Rolex Le Mans Daytona: Is This The World's Most Wanted Chronograph?

In 2023, Rolex released the special edition Daytona Le Mans celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. This began something of an annual tradition of Rolex introducing a new iteration of their rarest and most desirable chronograph in precious metal with a few distinguishing features that has collectors fawning over them. I doubt anyone isn't familiar with the Rolex Daytona but for anyone needing a refresher, I would recommend this review of the modern reference. But before we get into these contemporary models, I want to briefly discuss the Paul Newman Daytona as so many design touches and throwbacks on the Rolex Le Mans are tied directly to these legendary vintage Rolex Chronographs.

The real parallel here has to do with the dial about which our Mark Bernardo has said:

"The model — now regarded as the first “official” Daytona, though that name would not regularly appear on dials until later versions — also featured the two-tone dial arrangement, with contrasting main dial and subdial colors, that we now refer to in shorthand as “panda."...the Rolex Daytona Ref. 6239 with a so-called “exotic” dial, highlighted by some very particular details. Its main dial was an off-white cream color, punctuated by black subdials at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock with square-ended hashmarks and Art Deco-style numerals. Other aspects of the “exotic” Daytona dial include a crosshairs motif on the subdials, which appear in a contrasting hue from the main dial; an outer minute track also in a contrasting color to the main dial (black dial, white track and subdials, or vice versa, as in Newman’s watch)...Another rarity of the Ref. 6239: the word “Daytona,” which had begun appearing on some of the dials starting in 1965, appeared in red above the 6 o’clock subdial, an indicator that this reference was the first model that Rolex co-branded as a “Cosmograph Daytona” rather than simply a “Cosmograph” — the latter still being the more prominent name, appearing directly below the Rolex logo."

But without further ado, let's get into the Rolex Daytona Le Mans and why exactly it's so special.

The First Rolex Le Mans

The very first iteration of this special Daytona came in 2023 with the white gold Ref. 126529LN which premiered as a standard production model (and albeit discontinued later in 2024). This Le Mans debuted the same year as the updated Daytona so a lot of the bones are the same with some notable differences. The 40mm wide and 12mm thick case with 18k white gold case and three-link bracelet has 100m of water resistance, a cerachrom ceramic bezel, and those screw-down pushers. One of the differences you’ll spot is the red font “100” on the bezel which commemorates the anniversary of the iconic endurance race.

The other change is what really got people talking. The exhibition case back (something only shared with the platinum Daytona) displays the Caliber 4132 movement which was specially made for the Rolex Le Mans Daytona. The specs are the same as the standard issue Caliber 4131 which operates at 4Hz and has a 72-hour power reserve. What’s different is seen on the dial side at 9 o’clock with the 24-hour counter rather than the standard 12-hour counter. Obviously, this is a nod to the 24 hours of the Le Mans race and makes for a fitting point of distinction here. You’ll also notice how it has that vintage Paul Newman inspired reverse panda dial rather than the standard issue with contrasting sub-dial rings.

The Yellow Gold Rolex Le Mans

Image by Christie's

Just about a year after its release, the white gold Daytona Le Mans was discontinued and shortly replaced with a yellow gold iteration. The Rolex Daytona Le Mans Ref. 126528LN was technically released at Watches & Wonders 2024 as an off-catalog model so rare that basically nobody had seen it until that following September when Roger Federer was spotted wearing one at the U.S. Open. This yellow gold Le Mans is basically identical to the white gold version with the obvious exception of the case material and a small difference in the red font of the “100” on the bezel. Some keen-eyed observers have noted that the shade of red here is slightly different, very likely due to the fact that its coated over different materials.

Everose Gold Rolex Le Mans

Keeping the apparent pattern of year-long runs going, the yellow gold Le Mans was discontinued in 2025 when it was replaced with the Rolex Daytona Le Mans Ref. 126525LN in Everose gold. Rolex seems to like having these special edition Daytonas pop up with a yearlong shelf life before quietly discontinuing them with only a handful of their best collectors able to nab one.

In fact, while the MSRP for these watches is just around $50,000 the secondary market figures exceed that figure several times over. A quick look online shows the few that are available on the secondary market priced between $225,000 all the way to over $350,000. And while you won't find out much about these off-catalog models, you can learn more about the Rolex Daytona over at rolex.com