Needless to say, everyone knows how popular Rolex is among men, especially the hot-selling sports watches, which are often in short supply. You have to wait in line patiently. If you want to wear it early and enjoy it early, you have to pay a little premium. Rolex is loved by watch fans, and it has also created many brands of customized watches, which have transformed Rolex watches, such as custom-making the modern Daytona into the classic Paul Newman version. Artisans de Genève from Switzerland is even more unexpected. This time, they boldly replaced the previous generation Daytona Ref.116520 with a skeletonized dial. At first glance, the feeling is that the transparent Daytona is like this!
The name of this watch is “La Montoya”, which is a modified work of F1 legendary driver Juan Pablo Montoya and Artisans de Genève. If you are familiar with Formula One racing, you must have heard of Montoya. He has won many championships, including “CART Series”, “Indianapolis 500” and “Monaco Grand Prix”, and he has even won “Rolex 24” three times. Montoya himself likes the Rolex Daytona chronograph very much, and he loves it so much that he wants to customize it into his ideal watch!
Rolex watches have always been sturdy and durable, and the movement is reliable and accurate. With careful maintenance, it can definitely run for three or four decades. However, Rolex has kept the movement tightly for many years, without using a transparent sapphire crystal bottom cover, and not exposing the movement to the public. It can be said that this is Rolex’s persistence and tradition. But in fact, there are also users who like to appreciate the mechanical feel, and Montoya is one of them.
The biggest breakthrough of “La Montoya” is that the dial is hollowed out, so that the movement parts inside can be seen, releasing the complex mechanical sense of the Daytona! But at the same time, the classic design of the three small dials is retained, and people can still recognize that this is originally a Daytona.
In addition to the semi-perspective design of the dial, the bezel is also remade, but it is not the ceramic used in the latest model Ref. 116500, but forged carbon, a material that has never appeared on the Rolex bezel. The characteristic is irregular texture, which injects uniqueness into the watch. The three small dials are also made of forged carbon, and the bright colors of red, blue and yellow are used instead.
Many brands of customized watches mainly start from the appearance. “La Montoya” even modified the original 4130 movement, hand-chamfered the movement parts, and replaced the gray gold rotor and sapphire crystal bottom cover, so that the movement can be seen more clearly, and the movement operation can be appreciated on the surface and bottom of the watch. The watch is available on the Artisans de Genève website. It is limited to 50 pieces, with the watch number engraved on the back edge. The price is 42,260 euros, which is about HK$370,000. Do you like this customized Daytona? However, I would like to remind you that once the watch is modified, Rolex will no longer provide official maintenance services.
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