Reference:albino-daytona

Daytona → 6263 → Albino

A 6263 catalogued as an “Albino” at Sotheby’s in 2025.

“Albino” is a collector and auction-house name for a monochrome silver-dial Daytona, usually discussed in connection with reference 6263. The name describes the dial’s appearance; it does not establish that the watches share a factory dial variant. Three identifiable watches appear in the sources below, but published counts differ and do not settle how many exist.

Core facts

detail	value
term	“Albino,” a collector and auction-catalogue label for monochrome silver-dial Daytonas
host reference	The documented auction examples discussed here were catalogued as ref. 6263
identifying traits	Silvered main dial and silvered subsidiary registers; dial printing and hands vary between examples
movement	Phillips and Sotheby’s list caliber 727 for their auctioned examples
dial origin	Disputed; no Rolex production record or definitive factory explanation is cited in these accounts

Documented examples

The sources identify three watches, but their count of the wider group is inconsistent. Hodinkee wrote in 2013 that three examples were known. Phillips described Clapton’s watch in 2015 as one of four known white-dial Cosmographs. Perezcope later wrote of three known examples, while Sotheby’s called the 2025 watch one of “a handful.” These statements use different dates and wording; they do not provide a verified population count.

watch	identifying record	what the source says
Eric Clapton’s former watch	Case 2,874,334; auctioned by Christie’s in 2003, Sotheby’s in 2008, and Phillips in 2015	Phillips lists ref. 6263, stamped 6262 inside the caseback, and caliber 727. The 2008 Sotheby’s catalogue says the 6262 back was probably a Rolex service replacement.
Watch shown to Hodinkee by Eric Ku	Hodinkee article by Benjamin Clymer, 17 July 2013; no case number published	Ku described it as a production dial on a production watch. The article gives no Rolex document supporting that account and says Ku later sold the watch to a collector.
Sotheby’s Abu Dhabi lot 340	Case 2,648,447; sold 5 December 2025	Sotheby’s lists ref. 6263, caliber 727, 36mm, and a caseback stamped 6239. The lot result is not visible on Sotheby’s page; Perezcope reports USD 952,500 including premium.

What the published sources say about the dial

In 2013, Benjamin Clymer’s Hodinkee article described the second watch brought by Eric Ku as a production dial fitted to a production watch. That is Ku’s account as reported by Clymer; the article cites no Rolex record or factory confirmation. It also records that Ku had sold the watch to a collector.

Sotheby’s 2025 catalogue calls the dial’s origin unknown and says the design was not part of regular commercial production. Its lot details give the caseback stamp as 6239, although the watch is catalogued as a 6263. That marking is relevant to the watch’s history and should not be omitted when describing the case.

In December 2025, Perezcope published a different account based in part on testimony it attributes to dealer Tom Bolt. Perezcope says Bolt told the author he created Clapton’s watch in the late 1990s by fitting a silver dial from a ref. 6238 into a 6263 case, and that Bolt coined the “Albino” name. In a later update, Perezcope says Bolt told Sotheby’s representatives that he had created the first example and that the dials came from 6238 service watches. This is attributed testimony about Clapton’s watch and Bolt’s account of other dials; the article does not supply a Rolex factory record for the full group.

Perezcope also points to the hands and pushers on Sotheby’s 2025 lot as inconsistent with its circa-1971 dating. Those are Perezcope’s comparative observations, not findings published in Sotheby’s lot description. The available sources therefore document competing accounts, not a settled origin for every dial called “Albino.”

Auction record for Clapton’s watch

These are three sales of the same watch, not three separate Albino examples. Prices are reported by the cited sources; currencies and sale dates are shown as catalogued.

sale	result
Christie’s New York, 5 June 2003, lot 178	USD 50,190
Sotheby’s New York, 2008, lot 166	Approximately USD 505,000; Sotheby’s page now hides the result behind login
Phillips Geneva, 10 May 2015, lot 214	CHF 1,325,000

Perezcope reports the separate Sotheby’s Abu Dhabi lot 340 sold for USD 952,500 including premium in December 2025. Sotheby’s current listing shows the closed sale but hides the result behind login.

Relation to reference 6263

The auctioned watches discussed here were catalogued as 6263s, but their dial and case details differ. Phillips records Clapton’s watch as ref. 6263 with a 6262 caseback stamp; Sotheby’s records the 2025 watch as ref. 6263 with a 6239 caseback stamp. See Daytona 6263 for the reference’s standard production configurations. “Albino” alone is not enough to establish that a dial, case or movement is original to a particular watch.

Related references

• Daytona 6263
• Pre-Daytona 6238
• Daytona 6265
• Paul Newman Daytona
• Big Red Daytona

Sources

• Benjamin Clymer, “A Close Encounter With Just The Third Of Its Kind: Hands-On With The Legendary Albino Daytona,” Hodinkee, 17 July 2013
• Phillips, The Watch Auction: ONE, lot 214, Eric Clapton’s former 6263, 2015
• Sotheby’s, Important Watches, lot 166, 2008
• Sotheby’s Abu Dhabi, lot 340, 5 December 2025
• Jose Pereztroika, “Not Quite Whiter Than White,” Perezcope, 3 December 2025, updated 8 December 2025
• Eric Clapton’s former 6263 sale history, Hodinkee