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{{DISPLAYTITLE:Rolex Daytona 6240 “Neanderthal”}}
{{#seo:
{{#seo:
|title=Rolex Neanderthal Daytona 6240 — Disputed Paul Newman Prototype — BezelBase
|title=Rolex Daytona 6240 “Neanderthal” — Disputed Dial Attribution | Rolexopedia
|description=The Neanderthal Rolex Cosmograph Daytona 6240 — the Phillips Daytona Ultimatum 2018 lot presented as the earliest Paul Newman prototype, sold for CHF 3,012,500. Perezcope's 2022 forensic dossier disputes the prototype framing using contemporaneous evidence from the April 1998 Orologi & Market magazine, arguing the dial is a late-1990s construction on a 6238 donor. Both positions remain on record.
|description=Phillips’ 1966 reference 6240 “Neanderthal” lot and the later Perezcope challenge to its dial chronology, case 1'439'122.
|keywords=Neanderthal Daytona, Neanderthal 6240, Rolex Neanderthal, Phillips Daytona Ultimatum, Perezcope Neanderthal, Paul Newman prototype, 6240 disputed, Orologi Market 1998
|keywords=Rolex 6240, Neanderthal Daytona, Paul Newman dial, Phillips Daytona Ultimatum, Perezcope, disputed Rolex
|image=Ref 6240 hero.webp
|image=Ref 6240 hero.webp
|type=article
|image_alt=Rolex Daytona reference 6240 known as the Neanderthal at Phillips Daytona Ultimatum
|type=Article
|og_type=article
|published_time=2026-09-27T00:00:00Z
|modified_time=2026-09-27T00:00:00Z
|robots=index,follow,max-image-preview:large
|titlemode=replace
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}}
<small>[[Reference:daytona|Daytona]] → [[Reference:6240|6240]] → '''Neanderthal'''</small>
<small>[[Reference:daytona|Daytona]] → [[Reference:6240|6240]] → '''Neanderthal'''</small>


= The Neanderthal (Daytona 6240) =
<div class="rp-lead">[[File:Ref 6240 hero.webp|thumb|center|640px|alt=Rolex Daytona reference 6240 known as the Neanderthal at Phillips Daytona Ultimatum|Rolex reference 6240, case 1'439'122, catalogued as “The Neanderthal” at Phillips Daytona Ultimatum in 2018.]]</div>


The Neanderthal is a Paul Newman-configuration [[Reference:6240|6240]] that Phillips sold in 2018 for CHF 3,012,500 including premium as the earliest known Paul Newman prototype. The nickname points to the dial's crude, proto-Paul-Newman look. Perezcope's 2022 dossier disputes the prototype story and argues for a later construction using a [[Reference:6238|6238]] donor dial. Both readings remain on the public record.
“Neanderthal” is the auction nickname for a single stainless-steel Rolex Cosmograph reference 6240, case 1'439'122. Phillips catalogued it in 2018 as a pre-Paul-Newman or earliest Paul Newman-style dial and sold it as lot 32. A later Perezcope dossier disputes the dial’s period and argues that a photograph in an April 1998 issue of ''Orologi & Market'' shows the same dial in another watch. The page records both positions; it does not resolve authenticity from catalogues alone.


[[File:Ref 6240 hero.webp|thumb|right|340px|alt=The Neanderthal 6240 at Phillips Daytona Ultimatum, Geneva, 12 May 2018|The Neanderthal 6240 at Phillips Daytona Ultimatum, Geneva, 12 May 2018]]
==Core facts==


== What the Neanderthal is ==
{| class="wikitable rp-facts"
 
|-
The Neanderthal, as it appeared at Phillips, had five identifying features that distinguished it from the documented Paul Newman Mk1-Mk4 progression:
! detail
 
! value
The Neanderthal has five practical tells.
 
* Mk1.75 typeface sitting between the known Mk1 and Mk2 Paul Newman forms.
* A 6240 host case with screw-down pushers.
* Block markers without the outline seen on Mk2 dials.
* Sub-dial geometry that Perezcope reads as closer to 6238 than 6239 production.
* A pre-1970 case serial.
 
== The Phillips sale (12 May 2018) ==
 
Phillips Daytona Ultimatum was a 32-watch thematic sale curated by Pucci Papaleo with Aurel Bacs at the rostrum. The Neanderthal was Lot 32 and the penultimate lot of the auction. Phillips's lot essay framed the watch as the earliest known Paul Newman prototype — the dial that preceded the documented Mk1 production run and carried typography and sub-dial proportions Rolex settled away from before standardising the Mk1 look.
 
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|-
! Detail !! Value
| host reference
| 6240
|-
|-
| Reference || 6240, stainless steel
| case
| stainless steel, case 1'439'122
|-
|-
| Sale || Phillips Daytona Ultimatum, Geneva
| catalogue date
| circa 1966, Phillips
|-
|-
| Date || 12 May 2018
| movement
| manual caliber 72B, 17 jewels, as catalogued by Phillips
|-
|-
| Lot number || 32
| case size
| 37.5 mm, Phillips catalogue measurement
|-
|-
| Price (all-in) || CHF 3,012,500
| pushers and bezel
| screw-down pushers and acrylic tachymeter bezel, as described in the Phillips essay
|-
|-
| Position on Rolex auction list at sale date || 4th all-time
| bracelet
| Rolex Oyster reference 6635, end links stamped 57; clasp stamped 4.65
|-
|-
| Framing || Earliest known Paul Newman prototype
| dispute
| Phillips presents an early exotic-dial interpretation; Perezcope argues for a later dial construction on an early 6240 case
|}
|}


The sale placed the Neanderthal at the fourth position on the all-time Rolex auction list at the time, behind Newman's own 6239 (USD 17.52M at Phillips Winning Icons, 2017), the Unicorn 6265 (CHF 5.94M at the same Ultimatum sale), and the Bao Dai 6062 (USD 5.06M).
==What Phillips catalogued==
 
== The Perezcope dispute (November 2022) ==
 
Jose Pereztroika's November 2022 dossier — "Rolex Daytona 6240 Paul Newman Neanderthal: A myth goes extinct" — disputes the prototype framing. The dossier's central evidence falls into four categories:
 
=== ''Orologi & Market'' April 1998 ===
 
The April 1998 issue of ''Orologi & Market'' is the core of Perezcope's case. It appears to show the same dial in a construction context decades before Phillips presented it as a 1960s prototype. If that reading is right, the prototype story collapses.
 
=== Mk1.75 typeface analysis ===
 
Perezcope's typeface analysis compares the Neanderthal dial's printed text — the "COSMOGRAPH" stack, the sub-dial numerals, the minute track — against authenticated Mk1 Paul Newman dials from known production. The argument: the typography does not represent a pre-Mk1 generation but rather a late-1990s interpretation of what a pre-Mk1 dial might look like. Specific font weights, kerning patterns, and stroke endings diverge from period-correct 1960s Singer printing in ways the dossier documents with comparative photography.
 
=== Sub-dial geometry from 6238 donor ===


The sub-dial outer-ring proportions and cross-hair placements on the Neanderthal dial match, per Perezcope, the 6238 Pre-Daytona dial geometry rather than the 6239-era Paul Newman geometry. The argument extends that the Neanderthal dial was built on a 6238 donor — a [[Reference:6238|Pre-Daytona]] dial repurposed and re-printed with Paul Newman-style markers, cross-hairs, and 15/30/45 sub-dial numerals.
Phillips’ 2018 lot 32 describes reference 6240, circa 1966, in stainless steel with manual caliber 72B, 17 jewels, a 37.5 mm case, Oyster bracelet 6635, end links 57, and clasp 4.65. The catalogue calls the dial “pre-Paul Newman” and says it has oversized registers, a white outer seconds track, and no Cosmograph, Oyster, or Daytona designation.


=== Singer stamp comparison ===
Those are catalogue statements about the offered watch. Phillips’ historical framing describes the reference 6240 as the first Cosmograph with screw-down pushers and places it before references 6263 and 6265. It does not provide a Rolex production document that proves the dial was made as a prototype in 1966.


The Singer dial-maker stamp on the Neanderthal's dial back, compared against authenticated Singer stamps across the Mk1–Mk4 progression, reads as mismatched to any production window. The stamp style does not fit the 1965–1969 6240 production range or any adjacent Singer production batch.
==Dial and typeface==


== Phillips's position and the Neanderthal's case ==
The dial is the disputed component. Phillips describes a black-and-white layout with oversized subsidiary registers and treats it as an early design stage before the serially produced Paul Newman dials. Collectors sometimes call the typography “Mk1.75”; that is a later descriptive label, not a Rolex designation.


Phillips's 2018 lot essay did not claim the dial was a documented pre-production piece from Rolex archives — the framing was "earliest known Paul Newman prototype," with the prototype status inferred from the dial's divergence from documented Mk1 production. The catalogue text positioned the Neanderthal as a transitional example from a pre-Mk1 phase in Paul Newman development, with the dial's divergence from standard chronology read as pre-production evolution rather than post-production construction.
Perezcope’s dossier reads the sub-dial geometry, printing, luminous details, and Singer stamp differently. It argues that the dial is a later construction associated with a 6238 donor and points to an April 1998 ''Orologi & Market'' photograph that it identifies as the same dial fitted in another watch. The magazine photograph is a primary period publication for that image, while Perezcope’s identification of the dial is an interpretation. The catalogue and dossier therefore support competing readings rather than a settled chronology.


The case itself — the 6240 stainless-steel case with screw-down pushers, acrylic crystal, and acrylic bezel insert — is not disputed. The 6240 production years (1965–1969) are period-correct for a pre-Mk1 Paul Newman framing, and the case authentication passes through the standard 6240 verification checkpoints. The dispute is dial-specific, not case-specific or movement-specific.
==Case, movement, and bracelet==


== Why the dispute matters ==
The 6240 case is not the disputed point in the published dossier. Phillips describes a stainless-steel case with screw-down pushers, an acrylic tachymeter bezel, and a twinlock 700-series crown. The lot lists manual caliber 72B with 17 jewels. These details identify the offered lot; they do not independently prove that the dial was delivered with the case.


Phillips's prototype framing and Perezcope's 6238-donor-construction framing cannot both be true. A genuine Rolex-issued pre-Mk1 prototype on a 6240 case changes the early Paul Newman chronology materially — introducing a documented Mk0 or Mk0.5 sub-generation that the existing Mk1-Mk4 scaffold would need to accommodate. A late-1990s construction on a period-correct 6240 case means the dial is a made-up object and the Phillips sale result reflects a market that priced a construction as a prototype.
The bracelet is catalogued as Rolex Oyster reference 6635 with end links stamped 57 and clasp 4.65. Those markings identify the bracelet components in the lot. They do not by themselves establish when the bracelet was fitted to the case or whether it was the original delivery bracelet.


Both positions stay on the record per BezelBase's never-pick-one-truth rule. The market's read on the Perezcope dossier will emerge at the next public sale of the Neanderthal, should it surface — the lot has not been re-catalogued publicly since the 2018 sale.
==Phillips sale==


== Relation to other disputed Daytona variants ==
Phillips sold lot 32 at Daytona Ultimatum in Geneva on 12 May 2018. The result was CHF 3,012,500 including the buyer’s premium. The sale result records the market’s response to the catalogue description at that time; it does not settle the later dial dispute.
 
The Neanderthal sits in a cluster of high-value disputed-authenticity Daytona variants, each with Perezcope as the second voice raising forensic questions against an auction-house lot:


{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|-
! Variant !! Phillips framing !! Perezcope counter !! Status
! sale date
! house and lot
! catalogue description
! result
|-
|-
| [[Reference:albino-daytona|Albino 6263]] || Factory Rolex variant (Hodinkee 2013 consensus) || 1990s Tom Bolt construction (Perezcope 2025) || 3 examples sold; dispute unresolved
| 12 May 2018
|-
| Phillips Geneva, Daytona Ultimatum, lot 32
| [[Reference:unicorn-daytona|Unicorn 6265]] || Only known white gold manual-wind Daytona with period-correct service replacements (Phillips 2018) || Frankenstein — components assembled post-2010 per 2010 Newoldschlock IG photos (Perezcope 2022) || Sold CHF 5.94M 2018; dispute unresolved
| Reference 6240, circa 1966, case 1'439'122, “pre-Paul Newman” dial
|-
| CHF 3,012,500
| Neanderthal 6240 || Earliest Paul Newman prototype (Phillips 2018) || Late-1990s construction on 6238 donor per Orologi & Market April 1998 (Perezcope 2022) || Sold CHF 3.01M 2018; dispute unresolved
|}
|}


Each dispute follows the same pattern: high-value auction-house lot presented with an origin-story framing that elevates rarity; forensic counter-dossier published after the sale with period-correct or contemporaneous documentary evidence that contradicts the origin story; no editorial resolution by either the auction house or Rolex. The market absorbs each dispute with partial pricing adjustments at subsequent sales.
==Limits of the evidence==
 
The reviewed sources establish the case and the descriptions attached to the 2018 sale. They do not establish a Rolex archive record for a 6240 prototype, prove the dial’s manufacture date, or prove that a later dial was installed on the case. A physical examination of the dial back, case, movement, and documented chain of custody would be needed to resolve those questions.


== Host reference ==
==Related references==


The Neanderthal is documented as a single example on a single [[Reference:6240|6240]] case. No other 6240 Paul Newman examples are documented in the published literature — per Rolex's standard production record, Paul Newman dials on 6240 are extremely rare, and the Neanderthal is the sole cited example at auction.
* [[Reference:6240|Daytona 6240]], host reference
* [[Reference:6239|Daytona 6239]], early Cosmograph reference
* [[Reference:paul-newman-daytona|Paul Newman Daytona]], dial-family context
* [[Reference:daytona|Daytona family index]]


== Where to go next ==
==Gallery==


- [[Reference:6240|Reference 6240]] — full treatment of the host reference including the Millerighe Mk0 pusher discussion and the 6239 → 6240 transition
<gallery mode="packed" heights="180">
- [[Reference:paul-newman-daytona|Paul Newman Daytona]] — the exotic-dial category the Neanderthal disputes its place in
File:Ref 6240 hero.webp|Phillips’ circa-1966 reference 6240, case 1'439'122
- [[Reference:albino-daytona|Albino Daytona]] — parallel disputed variant in the 6263 category
</gallery>
- [[Reference:unicorn-daytona|Unicorn Daytona]] — parallel disputed variant in the 6265 category
- [[Reference:daytona-glossary|Daytona glossary]] — definitions for Mk1-4, Mk1.75, and every other named variant


== Source list ==
== Sources ==


* [https://www.phillips.com/article/42015509/made-for-racing-rolex-and-the-daytona Made for Racing: Rolex and the Daytona] — Phillips, 2018
* [https://www.phillips.com/auctions/auction/CH080318 Pucci Papaleo (curator); Aurel Bacs (auctioneer), "Phillips — Daytona Ultimatum (Geneva, 12 May 2018)", Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo, 2018-05-12]
* Phillips Geneva, Daytona Ultimatum, Lot 32 catalogue essay, 12 May 2018
* [https://perezcope.com/2022/11/03/rolex-daytona-6240-paul-newman-neanderthal-a-myth-goes-extinct/ Jose Pereztroika, "Rolex Daytona 6240 Paul Newman "Neanderthal" — A Myth Goes Extinct", Perezcope, 2022-11-03]
* [https://perezcope.com/2022/11/03/rolex-daytona-6240-paul-newman-neanderthal-a-myth-goes-extinct/ Rolex Daytona 6240 Paul Newman Neanderthal: A myth goes extinct] — Jose Pereztroika, Perezcope, November 2022
* "Orologi & Market magazine no. 8 (April 1998)", Orologi & Market (Italy), 1998-04
* ''Orologi & Market'', Italian collector magazine, April 1998, page 44
* [https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-first-rolex-daytona-by-benjamin-clymer Historical Perspectives: The Very First Rolex Daytona] — Benjamin Clymer, Hodinkee, 2013
* [https://monochrome-watches.com/history-rolex-daytona-chronograph-1963-in-depth-review/ In-Depth: The History of the Rolex Daytona] — Erik Slaven, Monochrome, 2024


[[Category:Daytona]]
[[Category:Daytona]]
[[Category:Daytona Manual-wind]]
[[Category:Paul Newman]]
[[Category:Disputed variant]]
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