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Unless you are extremely wealthy, a real Rolex Daytona will be out of your price range. Even if you have quite a large disposable income and already own some luxury Rolex watches such as submariners or day-dates, the Daytona is still another step above this.
The Rolex Daytona was released in 1963 and shares its name with the Daytona Speedway in Florida. As you can see, the watch is intended to be associated with classic racing and driving. Whilst in recent years, many other brands have jumped on the racing bandwagon such as Tag Heuer & Hublot. The Rolex Daytona is still very much an understated racing watch and doesn’t need to keep innovating its design. The classic layout has not changed for almost 60 years and shows no signs of doing so in the future.
With a current list price of $12400 (and rising each year), the Daytona is already a 5 figure watch, even at the entry level. This is a simple stainless steel sports model, not limited edition and not made of precious metals. To compound this expense, you likely will never get your hands on a brand new Rolex Daytona from an authorized dealer and will have to pay in the $17k – $20k range for any model you can get your hands on.
For rare cosmograph dials, you will be looking at $50k pricetags and for anything with diamonds such as the eye of the tiger models, $200k upwards. At this point, it should go without saying that the Rolex Daytona is a watch for rich people.
Price and popularity therefore are the main reasons why people look for affordable alternatives to the Rolex Daytona. Particularly, Paul Newman Daytona homage watches are very sought after since this watch is the most popular and also sells for 6 figures. Putting it well outside the grasp of ordinary people who happen to like watches.
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Brands That Make Alternatives To The Rolex Daytona
Thankfully, the internet offers a great market of various brands (listed below) that offer much cheaper models which look very much like the Rolex Daytona.
Typically these brands are Chinese. Although there are many legitimate and reputable brands that make models not too dissimilar to the Daytona, Chinese brands usually take this to another level and copy Rolex as much as they can.
Notable brand alternatives include Stuhrling, Pagani & Invicta. Depending on the model you plan to buy, this will set you back between $70-$200. A lot cheaper than the $15k you would pay for the real thing.
Why Is The Rolex Daytona So Expensive?
There are many reasons why the Rolex Daytona is so expensive right now. The most simple and obvious reason is supply and demand. Due to the hype surrounding the Rolex brand, there are far more buyers than sellers. This on its own creates a certain level of price inflation.
Secondly, the Daytona is a genuine luxury watch and extremely well made. When comparing the watch to Rolex Daytona alternatives, there are parts in the Rolex movement which cost more to make than an entire watch from another brand. This alone should demonstrate the quality of a Rolex watch compared to anything that simply looks similar.
Thirdly, Rolex is a popular and collectible brand that does not lose value. In recent years the brand has actually gained value, making Rolex watches a great store of value. In addition to this, several Daytona references are available to buy in precious metals such as rose gold. Having a watch made of precious metal is far more expensive than making a stainless steel watch due to the cost of raw materials.
Why Is The Rolex Daytona So Popular?
This is partly due to the brand and partly due to Paul Newman.
As a brand, Rolex is one of the most recognizable and valuable companies in the world. When you think of Rolex, you instantly think of expensive, luxury, well-made Swiss watches. As the Daytona is the chronograph poster-boy of the brand, it makes sense that it is so popular, much like the submariner.
The hype around the Alpha Paul Newman Daytona has also certainly given the brand a huge favor. The Daytona model 6239 currently sells for around $250k on the grey market, a price that is out of reach to 99% of watch enthusiasts. Not only this, but the Panda Daytona actually worn by Newman himself auctioned for $17.8 million. Due to the glittering career and kind nature of the philanthropist, this has associated the brand with success and kindness.
How Many Rolex Daytonas Does Rolex Make Each Year?
Nobody knows the production numbers at Rolex other than very high-level staff such as CEO’s, CFO’s and various other management positions.
Even if we did know how many Rolex Daytonas were made each year it wouldn’t matter too much. This is simply because the amount of people who want to buy a Daytona is significantly higher than the number produced.
Therefore if 11 million (fabricated number) people wanted to buy a Daytona, it’s likely only 8 million would be made. This is why the price of a used Rolex Daytona is higher than a new model. People simply cannot get their hands on a new model, so are willing to pay a grey market dealer more money to acquire one.
The Best Watches That Look Like A Rolex Daytona
Sturhling
A little overpriced, but this is the watch that looks the most like a Rolex Daytona. If you look at the design of the dial, you can clearly see where the inspiration comes from. Other than the logo, there is nothing different about the dial. The hour indicators are the same shape, the subdials are the same color and the red text above the center is very similar to that of a Rolex.
Stuhrling is a Chinese brand, but there is not too much to worry about since it uses a Japanese (Seiko) movement. Therefore this is not a watch that is going to simply break down 5 months after you purchase it. In the neighborhood of $200, you are certainly paying a lot of money for a watch that doesn’t cost too much to make. But with that being said, this is the watch that is the closest lookalike to the Daytona, information which has certainly been priced into the model.
Pagani
Available in over 10 different color combinations, Pagani is a Chinese brand that offers a great affordable alternative to a Rolex Daytona. As you will see, many of these color schemes are not directly correlated with those of Rolex, however 4 or 5 of them are. This includes a rare panda dial daytona – which is the Paul Newman homage.
In terms of value for money, Pagani is still a little expensive despite being made in China. Overall, the brand is far from a rip-off since it does such a good job of making a similar looking chronograph. However, it certainly could have been priced a little cheaper. Given that they offer a great variety of colors which you will not find elsewhere, it is worth paying a little extra if you find exactly what you were looking for.
Invicta Speedway
Invicta is a brand well known for flamboyant and vastly oversized watches. Their Invicta Rolex look-alike range is a far cry from the brand image you will all know and love (or hate). Whilst these watches are not direct clones of the Rolex Daytona, they do look similar, but are clearly different.
Perhaps the best thing about these watches is the value for money. When buying online you can pick up an Invicta speedway in almost any color combination for less than $100. This is great value even when compared to some of the cheapest Chinese brands. Invicta uses Miyota quartz movements in their fashion watches, which are not the greatest in the world, but are reliable enough not to break on you and last for a long period of time.
Seiko Solar Chronograph
The Seiko Daytona offers something which is clearly its own individual watch in the style of a Rolex. Whether this could be called a true panda dial watch is down to personal interpretation. Granted the watch has a white dial with 3 dark blue subdials, but the gold two tone markers and bracelet interfere a little with this classic color scheme. This is the main thing that differentiates it from the colors used on a Paul Newman daytona.
From a practical perspective, the watch is great. It’s a decent price and made by a very reputable brand. The bonus feature is that the Seiko Daytona is solar powered. This means that you will never have to change the battery and have quite a hefty power reserve.
Citizen Eco-Drive
Edging closer to the price of a Rolex Daytona (but still a large way off) is the Citizen version of a 3 subdial chronograph. This watch costs a lot more than any of the other watches on the list, but has much higher specifications than all of them too.
For a start, the watch is titanium, so although very large, is extremely lightweight on your wrist, not to mention hypoallergenic. Not only this, but the watch is also radio controlled, meaning it syncs with your local atomic clock. So in addition to what has already been mentioned, you won’t find anything more accurate than this. Despite it being fairly expensive, it is good value considering the materials and complications of the watch.
Orient
Orient offers a great Panda dial watch which slightly differs from the Rolex Daytona due to its lack of bezel. It should be noted that this is one of the lower end models that Orient makes as it does not use an automatic movement, neither is it a chronograph. Instead, the dials show day/date and can be changed with the pushers in the same way that you would operate a normal chronograph.
In terms of value for money, this Orient model is pretty average. Although if you want a panda dial watch that looks anything like a Daytona, there really aren’t too many options. If you remove Chinese brands from the equation, there are even less, so this may be your best choice.
Tissot V8
Truly a legitimate Swiss brand with a big history. The Tissot V8 is the closest thing you will get to a Swiss-made budget alternative to the Rolex Daytona. This is due to Swiss movements being made to a higher standard, as well as labor costs being significantly higher than the far east.
This is clearly not a cheap copy of the daytona and places its own style on a racing style chronograph. Other than the outer bezel and shape of the case, the V8 has some significant differences. The subdials are much larger, as well as having huge guards which completely cover the crown. Of course, the V8 is not cheap, but is priced at a reasonable cost considering it is a solid Swiss-made chronograph.
Parnis
Yet another Chinese brand are Parnis. They offer a great-looking watch which is quite clearly a Paul Newman daytona homage. This watch is pretty good value for money since it is around the same price as other Chinese brands, yet made to a higher standard.
Parnis use both a ceramic bezel and a sapphire crystal glass to protect the glass much like Rolex do. This ensures that even if you scuff the watch a little, it is completely protected on the front and the only thing that will scratch over time is the stainless steel.
Loreo
Loreo offers something which is a little different from all of the other watches on the list. In terms of case shape, dial color and bracelet, you can see the attempt to make a daytona homage watch. However, the bezel is completely different and more similar to something you would see on a dive watch.
Overall, the watch is not great value for money as it is a multi-function dial rather than a chronograph. Although to be honest, this may be more useful than a stopwatch anyway. The main selling point of this design is the dial. Quite obviously this is made to look similar to a daytona cosmograph dial.
