This next Paul Newman Rolex Oyster is fascinating for many reasons. In an interview with Paul Newman, Rolex historian, John Brozek asked Paul Newman where and when he got his first Rolex Daytona? Paul Newman said that his first Daytona, as pictured below, was given to him as a gift by his wife, Joanne Woodard in 1972, which was the year he started his professional racing career.

The stainless steel Rolex Daytona [Reference 6263] with the black dial and black bezel insert that Paul Newman is wearing in the above photo as well as the photos below would look just like this one. Notice, that this watch has screw-down protectors on the two chronometer buttons, unlike the 6241 with the white dial that we already examined. For clarity sake, the photo below is NOT of Paul Newman’s watch. I just want to give you a visual frame-of-reference.

This black dial Daytona also has a black acrylic bezel insert and it is worth pointing out the black dial on this Rolex Daytona 6263 is not an exotic dial. The only reason I bring this up is due to the fact that often times in photos, like the one above, the high acrylic crystal makes it look like there is an outer white dial, which is simply an optical illusion.

For many years Paul Newman also wore his black dial Rolex Daytona [Reference 6263] on a Fatstrap as seen in the two photos above and the one below.

As Paul Newman got older, he stopped wearing his Rolex Daytona on a Fatstrap and started wearing it on a Rolex Oyster bracelet and even wore it on a Jublilee bracelet.

Paul Newman had as interesting and kind of strange habit with the way he always wore his Rolex Daytona watches. He would wear them with the two chronograph pusher buttons unscrewed as you can see in the photos above. This could have been due to the fact that his white dialed Daytona (featured before this one) lacked screw-down pusher locks and he liked it that way.

Supposedly a Rolex Daytona will still stay water resistant without the screw-down pusher locks screwed down. As I understand it, even a Rolex Submariner will remain waterproof without the crown being screwed down. This is due to the fact there are water-tight gaskets in place that stop water from entering the case. Don’t try this at home, and neither will I =)

Paul Newman is pictured below with Formula 1 racing legend, Nigel Mansell.

Paul Newman clearly suffered from RISitus as we can tell in the photo below that shows him wearing his Rolex Daytona Reference 6263 on a Jubilee bracelet. This is the same watch as in the photos above but he swapped out the Rolex Oyster bracelet for a Rolex Jubilee bracelet.