Reference:6262

Daytona › 6262

Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Ref. 6262 — pump-pusher metal-bezel transitional

The 6262 is the brief 1970–1972 transitional Daytona that pairs the older pump-pusher case of the 6239 with the new high-frequency caliber 727. It carries the engraved metal tachymetric bezel of its 6239 ancestor, runs in parallel with its acrylic-bezel sibling 6264, and was overtaken within two years by the screw-pusher (screw-down chronograph pushers) 6263 / 6265 pair that closed the manual-wind era. No factory production total is published for the reference; surviving examples are documented in the auction record.

Core facts

Field	Value
Reference	6262
Family	Daytona (Cosmograph, manual-wind)
Production	1970–1971 per Monochrome and two other editorial histories; the page's own Sigma-dial evidence (below) suggests a late batch ran into 1972
Movement	caliber 727 (Valjoux 72 base), 21,600 vph
Case	36mm steel, 19mm lug width, pump pushers
Crystal	acrylic
Bezel	engraved steel tachymetric scale (vs acrylic insert on sibling 6264)
Crown	Twinlock screw-down
Water resistance	50m / 165ft
Dial	“Cosmograph” — standard panda / reverse panda; Paul Newman exotic
Bracelet	7205 rivet (early), 7835 folded (transitional), end-link 271
Sibling	6264 (acrylic bezel, pump pushers, same caliber 727)
Predecessor	6239 (caliber 722, metal bezel, pump pushers)
Successor	6263 / 6265 (screw-down pushers, longest manual-wind run)

Where it sits in the line

The four manual-wind Daytona references in production around 1970–1972 sort cleanly along two axes: pusher type and bezel material. The 6262 carries pump pushers and the engraved metal bezel, the same case configuration as the 6239 it succeeded. The 6264 carries pump pushers and an acrylic bezel insert, the same case configuration as the 6241. The 6263 and 6265, both introduced in 1970–1971 and running through 1988, return to the screw-down pushers first seen on the 6240 in 1965 and split bezel material the same way the 6262 / 6264 pair does. The 6262 is the metal-bezel half of a pump-pusher transitional pair, and the 6265 is its metal-bezel screw-pusher counterpart.

The four references share caliber 727. Caliber 727 raised the beat rate from 18,000 to 21,600 vph across all four references; the case decisions were inherited from the prior pair. Within two years the screw-pusher 6263 / 6265 remained in production, and the pump-pusher 6262 / 6264 pair was discontinued. The 6262 and 6264 are the last pump-pusher references in the manual-wind transition before the screw-pusher pair became the long-running production versions.

Production outline

Production ran from 1970 through 1972, in parallel with the 6264 and overlapping the early 6263 and 6265 years. Total production is not pinned in any accepted Rolex source, and published date bands disagree at the edges. The 6262 is a short-run bridge reference from the last pump-pusher phase of the manual-wind Daytona line.

The reference sits in the pre-letter-serial era. Cases carry the older numeric-only serial format used by Rolex through 1986. There is no documented Mk1 / Mk2 split for the 6262, and the dial, bezel, and pusher configuration stayed stable across the run. The visible variation across surviving examples is dial-aging (tropical browning) and the optional Paul Newman exotic dial, neither of which marks a production progression.

Movement notes

Cal 727 Valjoux 72 base in the 6262

The 6262 carries Rolex caliber 727 throughout. The 727 is the higher-frequency revision of the Valjoux 72 base: 21,600 vph (3 Hz) versus the 18,000 vph cal 722 used in the earlier 6239 and the cal 722-1 used in the late 6239 / 6241. Architecture is otherwise unchanged. Lateral-clutch chronograph coupling, column wheel, tri-compax sub-dial layout, 17 jewels, 48-hour reserve, manual wind. No quickset, no hack. The 6262 / 6264 pair introduced the 21,600 vph version of the movement.

The same caliber 727 continues into the 6263 and 6265. For forensic checking against a 6262 case, the ROW import code on US-bound movements and the bridge-stamp style are the practical reference points.

Dial map

Serial / year / dial / lume / bracelet

Serial range	Year	Dial	Lume	Bracelet	End links	Notes
2.4M-2.6M (~1970)	1970	Cosmograph, Paul Newman exotic	tritium	7205 (early), 7835 (transitional)	271	Introduction year. Bracelet transition era — early 1970 examples likely on 7205; later 1970 may have shifted to 7835.
2.6M-3.0M (~1971)	1971	Cosmograph, Paul Newman exotic	tritium	7835	271	Mid-production. 7835 folded bracelet established as standard fitment.
3.0M-3.3M (~1972)	1972	Cosmograph, Paul Newman exotic, Sigma (transitional, late 1972)	tritium	7835	271	Final year. Sigma dials begin appearing on Daytona refs from ~1972 — late 6262 examples could carry the early Sigma marker. Reference superseded by 6263/6265.

The 6262 dial group is small. Standard production wore the “Rolex Cosmograph” three-line dial: the older two-line text block of the pre-Oyster 6239 era, without the “Oyster” line that the screw-pusher Oyster 6240 / 6263 / 6265 references carry. The “Daytona” wording appears above the 6 o’clock sub-dial register, the position it had migrated to by 1967 across the manual-wind line. Both panda (white dial, black sub-dials) and reverse panda (black dial, white sub-dials) configurations appear on standard examples.

The cited records include Paul Newman exotic dials on some 6262 examples. The dial is not unique to this reference and needs case, movement and provenance checks. Late Sigma dials and tropical ageing on period black dials both turn up across the run, but they are overlays on the panda / reverse panda / Paul Newman split rather than separate dial families.

Case, bezel, crystal, and crown

The case is the 36mm steel Oyster of the period, with pump pushers, an acrylic crystal, and 50m water resistance. The engraved steel tachymetric bezel is the quickest physical identifier of the 6262.

The scale runs 60–400 units per hour, engraved into a steel bezel insert in the same style as the 6239 and continuing on the metal-bezel screw-pusher 6265. The 6264 carries an acrylic bezel insert in the same configuration as the 6241 and 6263. The metal-versus-acrylic split runs through the entire manual-wind era: the 6239 and 6265 wear engraved metal, the 6240 and 6263 wear acrylic, and the 6262 / 6264 pair carries the choice forward in pump-pusher form.

The bezel-material split has a physical complication worth recording: Rolex genuinely dual-stamped case blanks across this cluster. A Bonhams lot sold in London in June 2014 (£84,100) is catalogued directly as "Ref:6262/6264" — "inner case stamped with reference 6262, body marked with reference 6264" on the same watch. A second Bonhams lot from December 2012 (£55,250), sold as a 6262 Paul Newman, carries a case back "numbered 6239" rather than 6262 at all. A single case-stamp reading is not on its own sufficient to settle which reference a given watch belongs to.

Bracelets, end links, and clasps

6262 on period-correct Oyster bracelet

The 6262 sits across the 7205-to-7835 bracelet transition. Early watches can be on 7205, later ones on 7835, both with end-link 271. Some secondary tables print “771”; the cited bracelet records use 271, and the difference may be an OCR or catalogue reading.

Two Bonhams-catalogued 6262 Paul Newman examples complicate that figure rather than confirming it cleanly: a December 2012 lot (case back stamped 6239, £55,250) and a June 2013 lot sold by the original owner (£46,850, with original box and a dated guarantee booklet recording retail sale on 6 December 1975 — five years after the 1970 case date) both describe their 7835 bracelets as fitted with "357 end pieces," not 271. The source does not establish whether 357 is an alternate stamp, a bracelet suffix or a catalogue reading. The conflict with 271 remains recorded as lot-specific evidence.

Clasps date the bracelet, not the watch head. Pre-1976 clasps carry quarterly numeric stamps inside the clasp blade in roman quarter / two-digit year format (“II.71” reads second quarter 1971). The 6262’s three-year run sits entirely in this pre-letter-code era. Both 7205 and 7835 use the small-logo folding clasp generation that ran from 1958 to roughly 1976. For the date-code key and the bracelet generation table, see Reference:Bracelets.

The US-market alternative bracelet was a Connecticut-made hollow-rivet 19mm with unmarked end-pieces, lighter gauge than the Swiss 7205 and sold by US Rolex agents from 1959 to 1979. These are not Rolex-stamped and are a known collector lead but not original-equipment.

Special branches

Paul Newman 6262

The cited records include fewer 6262 Paul Newman examples than the broader 6263/6265 literature, but no production ratio is established. The dial itself is not unique to this reference, so the collector test is whether the exotic dial, the matching pump-pusher case, the cal 727 movement, and the period bracelet all line up as one delivered watch rather than a later marriage.

Three documented Paul Newman 6262 examples sit in the Bonhams London record: a December 2012 sale (£55,250, owned from new by a competitive sailor, case back stamped 6239 rather than 6262), the original-owner example from June 2013 above (£46,850), and a family-owned example never before offered at auction, sold in June 2017 in the £70,000–90,000 estimate range.

Tropical 6262

Tropical 6262 dials are black dials that have aged to brown or chocolate; the cited Christie’s lot documents one example. The sources do not establish a comparative population. Christie’s catalogued one such example, a 1970 6262 with tropical-register dial, as lot 2043 in Passion for Time: An Important Private Collection of Watches and Timepieces (Geneva, 6 November 2023). The browning comes from the same lacquer instability documented across the period; the black pigment in the dial lacquer was unstable to light and heat, and decades of wear drove the colour shift. The cited lot does not establish a general premium rule; case, movement and pusher fitment remain individual checks.

Sigma transition

The 6262’s final-year production overlaps the start of the Sigma dial era on Daytona references. Sigma dials carry small σ symbols flanking the SWISS line at 6 o’clock, denoting white gold hour markers under the 1970s industry agreement on identifying precious-metal components. The published collector literature marks the start of Sigma on Daytona dials around 1972, which puts the late 6262 production batch in the early-Sigma window. Standard 6263 / 6265 Sigma production runs roughly 1972 through 1978, so a documented Sigma-marked 6262 is an uncommon transitional configuration.

Historical market and auction record

The cited auction record is smaller than the 6263 and 6265 records. Results differ by dial, provenance, condition and venue, so individual lots should be compared directly. Christie’s Geneva, 6 November 2023, lot 2043 records a 1970 example with tropical registers, case 2'416'687, sold for CHF 110,880 against an CHF 88,000–140,000 estimate.

Five Bonhams lots between 2009 and 2017, plus one Antiquorum result, add further individual records to the Christie’s lot. The earliest, a standard Cosmograph sold in June 2009 for £30,000 (case 2533340, retailed January 1972, two years after its 1970 manufacture), predates the rest of the trail by three years. From 2012 onward, in chronological order: the Paul Newman sold for £55,250 in December 2012 (case back stamped 6239); the original-owner standard Cosmograph sold for £46,850 in June 2013, with its original box and a guarantee booklet dated 6 December 1975; a dual-stamped "Ref:6262/6264" example that sold for £84,100 in June 2014; and the family-owned Paul Newman that sold in the £70,000–90,000 range in June 2017. Antiquorum's Forte dei Marmi sale added a non-Bonhams datapoint in June 2022, a standard example (case 2476816) that made EUR 62,640 against a CHF 31,200–63,000 estimate; the house's own catalogue essay frames the 6262 as differing from the 6239 "only concerning the movement" and pairs it with the 6264 as "the latest Rolex chronograph with pump pushers."

Related references

• Daytona 6264, Paul Newman dials (1970–1972)
• Daytona 6241, “John Player Special,” 14K gold (1966–1969)
• Daytona 6240, first screw-down-pusher Daytona (1965–1969)
• Daytona 6263, Paul Newman, Big Red and RCO dials (1969–1988)
• Daytona 6265, screw-pusher Oyster (1971–1988)
• Daytona 6234, pre-Daytona (1955–1961)

See also the Daytona family index, movement reference, bracelet & clasp guide, and serial numbers by year.

Sources

• In-Depth: The History of the Rolex Daytona, The Emblematic Racing Chronograph — Erik Slaven, Monochrome
• In-Depth: A Vintage Watch Nerd's Critical Dissection of the Rolex Daytona, Past to Present (Part 1/3) — Paul Boutros, Hodinkee
• A Beginner's Guide to the Early Rolex Daytona (1963-88) — Marcus Siems, Goldammer
• The Vintage Rolex Field Manual — Colin A. White, Morning Tundra
• Vintage Watch Straps — Rolex bracelet and clasp reference — David Boettcher, vintagewatchstraps.com
• Tracking the Rolex Daytona: A 55-Year History — WatchTime Team, WatchTime
• Rolex Daytona Ref. 6262, tropical registers, circa 1970 — lot 2043, Passion for Time, Geneva (Christie’s, 6 November 2023)
• Phillips — Daytona Ultimatum (Geneva, 12 May 2018) — Pucci Papaleo (curator); Aurel Bacs (auctioneer), Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo
• Rolex Daytona 6240 Paul Newman "Neanderthal" — A Myth Goes Extinct — Jose Pereztroika, Perezcope
• The Rolex "John Player Special" Paul Newman Daytona Ref. 6241 — Bob Ridley (Watchmakers International), Revolution Watch
• Is the Rolex Pre-Daytona a Forgotten Classic? — Russell Sheldrake, A Collected Man
• VintageDaytona reference guide — VintageDaytona.com
• Spectacular Results at Christie's Rolex Daytona "Lesson One" Auction in Geneva — Richard Lee, SJX Watches
• Penultimate Picks from Daytona Ultimatum at Phillips — Richard Lee, SJX Watches
• Historical Perspectives: The Very First Rolex Daytona, Explained (Or, What Is A Double-Swiss Underline Daytona?) — Benjamin Clymer, Hodinkee
• Made For Racing: Rolex and the Daytona — James Marks, Phillips
• 'Paul Newman' Oyster Cosmograph Daytona Ref:6262 — Bonhams lot 19810/238 (Bonhams, 2012)
• Cosmograph Daytona Ref:6262, original owner with box and guarantee — Bonhams lot 20747/328 (Bonhams, 2013)
• Cosmograph Daytona Ref:6262/6264 dual-stamped case — Bonhams lot 21920/176 (Bonhams, 2014)
• Cosmograph Daytona 'Paul Newman' Ref:6262, family-owned — Bonhams lot 24232/157 (Bonhams, 2017)
• Cosmograph Daytona Ref:6262, case 2533340 — Bonhams lot 16805/86 (Bonhams, 2009)
• Cosmograph Daytona ref 6262, case 2476816 — Antiquorum Forte dei Marmi (Antiquorum, 2022)