The topic we will discuss today on our Blog is fairly well known to most people, especially to those who are long – term Rolex aficionados or have been collecting Daytona for several years.

Although this post will contain notions that are now obvious for the more experienced, we are sure that those who are approaching the world of Rolex collecting will find useful the information and references that we will try to give today.

Recently, on some internet Websites and Social Networks are appearing many Rolex Daytona 6263/6265 chronographs described as “Small Daytona Dial”.

But what do we exactly mean when we are talking about a “Small Daytona Dial” ?

Let’s look at a concrete example:

As we can easily notice from this picture the word “Daytona” is actually narrower than the classic Daytona writing of a “Big Red Dial” as it only slightly protrudes from the indexes of the chronographic hours counter.

Hence the “new” name “Small Daytona Dial”.

The reality is that this nickname was only coined very recently ; in past years it was verified through empirical studies and the observation of Rolex spare parts catalogs that the “Small Daytona Dial” is actually a simple service dial.

By service dial we mean an original Rolex spare part, but which was never assembled as original equipment in the production of the time.

In general, the service components were produced by Rolex over the years to guarantee an original spare part for customers who needed to repair their watch or modify a part of it which had suffered damage over the years.

In light of the above it is fair to state that the wording “Small Red Dial” is nothing more than a simple nickname given to a service component for purely commercial reasons ; to make a 6263/6265 with service dial more attractive.

We can see below an original 6263 series “Big Red Dial” .

We immediately notice how the word “Daytona” is totally different and much wider than that of the so-called “Small Red Dial”.

Back and front comparison of the two dials : 

In addition to the size of the Daytona writing, there are other details that the more experienced rely on to distinguish a service 6263/6265 dial from an original “Big Red dial”.

We point out some of the most obvious.

From the following macro picture of the chronographic minutes register we can immediately notice that the graphics of the Service Dial have much less serif both in the numbers and in the indexes.

Moreover, the “2” of 20 has a totally different shape.

Looking at the lower section of the dial we see that the Service Dial graphic has basically no serifs at all and the Daytona writing is totally different and narrower.

Lastly, a collage which summarize all the main differences between the two dials matter of this topic.

Here you can find a gallery showing a completely correct and exceptionally preserved Rolex Daytona Big Red Dial specimen now available for sale on our website.

Hoping that this informations can be useful to those who are now approaching the wonderful Rolex Vintage world, we give you appointment for the next post on our blog!