271 Rolex A highly attractive and remarkable, Daytona, manual chronograph wristwatch in steel, with silver tropicalised underline dial and double swiss signature, reference 6239.

Estimate: € 60.000 –⁠ 120.000

• Model Daytona
• Year 1963
• Reference 6239
• Case Material Stainless steel
• Case Number 923'060
• Bracelet Material Leather strap
• Movement Manual, cal. 72B, 17 jewels
• Dimension 36.5mm Diameter
• Signed Case, dial, and movement

Among vintage chronographs, few references inspire the scholarly fascination and collector fervor reserved for the early Rolex Daytona, and within this universe the reference 6239 holds singular importance. Introduced in the early 1960s, it marked a decisive turning point by moving the tachymeter scale from the dial to the bezel, an innovation that would define the Daytona for decades. The present example elevates this historic reference further through its exceptionally rare and tropicalised “Underline” dial paired with the coveted “Double Swiss” signature. The underline, placed discreetly beneath the Rolex signature, is widely interpreted by scholars as marking the transition from radium to tritium luminous material in the early 1960s and appears on only a very small number of watches. Even rarer is the presence of the Double Swiss designation at six o’clock, where both “Swiss” markings flank the subsidiary seconds register. Believed to reflect a short-lived transitional or experimental dial configuration, the combination of underline and double Swiss on a single reference 6239 is extraordinarily uncommon, placing the present watch among the most elusive dial variants in the Daytona lineage. Furthermore, the dial, both to its sub-registers, lume-plots and hands has acquired an immensily charming and even tropicalization, the most appearing to the sub-registers, now exhuding a warm choccolate-hue. Aesthetically, the watch is a masterclass in restrained mid-century design with the rarest and earliest bezel varient one could find produced by Rolex, calibrated to 300 units per hour, and featuring small hash marks. Later examples would feature dots instead of hash marks. Beyond its visual appeal, however, this reference 6239 stands as a document of Rolex’s experimental and evolutionary phase, an era when even the smallest typographic nuance carried lasting historical significance. For the seasoned collector, an Underline Double Swiss Daytona is not merely a rare watch; it is a cornerstone of Rolex scholarship and one of the most compelling expressions of the brand’s transitional history.