Why would Rolex cancel the Daytona LeMans after just 12 moths, and who benefits? We explore some possible answers to these questions and more.
Fashion vs. Function: Why It’s Time to Break Out of Our Gendered Views on Watchesambassador and nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen as he judged the most stunning and valuable cars in the world. However, it was while sucking fumes on a rickety scaffolding at the top of Laguna Seca’s Corkscrew watching vintage Mini Coopers toddle into that crazy descending right hander that I asked Kristensen what he thought of Paul Newman as a racer.
That auction set the record for the most expensive watch ever sold up to that date, and forever more, that weird quasi-Art Deco dial will be known as a “Newman dial.” Good luck getting one south of six-figures.As of 2023, however, one didn’t have to turn to vintage to enjoy a Newman dial.
True to the Newman Daytonas of yesteryear, the 126529LN was also very difficult to get. Production numbers are unknown, but as with almost all Rolex sport models today, examples of the $51,400 white gold 126529LN were allocated through authorized dealers to priority clients.Just this week at Watches & Wonders in Geneva, Rolex announced that it had discontinued 126529L LeMans. That watch just went from impossible to find to impossibly expensive when these eventually show up at auction.
Other than happening so quickly, this cancellation of the LeMans isn’t an anomaly. Other hard-to-get models like the GMT Master II Pepsi and the coveted Rainbow Daytona are no longer in production. And generally speaking, it’s hard to get any Rolex Professional model. The unavailability of new Rolex watches lines up with well-known luxury branding strategies that set limits on product access so that a brand can maintain the fine sheen of exclusivity while also driving prices to a premium.
Secondly, I have found it odd to feel so negatively about Rolex’s exclusivity when, in fact, Rolex is no different from, say, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet and Lange & Sohne—all of which I admire in an uncomplicated way. But I—and more than a few of my comrades in horology—do feel bad about Rolex’s exclusivity in particular.
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