Reference:6240: Difference between revisions

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=== The "Neanderthal" 6240 ===

The single most contested ~~watch in the~~ 6240 ~~corpus~~ is case 1439122, ~~sold by Phillips at~~ the ~~May 2018 Daytona Ultimatum sale in Geneva for CHF 3,012,500~~. Phillips ~~and Pucci Papaleo (who curated the sale) presented the watch~~ as the earliest ~~known~~ Paul Newman ~~dial: a transitional~~ prototype ~~that bridged the standard Cosmograph dial and the serially produced Paul Newman dials that began appearing in the 1.5-million serial band~~. ~~SJX's preview described it as the ancestor of~~ the ~~Paul Newman~~ dial ~~— monochromatic black-and-white palette, larger-than-usual chrono registers, no dial lettering beyond the Rolex coronet at 12~~. ~~The Phillips lot essay treated it as canonical~~.

The single most contested 6240 is case 1439122, the Neanderthal. Phillips sold it as the earliest Paul Newman prototype. Perezcope later argued the dial was a much later construction. That dispute now sits inside every serious 6240 discussion.

Perezcope's 2022 dossier is the strongest challenge to the old attribution. His case is that the famous dial is not an early factory prototype at all, but a later construction: the same dial previously photographed in another watch, plus typography, tritium text, minute-track color, and Singer-stamp details that fit later Paul Newman production better than the earliest 6240 story. The watch still matters. What changed is the burden of proof. The early-prototype explanation is no longer the default reading.

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== Historical market and auction record ==

The 6240 sits in the highest tier of vintage Daytona prices ~~despite its short production run, partly~~ because the screw-down-pusher / acrylic-bezel combination is ~~the rarest configuration of the Paul Newman era,~~ and ~~partly because~~ the Neanderthal ~~lot~~ pulled the ~~entire~~ reference~~'s price ceiling~~ upward in 2018. The CHF 3,012,500 hammer at Phillips' Daytona Ultimatum (case 1439122, May 2018) is the headline number for the reference, even with the dial-attribution dispute attached. The Christie's "Daytona Lesson One" sale in November 2013, the marker the modern Daytona market traces its run-up from, included a 6240 in its 50-lot Daytona-only catalogue and contributed to the reference's collector position alongside the 6263 record set in the same sale.

The 6240 sits in the highest tier of vintage Daytona prices because the screw-down-pusher and acrylic-bezel combination is rare and the Neanderthal sale pulled the whole reference upward in 2018.

Standard Cosmograph-dialled 6240s in good condition trade well below the Paul Newman tier but well above contemporary 6239s with comparable dials, reflecting the smaller production population and the Oyster-format premium. Mk0 Millerighe-pusher first-batch examples carry an additional premium where the pushers are documented as period-original. As with the rest of the manual-wind Daytona corpus, condition of the acrylic bezel insert, originality of the dial and pushers, and the presence of period-correct bracelet and clasp drive the spread between the high and low examples by an order of magnitude or more.

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 === The "Neanderthal" 6240 ===
-The single most contested watch in the 6240 corpus is case 1439122, sold by Phillips at the May 2018 Daytona Ultimatum sale in Geneva for CHF 3,012,500. Phillips and Pucci Papaleo (who curated the sale) presented the watch as the earliest known Paul Newman dial: a transitional prototype that bridged the standard Cosmograph dial and the serially produced Paul Newman dials that began appearing in the 1.5-million serial band. SJX's preview described it as the ancestor of the Paul Newman dial — monochromatic black-and-white palette, larger-than-usual chrono registers, no dial lettering beyond the Rolex coronet at 12. The Phillips lot essay treated it as canonical.
+The single most contested 6240 is case 1439122, the Neanderthal. Phillips sold it as the earliest Paul Newman prototype. Perezcope later argued the dial was a much later construction. That dispute now sits inside every serious 6240 discussion.
 Perezcope's 2022 dossier is the strongest challenge to the old attribution. His case is that the famous dial is not an early factory prototype at all, but a later construction: the same dial previously photographed in another watch, plus typography, tritium text, minute-track color, and Singer-stamp details that fit later Paul Newman production better than the earliest 6240 story. The watch still matters. What changed is the burden of proof. The early-prototype explanation is no longer the default reading.
@@ Line 160: / Line 160: @@
 == Historical market and auction record ==
-The 6240 sits in the highest tier of vintage Daytona prices despite its short production run, partly because the screw-down-pusher / acrylic-bezel combination is the rarest configuration of the Paul Newman era, and partly because the Neanderthal lot pulled the entire reference's price ceiling upward in 2018. The CHF 3,012,500 hammer at Phillips' Daytona Ultimatum (case 1439122, May 2018) is the headline number for the reference, even with the dial-attribution dispute attached. The Christie's "Daytona Lesson One" sale in November 2013, the marker the modern Daytona market traces its run-up from, included a 6240 in its 50-lot Daytona-only catalogue and contributed to the reference's collector position alongside the 6263 record set in the same sale.
+The 6240 sits in the highest tier of vintage Daytona prices because the screw-down-pusher and acrylic-bezel combination is rare and the Neanderthal sale pulled the whole reference upward in 2018.
 Standard Cosmograph-dialled 6240s in good condition trade well below the Paul Newman tier but well above contemporary 6239s with comparable dials, reflecting the smaller production population and the Oyster-format premium. Mk0 Millerighe-pusher first-batch examples carry an additional premium where the pushers are documented as period-original. As with the rest of the manual-wind Daytona corpus, condition of the acrylic bezel insert, originality of the dial and pushers, and the presence of period-correct bracelet and clasp drive the spread between the high and low examples by an order of magnitude or more.