Later this afternoon, a full Reference Points breakdown of the luxury fake Rolex Daytona will go live on Hodinkee. Building off of Ben’s and Andrew Shear’s detailing of the Paul Newman dials, today’s piece by Danny Milton (with some other guy sitting next to him) will complete the story – covering all non-Newman 1:1 replica Rolex Daytona references and tracing a product lineage of over 70 years including the “Pre-Daytonas.” Included in the video and article is this very ref. 16518.

Through the Daytona in particular, there is much to learn about perfect replica Rolex as a brand. In 1988, when the “Zenith” generation and, with it, this watch was introduced to the catalog, the brand very clearly begins a march towards luxury watch Rolex rather than tool watch Rolex super clone for sale. In this generation, the case increased in diameter, crown guards were added, and, eventually, polished bracelet center links would be become standard – all moves, in my opinion, away from tool utility and toward brash luxury. In addition to the redesign, the references of 16518, 16528, 16519, and 16523 were all added as luxury options offering the high quality fake Rolex Daytona in yellow gold, white gold, and two-tone for the first time under a specific reference number.
Whereas manually-wound Rolex Daytonas replica for sale were featured in advertisements almost exclusively in stainless steel after 1988, Rolex turns heel. According to Nick Federowicz of Ad Patina, a major print ad showing only a stainless steel “Zenith” Daytona is incredibly rare; he has only come across one instance. Steel Zeniths are advertised alongside two-tone or gold cheap copy Rolex Daytona references. The push is clear, precious metals dominated advertisements in this period.

The ref. 16518 we have here dates to 1999 and beyond all of its importance to Swiss made replica Rolex, the brand’s history, and the Daytona product lineage, this is an inarguably striking watch. The black dial contrasts so well against the 18k yellow gold case that has taken on a really warm and charming patina. The fixed “end links” are divisive but look so much better in the metal than you might expect – really working well with the black Rolex strap and tying the look together nicely. As opposed to its cousins on bracelets, a Swiss movement fake Rolex Daytona on a strap is much more wearable on a day-to-day basis. Our example is accompanied by a Rolex presentation box and its original “punched” guarantee paper so it’s got that going for it, which is nice.