Price Performance of the Discontinued Rolex Daytona Following 2023 Collection Relaunch
How have Daytona prices changed following April 2023 collection relaunch?
This article was made in collaboration with Oracle of Time and written with Sam Kessler.
With a shiny new Daytona here at last, how have the classic Rolex Daytona prices been performing?
To assess the Daytona market in this case we need to make a distinction between the ‘primary’ models, the top references (Panda, Reverse Panda, Platinum, and John Mayer) and the ‘secondary’ models.
In analysing the primary models, we have noticed that before Watches & Wonders there was an interesting uptick stemming from rumours about new references that Rolex would present for their 60th anniversary. Many people expected that these references might be taken out of production, and because of this the price started to rise.
With this increase many sellers have tried to take advantage of the trend and have poured more and more watches into the market in an attempt to sell them at favourable prices. This explains the downward training after the growth. The large increase in supply has brought prices back down to lower levels and for this reason in the last month there has been a slight decrease compared to March.
In any case, the exit from production of these references has enshrined a bullish trend for them, as is seen in the John Mayer and the black steel Daytona. For the ‘secondary models’ – as could be expected – the impact was milder, as they increased in price, but only slightly.”
What that means in practical terms is that models like the Ref. 116500LN has seen an initial increase that has since flattened out to a value of around €32,600 (approx. £28,100). The curve for the Ref. 116506 is even more severe, rising and then falling by roughly €2,000 in value in the span of three months. Perhaps that’s because the new Daytona collection has an almost exact replacement meaning that collectors who want one don’t have to turn to the vintage market just yet.
