The FIFA World Cup Final has divided the internet. Many have labeled the match dull, with neither team scoring until Spain’s Ferran Torres smashed the ball into the back of the net in the 106th minute to defeat reigning champs Argentina. The Half-Time Show, featuring Madonna, BTS, Shakira, Coldplay, and . . . the Muppets, has drawn criticism, too: Ex-England star Wayne Rooney described it as “crap” during the BBC broadcast, while Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher tweeted that it was like “a bad trip.” One thing that certainly wasn’t dull, though, was the vintage Rolex Jay-Z wore at New York New Jersey Stadium.
Hov, who, along with his wife, Beyoncé, was one of many A-listers in the crowd, had an ultra-rare Rolex Daytona on his left wrist. It appears to be a Reference 6264—one of, if not the, rarest and most collectible Daytonas in history. The hip-hop mogul is, of course, known for wearing ultra-exclusive timepieces by the likes of Rolex, Patek, and Richard Mille. He’s even made Daytonas the VIP passes at his charity gala in the past.
Introduced in 1969 and produced only for a couple of years, the chrono took design cues from the original Daytona that debuted in 1963, but featured the all-important “exotic dial” introduced in the late ‘60s. It was later nicknamed the “Paul Newman dial,” as the late, great actor and race car driver famously wore a Daytona (Ref. 6239) with an exotic dial.
The Daytona Ref. 6264.
Courtesy of Sotheby’s
The Crown released six references with PNDs throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s, switching up bezels from metal to acrylic, swapping between screw-down and pump-style pushers, updating movements, and tweaking that famous face. Ref. 6264 was distinguished from previous models by a new Caliber 727, a black acrylic tachymeter, pump pushers, revamped lugs, and fresh dial graphics. Rolex famously doesn’t disclose production numbers, but experts believe only 1,700 were made in stainless steel. Even fewer, possibly less than 100, were crafted in yellow gold. Most of them feature “lemon grené” dials, but a select few, like Jay-Z’s, showcase “John Player Special” dials. This configuration, with a black dial and yellow-gold subdials, was named after John Player & Sons, a U.K-based tobacco company and Formula 1 sponsor, as it shared the same colorway as the cigarette boxes.
Fewer than 10 Daytonas Ref. 6264 with JPS dials are known to exist, according to Sotheby’s. As they very rarely hit the secondary market, they always sell for sizable sums. One hammered down for a record $1.54 million at Sotheby’s in 2020, becoming the most expensive watch ever sold at an online auction at that time. Nothing dull about that.
Authors
Rachel Cormack
Rachel Cormack is a digital editor at Robb Report. She cut her teeth writing for HuffPost, Concrete Playground, and several other online publications in Australia, before moving to New York at the…