief holds that 14k cases went almost entirely to the American market, possibly to reduce import duties, but one study of examples that have come to market found exceptions in both directions and concluded there is no hard rule.

Across roughly five years of sales, the same study counted 12 'John Player Special' examples offered at auction, with case numbers clustered between about 1.697 million and 2.113 million, in batches that suggest dials were fitted to gold cases as needed. A few carry retailer connections: one with a case back engraved by the Paris house Hermès was confirmed as sold at its rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré store on November 30, 1971.

From $3,000 to seven figures

On December 7, 1988, an auction catalog listed two 6241 Paul Newmans. A steel example was estimated at $3,000 to $3,500 and a gold one at $8,000 to $10,000. A 2014 reference guide reprinted those estimates as a measure of how far the market had come.

By the 2010s the gold 'John Player Special' had become a trophy. On November 10, 2013, at a single-theme Daytona sale in Geneva, a 14k example sold for CHF 389,000, about $428,406. On May 12, 2018, at another Daytona-only sale in Geneva, an 18k example sold for CHF 912,500, about $912,408; at the same sale an 18k champagne-dial 6241 nicknamed 'The Bumblebee' brought CHF 516,500, about $516,448.

The highest price found for the reference came in New York in December 2021, when an 18k 'John Player Special,' case number 1,947,324, never before offered publicly and accompanied by its gold Oyster bracelet, sold for $1,240,000 against an estimate of $600,000 to $1.2 million. In October 2024 a 14k example sold in Monaco for €987,500, a result published only in euros.

Steel examples trade at a different level. A steel 6241 Paul Newman sold at auction on November 11, 2016, for $201,094. In May 2026 a 14k 'John Player Special' was offered in Geneva with an estimate of $570,000 to $1 million.

How to tell a right one

Because a Paul Newman 6241 differs from an ordinary 6241 only in its dial, it is one of the most faked and most altered watches in collecting. A 2014 guide warned that there are probably more fake Paul Newman dials in existence than real ones. Dials have also been moved between genuine watches: dealers joke that a 6241 with a standard dial is one of the hardest Daytonas to find, because so many had exotic dials swapped in from 6239s with tired cases.

Points that specialists check include the 'T Swiss T' marking at six o'clock. On the pump-pusher 6239 and 6241, the word 'Swiss' typically has a raised peak, the so-called 'sing-song' style, while the later 6262 and 6264 use a straight version. Gold cases should carry hallmarks on the back of a lug, and the case number between the lugs should fall in a range consistent with the reference.

Bezel inserts were service parts and are often replaced, and a correct early 'Mark 1' insert is valued. Collectors also look for intact, evenly aged luminous dots and for the steel versions' red outer seconds track, which gold examples print in gold instead.

The numbers

Reference

6241

Caliber

Rolex 722 / 722-1 (Valjoux 72 base), manual wind, 17 jewels, 18,000 vph

Case size

37 mm to 37.5 mm, depending on source

Case materials

Stainless steel; 14k and 18k yellow gold

Bezel

Black acrylic insert with tachymeter scale

Pushers

Pump, non-screw-down

Production years

About 1965 or 1966 to 1969

Production numbers

About 2,700 to 3,000 (published estimates)

Timeline

1. 1963

   Rolex introduces the Cosmograph with the reference 6239.

2. 1965

   The earliest date given for the 6241, the black-bezel sibling of the 6239 (other sources say 1966).

3. 1969

   6241 production ends as Rolex moves to the caliber 727.

4. Nov 30, 1971

   A gold 6241 with a case back engraved by Hermès is sold at the Paris store, per the retailer's records.

5. 1972

   The Lotus Formula One team adopts black and gold John Player Special livery, the source of the dial's later nickname.

6. Dec 7, 1988

   An auction catalog estimates a steel 6241 Paul Newman at $3,000 to $3,500 and a gold one at $8,000 to $10,000.

7. Nov 10, 2013

   A 14k 'John Player Special' 6241 sells for CHF 389,000 (about $428,406) at a Daytona-only sale in Geneva.

8. Nov 11, 2016

   A steel 6241 Paul Newman sells at auction for $201,094.

9. May 12, 2018

   An 18k 'John Player Special' 6241 sells for CHF 912,500 (about $912,408) in Geneva; a champagne-dial 18k 6241, 'The Bumblebee,' brings about $516,448.

10. Dec 2021

    An 18k 'John Player Special,' case 1,947,324, sells in New York for $1,240,000.

11. Oct 2024

    A 14k 'John Player Special' sells in Monaco for €987,500.

12. Jun 2025

    A steel 6241 with a 'tropical' white dial is offered in New York with a $400,000 to $800,000 estimate.

13. May 2026

    A 14k 'John Player Special' is offered in Geneva with a $570,000 to $1 million estimate.

The world in 1966

• Feb 3, 1966

  The Soviet Luna 9 makes the first controlled landing on the Moon.

• Mar 16, 1966

  Gemini 8 completes the first docking in space.

• Jul 30, 1966

  England beats West Germany 4-2 to win the World Cup at Wembley.

• Feb 9, 1969

  The Boeing 747 flies for the first time.

• Mar 2, 1969

  Concorde makes its first test flight, in Toulouse.

• Jul 20, 1969

  Apollo 11 lands on the Moon.

• Oct 29, 1969

  The first message is sent over ARPANET.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Rolex 'Paul Newman' Daytona Ref. 6241 is number 23 of 100 in the watches entries of the FLOAT 100. 54 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (2 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• In 1988 a steel 6241 Paul Newman carried an auction estimate of $3,000 to $3,500.
• Dealers joke that a 6241 with a standard dial is rarer than a Paul Newman, because so many had exotic dials swapped in.
• The 'John Player Special' nickname comes from a 1972 Formula One livery, but the watches predate the cars.
• One estimate holds that Rolex fitted only one exotic dial for every 20 standard Daytona dials.
• The exotic dials were made by Singer, which also made similar dials for other watch brands.
• In 2018 the comedian Ellen DeGeneres wore a 6241 Paul Newman on her Netflix special 'Relatable.'