Rolex Two-Tone Daytona Reference 6239 w/ Amazing Racing Provenance

Sometimes we get an e-mail with a watch that blows our socks off, and that was the case when we recently opened an e-mail that came to us from Gary Cummings.

This two-tone vintage Rolex Daytona watch came to us from Gary Cummings, a legend in racing circles as a championship-winning crew chief and race engineer who still is involved in directing important teams and drivers today. This watch has been Gary’s faithful timekeeper since he received it as a gift from Hal Sahlman. Hal was a legendary car and boat racer. Hal had held the World Speed record on water back in 1975 and we believe he was wearing this watch when he set the record. There is an epic photo of him in the boat and it appears this might be on his wrist in the photo.

Gary wore this watch while overseeing legendary drivers including Derek Bell, Bob Wollek, Thierry Boutsen, Oscar Larrauri, Jochen Mass, Roland Ratzenberger, Hurley Haywood, Rick Mears, Jan Lammers, Andy Wallace, and AJ Foyt, to mention just a few. Gary wore this watch at Le Mans on 12 occasions and wore it across the Sahara as team manager for the KIA factory team at the 1993 Paris/Dakar Rally. He wore it at every important race track in the United States while serving as Rolex Series Manager for Grand-Am/ NASCAR and the Tudor Series Manager. For more on Gary’s exploits, please listen to the SlipAngle Podcast Episode 329.

Hal likely requested the watch to converted into a two-tone example upon receiving it from Rolex as an all-steel reference 6239 back in the 1960s. He basically had Rolex change the bezel to its current bezel and change the bracelet to its American-made two-tone Jubilee. It has been in this configuration since then. Gary had it serviced at Rolex on two occasions in the 1980s in this exact configuration. My understanding is that Rolex Geneva probably has photographs of this watch from the 1980s in their service records, but those are generally not accessible to the public. The seconds hand has been replaced, which is common for vintage Daytonas. It has the slightly longer white triangle tip.

The bezel is a period correct Mark 1 bezel with gold outer ring that would have been correct for the reference 6241 in gold, 6262 in gold, and 6263 in gold. It is a rare and valuable bezel by itself, probably worth approximately $20,000.

The case has been lightly polished in the past, but is in strong shape. The dial is very attractive and the luminous tritium material complements the gold accents of the bezel/bracelet very well.

The bracelet is a two-tone oval link that has been on the watch during its entire ownership under Gary. The bracelet is a bit stretched and could perhaps use some tightening restoration, but we leave that for the next owner to decide.

The case has a 1.65M serial and dates to circa 1967. The case has been lightly polished in the past, but is in strong shape.

The watch does not come with box and papers. It was just serviced and is running well. It recently passed a water resistance test of 5 bar.

We are happy to connect the purchaser of the watch with Gary directly for any conversation and meeting and we look forward to going to a race with Gary soon!

SOLD (Item SBUXYT4596)