Brand watch fans must know the history of Rolex Daytona when the brand established their relationship with the famous racing Daytona, Florida. However, the replica Rolex made up its mind to replace the Daytona’s hand-wound movement with an automatic one just over two decades after the first Daytona debuted. In 1988, they launched the amazing series, which finally included the Rolex Daytona model as their first collection of automatic chronograph. Now let’s take a closer look at this item.
There was something that made these models extremely special, and it wasn’t just that they had an automatic movement. It was the fake Zenith El Primero automatic chronograph movement. The El Primero was not only the first but also the best automatic chronograph movement at the time. It was first launched in 1969, but when the brand was bought by Zenith Radio Corporation (ZRC) in 1971, the run of the revolutionary movement was cut short.
So, when the replica Rolex was looking for an automatic chronograph movement for the Daytona, Zenith came to them. Rolex agreed that if Zenith could revive the production of the El Primero, they’d form a partnership. Zenith presented the first updated variation of the El Primero, the caliber 4030, in 1986. The replica Rolex requested about 200 modifications before landing on a version that reached their rigorous production standards for the all-new Daytona.
Apart from the entire revamped El Primero movement, the Rolex Daytona 16520 also featured several aesthetic updates from previous Daytona models. Some of the most famous changes include the addition of a sapphire crystal, a larger 40mm case size, lacquered and glossy dials, and applied metal hour markers treated with a luminous material. These design changes coupled with the functional changes made this fake watch more than just a tool watch—it was now an equally impressive dress watch.
The launch of the brand new Daytona was an immediate victory. And, the replica watch soon became one of the most highly sought after models for the brand, especially since it was only manufactured in limited quantities due to the outsourced movement. However, in spite of success of the imagined Daytona, the replica Rolex still had its sights on something more. They wanted all models to describe their own internal movement, and the 16500 series was the only series that prevented them from achieving that goal.
The fake rolex Daytona with its in-house movement keep on to be one of the interesting models in the Rolex family of watches. However, when the brand discontinued the Rolex series, it only provided to fulfill the demand for the El Primero models.
