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This week’s format is a little different.

Last year’s most popular podcast was How to Collect Neo-Vintage Watches. We’ll have more “How to Collect” episodes this year, but in addition to a podcast, I’ll write a more comprehensive Collector’s Guide for paid subscribers to follow along. Each episode will feature a dealer or expert going deep on their particular niche.

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This week: The vintage Rolex Daytona with dealer Michael Morgan of Iconic Watch Company. Michael’s a dealer based in Orange County who focuses on vintage Rolex.

Collecting is about recognizing patterns, and whether or not you’re interested in the Daytona, this episode will help you understand those patterns in vintage Rolex and how to think about originality and period correctness. We cover all four-digit Daytona references, starting with the last Pre-Daytona 6238.

The vintage Daytona can be divided into three eras:

* Pump pusher era: Refs. 6239 and 6241 (1963–69)

* Transitional era: Refs. 6262 and 6264 (1970-71)

* Screw-down era: Refs. 6263 and 6265 (1972-1988)

* “Experimental” reference 6240 (1965-69)

The Daytona’s been covered again and again, so instead of repeating what you already know, I’ll try to fill gaps I see in what’s been published and talk about the market right now.

Why now? While everyone else is going crazy for neo-vintage Patek Philippe, smart collectors are zagging, baby!

We focus on standard dials, though the exotic Newman is mentioned a few times. In 1988, Rolex discontinued the manual-wind Daytona, replacing it with the automatic Zenith Daytona.

Other Show Notes: Here’s the Patek Philippe 5004P and First Series Patek Philippe 3970 we open by talking about. Both were listed for $750k by European Watch Co. The 3970 has since sold, which I suppose shows which one the “market” finds more compelling right now.

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