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Rolex 6240 Daytona

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Daytona › 6240

Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Ref. 6240 — Neanderthal example
Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Ref. 6240 — Neanderthal example

The 6240 introduced Rolex's Oyster format to the Cosmograph in 1965. Its screw-down chronograph pushers and crown improved water resistance, while its black acrylic tachymeter insert replaced the engraved metal bezel used on the 6239. Rolex made the reference in steel during a short run that preceded the 6263 and 6265.

Core facts

Field Value
Reference 6240
Family Daytona (Cosmograph, manual-wind)
Production c.1965 to 1969
Movement Valjoux 72 family; documented examples include 72B, 722, and 722-1; 18,000 vph
Case about 37mm, 19mm lug width, screw-down chronograph pushers
Crystal acrylic
Bezel acrylic insert with engraved tachymeter, black
Crown Twinlock screw-down
Water resistance Contemporary descriptions give 100m / 330ft; do not assume a vintage example still passes a pressure test
Dial Standard Cosmograph, exotic dials, and sparsely documented "Solo" examples
Bracelet 7205 or 6635 rivet examples are documented; end links vary by fitment
Successor 6263 (screw-down pushers, long run)
Sibling 6241 (acrylic bezel, pump pushers)

Where it sits in the line

The manual-wind Daytona references are easiest to separate by pusher type and bezel material. The 6239 used pump pushers and an engraved metal bezel; the 6241 used pump pushers and a black acrylic insert; and the 6240 introduced screw-down pushers in the Oyster branch. The 6262 and 6264 followed with pump pushers and the faster 21,600 vph Valjoux 727. The 6263 and 6265 then carried the screw-down Oyster format into the long production run. Published dates differ at the boundaries, especially around the 1969–1971 transition.

The screw-down pusher construction became the defining feature of the later Oyster Daytonas. The 6262 and 6264 briefly returned to pump pushers before the 6263 and 6265 made the screw-down format the long-running version.

Production outline

Published examples place the run from about 1965 to 1969 and show serials in roughly the 1.1-million to 2.0-million range. Those ranges are working collector guides, not a Rolex production ledger. Rolex did not publish a total; auction and collector references commonly estimate about 1,700 to 2,000 watches, so any census should be treated as approximate.

Collectors commonly separate an early Millerighe-pusher group from the later smooth cylindrical-pusher watches. The often-cited 1.1M to 1.3M band is a working range, not a hard factory cutoff.

Exotic dials appear among 6239, 6240, and 6241 examples, but the surviving literature does not establish a reliable start serial or production percentage. The Neanderthal, case 1439122, was sold at the 2018 Phillips Daytona Ultimatum auction and is the subject of the attribution dispute below.

Movement notes

The 6240 uses the Rolex-modified Valjoux 72 family. Auction records and collector references identify 72B, 722, and 722-1 examples, so the reference number alone does not establish the caliber in a particular watch. These are 17-jewel, 18,000 vph, column-wheel chronographs with a horizontal clutch; the 727 brought the frequency change to 21,600 vph in the later 6262 and 6264.

Documented 6240 examples run at 18,000 vph; the faster movement belongs to the later 6262 and 6264 generation. A "ROW" import engraving can appear on US-bound movements, but it is an example-level observation rather than a universal reference marker.

Dial map

Serial / year / dial / lume / bracelet

Serial range Year Dial Lume Bracelet End links Notes
1.1M-1.3M (~1965) 1965 Mk0 Millerighe pusher (early), Cosmograph tritium 7205 271 Introduction year. Mk0 Millerighe pushers are the early 6240 marker per Phillips Daytona Ultimatum.
1.3M-1.6M (working range) ~1966-1967 Cosmograph, exotic examples including early Newman-style dials tritium 7205 271 or 71 family The serial and dial ranges overlap; the Neanderthal case 1439122 falls in this broad group, but its dial attribution is disputed.
1.6M-2.0M (~1968-1969) 1968-1969 Cosmograph, Paul Newman exotic tritium 7205 271 Final two years before 6262 / 6264 succession with the faster Valjoux 727. The 7835 folded-link bracelet may have appeared on the very latest examples.

Standard Oyster Cosmograph dials dominate the surviving record. Exotic dials are less common, and Solo is a separate, sparsely documented dial form.

Variant Distinguishing features Notes
Standard panda Cosmograph Black dial, white sub-dials, "Rolex Oyster Cosmograph" three-line block at 12 Most common configuration across the run
Standard reverse panda Cosmograph Silver-white dial, black sub-dials, same text block Less common than panda but not rare
Paul Newman exotic (Mk1) Art-deco sub-dial numerals, square chrono hashes, contrasting outer minute track Fitted intermittently across panda and reverse-panda backgrounds; the surviving record does not establish a production percentage
Solo dial Only the Rolex coronet and "ROLEX" word printed at 12; no "Oyster Cosmograph" line Italian collector terminology (solo = "only"); small surviving population, attribution-sensitive
"Neanderthal" Paul Newman Monochromatic black-and-white palette, larger-than-usual chrono registers, no dial lettering beyond Rolex coronet Single attributed example, case 1439122; the dial attribution is disputed in Special branches

Jose Pereztroika's "Perezcope" typology runs Paul Newman dials out to Mk1.75 and beyond for the longer 6263 / 6265 chapter; the disputed Neanderthal attribution turns on whether its dial is an early prototype or a later Mk1.75 dial swapped onto an early case.

Case, bezel, crystal, and crown

The case is a steel Oyster case of about 37mm with 19mm between the lugs. Compared with the 6239, the 6240 adds screw-down chronograph pushers and an acrylic black tachymeter insert in place of the engraved metal bezel. Contemporary descriptions give the Oyster configuration a 100m rating, but that figure does not establish the present water resistance of an individual vintage watch.

The pushers appear in two broad forms. Early documented watches use the vertically grooved Millerighe pusher; later examples use the smooth cylindrical screw-down pusher. The transition is useful when comparing a watch with its serial and movement, but the surviving record does not provide a factory cutoff. A mismatch can reflect service work, a replaced case part, or misattribution.

The bezel uses a black acrylic insert with a printed tachymeter scale. That separates the 6240 from the engraved metal bezel of the 6239 and 6262, while placing it alongside the 6241 and later 6263. Acrylic can crack, fade, or chip, so originality and condition have to be assessed on the individual watch.

Crystal is acrylic, period-standard. Crown is Twinlock screw-down with the period-correct Oyster signature, the same crown architecture as the contemporary Submariner and GMT-Master.

Bracelets, end links, and clasps

Auction records document 7205 and 6635 Oyster bracelets on 6240 watches. End-link stamps include the 71/271 family in surviving examples, but a bracelet or end link proves fitment more readily than original delivery. The often-repeated 7835 late-run assignment needs example-level documentation; there is no clean published transition for the reference.

Both bracelets used the small-logo folding clasp generation that ran from 1958 to roughly 1969. The clasp is signed inside the blade with a quarterly date code in the pre-1976 format: Roman numeral quarter plus two-digit year, e.g. "II.66" for the second quarter of 1966. The clasp dates the bracelet, not the watch head; period-correct clasps carry codes within or close to the watch's serial-derived production year.

Special branches

  •  
    Orologi & Market April 1998 page documenting the Neanderthal
  •  
    Singer dial-stamp comparison
  •  
    Phillips Daytona Ultimatum 2018 Neanderthal lot

The "Neanderthal" 6240

The disputed 6240 is case 1439122, the Neanderthal. Phillips sold it as the earliest Paul Newman prototype; Jose Pereztroika at Perezcope later argued that the dial was a much later construction. Both positions remain part of the published record.

Perezcope's 2022 dossier argues for a later construction, citing a dial photographed in another watch and differences in typography, tritium text, minute-track color, and Singer stamp. Phillips's catalogue presents the dial as an early prototype. Those sources disagree about the dial; neither one substitutes for an independent examination of the watch.

Phillips's lot essay and Pucci Papaleo's auction treatment support the prototype reading. Perezcope reads the dial as a later swap onto an early case. The published dispute is about the dial; this page does not independently authenticate the case or movement.

Solo dials

The Solo dial, with only the Rolex coronet and "ROLEX" word printed at 12 and no "Oyster Cosmograph" line, surfaces in small numbers across early manual-wind Daytona references. Perezcope's earlier work documented at least one Solo example with the "Cosmograph" line erased, and the Italian collector tradition (solo = "only") treats Solo dials as a known small-population variant rather than a single nicknamed example. Documented 6240 Solo examples are scarce and almost always carry attribution caveats. The dial's removal of standard text makes it a high-risk variant for retroactive modification.

JPS-style configurations

The JPS black-and-gold colourway is associated mainly with the 14k yellow-gold 6241, the pump-pusher sibling. A 6240 marketed as JPS falls outside the usual Pucci Papaleo and Phillips 6240 classifications, so its case, dial, pushers, and provenance need to be checked together.

Tropical examples

Tropical 6240 dials, in which a black surface has aged toward brown, are reported but less common than comparable 6263 and 6265 examples. Color change alone does not establish originality; dial printing, surface condition, case, movement, and service history still need to agree.

Historical market and auction record

The 2018 Phillips Daytona Ultimatum sale is the most extensively documented auction record cited here for the reference. Other 6240 results are difficult to compare because dial originality, Millerighe pushers, case condition, and bracelets vary widely.

For any comparison, separate standard dials, exotic dials, and disputed configurations. Millerighe pushers, an original bezel, an unaltered dial, and a period-correct bracelet can affect a result, but auction evidence is too thin to turn those features into a fixed price rule.

Related references

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

  •  
    Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Ref. 6240
  •  
    Orologi & Market 1998 Neanderthal reference
  •  
    Singer dial-stamp comparison
  •  
    Phillips Daytona Ultimatum 2018 lot

Sources

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