A Week On The Wrist: The Rolex Daytona Le Mans Ref. 126529LN

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You asked for it – you got it. Here is everything you ever wanted to know about the Rolex Daytona Le Mans, ref. 126529LN, from me, an owner. You know, as I write this, I am trying to remember the last time I personally reviewed a watch on the site that I actually owned. It's been a while – so this is kinda fun for me. And maybe it'll become a thing – A Week On (An Owner's) Wrist? Anyway – let's talk Le Mans.

The other day, someone on our team asked me when the last time I was genuinely excited about a new watch was (excluding any Hodinkee limited editions, for which my excitement truly never wanes). In recent memory, there are a few that made me really happy: the AP 15202 BC, the 5270P, the Lange 1815 Rattrapante, and the Cartier Normale are a few that stick out. They are each absolutely killer watches that speak to me in every way: the aesthetic, the genetic, and the technical.

Watches like the Le Mans do not come along often for the author.

But there are two watches of recent history that made me think unholy thoughts. You know the type – if you're afflicted with the watch disease like I am. They make you say to yourself, "I would do anything for this watch. Anything." One of them is a small, precious metal time-only watch that looks like this. The other? Well, it's the Rolex Daytona Le Mans ref. 126529LN.

What Is The Rolex Daytona Le Mans, Reference 126529LN?

They say that important happenings in the world leave marks on you that you don't forget. Well, I remember exactly where I was the moment the news of this watch broke. I was here, shooting clays with some friends on a beautiful early summer Saturday. I can identify the date, too, because this watch wasn't shown at Watches & Wonders 2023 like all the other new Rolex releases. No, it was dropped quietly (or not) at the 100th running of Le Mans.

"This is the new Rolex chronograph. It's called Le Mans." Circa 1963, and 2023.

Photo Report: The 100th Running Of Le Mans

Hodinkee photographer Jonathan McWhorter was actually on the ground at the 100th running of Le Mans last summer – you can have a behind-the-scenes look at this historic event, where this watch was unveiled right here.

And that's what this watch is really about: Le Mans – a century of the world's most important endurance race. And there's actually some fun math to be had here. Last year, 2023, was the 100th anniversary, and 1963 – the year the reference 6239 pictured above was released – was the 40th anniversary. Perhaps that's why Rolex first conceived of what we now know as the Daytona, as the Le Mans (as seen in my original advertisement above). However, Le Mans is more historic as a race, one might argue, and Rolex has been a part of it for generations. So it would make sense that this chronograph, indeed a Daytona, but also a Le Mans, would be shown at its 100th running.

So what is the watch, really? It's basically a latest generation Daytona (easily identifiable by the metallic bezel ring first seen here at Watches and Wonders 2023), but with what some would call an "exotic" dial, or, in layman's terms, a "Paul Newman" dial. Beyond that, you have an open caseback like the 2023 platinum watch, and I think, most importantly, an entirely different caliber (4132), which features a chronograph with a 24-hour counter instead of 12. It is a simple change but a meaningful one, and again, proof that Rolex isn't resting on its laurels... ever.

The *only* criticism I've heard levied against the Le Mans – beyond its unavailability – is the use of red on the dial, but more so on the bezel for the 100 marker. It is something that after wearing the watch for months, all but disappears.

There are so many things to discuss on this watch – and that's why you have a 20-minute video up top of me rambling about it. But let's quickly run down some important points. First, there's the open caseback, which makes the watch feel a bit thicker than my other Daytonas. But notice I said feel, and that's because when I actually measured how thick the watch is, it's not any thicker. So the whole "sapphire back = thicker profile" is a bit misguided, and my feeling is just that: a feeling, not fact.

The caliber 4132, while not what I'd call "haute horlogerie," looks really very nice!

The other thing to note about the caseback and the gold rotor is that this caliber really looks very, very nice. Does it compare to a hand-wound Patek or Lange chronograph caliber in terms of finishing? Certainly not, but that's not the goal, nor are they priced the same. I think there is an assumption that Rolex calibers look industrial because that is how they are made, but as I told you almost 10 years ago when I went inside Rolex, you would be shocked at how much handwork is done on these movements. And the 4132 looks really good, as you can see here. You have deep Geneva stripes on the base plate, and the yellow-gold rotor is also finely finished.

And about that movement – the 4132 is a new caliber number, and indeed, it does do something different than the 4131 caliber found in every other Daytona –counting 24 hours instead of 12. Rolex says it needed seven additional components to accomplish this – which is to say, not a lot, but the deviation is significant for a few reasons. New Rolex calibers don't happen often, and they also didn't need to do this. Sure, it only took seven components to make that hour counter jump from 12 to 24 hours, but that should be commended – because Rolex is about efficiency, and it speaks to the quality and ingenuity of a Rolex caliber to be able to create what I believe to be one of, if not the only mechanical chronograph to count an elapsed full day (however I'd kindly encourage anyone to check us on this fact).

A 24-hour counter doesn't seem like a big deal, and perhaps many will say no one else has made it because a 12-hour counter plus the human brain makes for a decent 24-hour counter – but the simple truth is that the same could be said for just about anything in high watchmaking. And Rolex did it, and they did it with a real purpose behind it – with an authentic connection to a 24-hour race in Le Mans. It's also easy to write off the 24-hour counter as a diminutive contribution to watchmaking, but when you really consider how difficult it is to make chronographs, your mind might change a bit. As an example, look at the Patek Philippe catalog, and you won't find a chronograph with any hour registers. The 5172 and 5270 – arguably among the finest chronographs in the world, top out at 30 minutes. Patek's more utilitarian caliber in the 5905 tops out at 60 minutes of elapsed time. The Datograph? 30 minutes as well. You get the point.

Also, I am reminded of the Baselworld 2018, when many said the rainbow bezel was a trivial contribution to gem-setting in watchmaking (well, not Cara, she said the opposite), and look at the world now. As such, mark my words; we will see a few more 24-hour chronographs in the years to come. But like these other Rainbows, none will compare to the original in this Daytona.

If you look just below the 12 of the 24-hour totalizer, you can see the dial is a metallic grey, not pure, rich black like the stock images show.

Another other thing to note here is that this dial is not the rich, almost glossy black you'll see on a steel Daytona, but it's almost metallic grey. There is a sheen to it I did not expect to see at all. It doesn't make it better or worse, but it's a detail you only see with the watch on your wrist – not often in photographs of it on the Internet. And as for the dial itself, we are really talking Paul Newman style here, with small square markers at the end of each totalizer's hash marks in a way that I don't think any of us saw coming.

Reference Points: Understanding The Paul Newman Daytona

Want to know everything there is to know about the original "Paul Newman Daytona"? We have you covered, with this Reference Points video dating back to 2014.

Now, it's important to know where the "Paul Newman" style dial lives in the lore of Rolex collectors because it's something that gets thrown around a lot. First, as anyone will tell you, these special dials are fraught with challenges, but there is something undeniably cool about them. So much so that even today, years after watch collecting has entered the mainstream, they demand such a significant premium over a normal, non-exotic-dial Daytona. This can be hard to understand, particularly because we have no way of knowing which watches were born with which dial. But in the world of Rolex, so much of the value lives within the dial that it almost doesn't matter. The most expensive Daytonas in the world, almost without fail, are those with this style of dial in them, and I wasn't even referring to that $18 million Paul Newman Daytona. So it only makes sense that when Rolex finally brings out a contemporary Cosmograph with this style dial, the world would pay particular note. Of course, this watch is 18k white gold – not steel – in hopes of, perhaps, elevating the price point out of the realm of possibility so as to not exacerbate the already challenging supply issues (relative to the remarkable demand that Rolex watches still enjoy).

Where Does The Le Mans Daytona Sit Within A Daytona Lover's Collection?

The differences here are subtle, but important.

It's no secret that I love the Daytona. I own a few of them – including both the white and black dial version of the last steel reference (116500LN) and a white gold on Oysterflex. They're all well worn – and the black dial steel watch now lives with my mother in the greater Rochester, New York, area (shout out to the several weirdos at Wegmans up there who have tried to buy it off her wrist!). But they've long been staples of my collection – and does the Le Mans change that? Of course, it doesn't. But it does make one reconsider what is so great about a modern Daytona to begin with. For me, it's the heritage, the design, the functionality, and frankly, the fact that I can do absolutely anything in them while still giving me that special feeling I had way back in 2016 when I got my first new Daytona, or years before when I got my first vintage Daytona. It's not a replacement for any other older Daytona, and frankly, with the way that Rolex at retail goes, the odds of this watch being anyone's first Daytona is practically zero.

This? This is a nice watch.

Could the Le Mans be your only modern Daytona? Of course it could be, if you could get used to the additional weight and the fact that white gold takes on scratches way more easily than Rolex's proprietary steel. The polished center links seen here, and on every contemporary Daytona, do attract them in a serious way, as does the polished case band. But that's nothing new to Rolex, and if it were a real issue, Rolex would do something about it. The fact that they don't says they feel it performs the way it should. And that's good enough for me.

Like all Daytonas, you have a polished center link to the Oyster bracelet.

The caseband is also highly polished, along with the pusher caps.

Is There Really Any Competition To The Le Mans? Not Really, But If We Had To Pick One, It Would Be This.

Two three-register, open-case-backed, white-gold watches representing two of the great families in chronographs.

What would a "Week On The Wrist" be without considering what some competition to the Le Mans might be? It's hard because there isn't anything that quite matches this one due to the simple impossibility of its acquisition. Maybe a white gold Royal Oak chronograph? But that doesn't feel quite right. The best thing I could come up with – assuming we're not talking about how difficult anything is to acquire in the marketplace – is the Omega Speedmaster Professional in Canopus gold. Now granted, one of them is automatic, the other hand-wound, but otherwise, they do very much the same thing and represent arguably the two most important chronograph families in the history of watchmaking. You also seldom see either in the real world.

Now, what's interesting here is that the Canopus Speedmaster actually costs more at retail (Canopus is not pure white gold, but rather is an alloy that features some platinum, rhodium, and palladium that gives it an intensely white color) than the Le Mans, and because of those other elements, weighs even more on the wrist. Frankly, the Canopus 3861 is absurdly heavy, but after some time wearing it, it's impossible not to love the heft. As for which movement is finished better? They are similar, though one, of course, has a rotor, the other does not.

The hand-wound caliber 3861 from Omega.

The self-winding caliber 4132 from Rolex.

These are two heavy-weight champs here, with similar characteristics in several ways – but market dynamics might say otherwise. Because at the time I recorded the video above, the average transaction price for the Le Mans on the secondary market was around $235,000 – for a $52,000 watch. This is another reason why comparing the Le Mans to the Canopus 3861, or frankly any other chronograph on Earth, makes no sense at all.

The Outlook For The Rolex Daytona Le Mans Reference 126529LN

How many will be made? Will we see a white dial or gold version? Your guess is as good as mine.

I spent a good few minutes talking about this in the video above, but for those of you who still prefer the written word – the outlook for the Le Mans remains unclear. Contrary to what has been reported – that about 2,400 units are being made for this year, and 2,400 units will be made with a white dial next year – there is nothing official out there about such things. There was even a rumor that it was already discontinued, but I am quite sure that that's not the case because I know of one being delivered just last week. The Le Mans is indeed the modern Daytona of my (and our collective) Daytona dork dreams, but if it doesn't stay that way, should Rolex continue to make it in perpetuity, then I'd suggest you reconsider your lust for this watch. I would love this thing to be made for years to come, in countless iterations, because the "exotic" dial deserves to live alongside the standard dial in the catalog just like it did in-period.

Now, I am not saying that that is what will happen – I have absolutely zero inside information about this or any plans within Rolex for anything – I am simply giving you my own little bit of fan fiction here. It would be my dream that Rolex makes this dial for years and years to come and that anyone who wants one is able to get one. Will that happen? Probably not. But with time, lots of folks may be surprised. Remember how impossible it was to get a steel Daytona way back? Now think about how many of your #watchnerd friends have them. Okay, still not a ton, but some! And I suspect the same will be true the Le Mans. And even if it does remain pure unobtanium, the Rolex Le Mans Daytona is special enough as a marker in both Rolex and motorsport history that it deserves to be celebrated as that. Because it really is just such a good watch – something special enough to make even the coldest of watch collectors' hearts run warm while still being useable enough to wear daily. In other words, the Le Mans Daytona is peak Rolex. And that's why I love it.

Then again, what else would you expect a guy to say who wrote 6,000 words about a watch called Le Mans in 2013? To me, it gets absolutely no cooler than the new Rolex chronograph that's called Le Mans.

Photography by Mark Kauzlarich

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The Hodinkee Shop has a wide selection of pre-owned Rolex Daytona watches. For more on the Le Mans Daytona, visit Rolex online.

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A Week On The Wrist The Rolex Daytona Le Mans Ref. 126529LN

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