On the 29th and 30th of January, the 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona was held for the 49th time at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. The 24 hour race that was established in 1962 was originally a 3 hour race on the newly created Daytona Speedway.
The event grew in popularity and thus the length was increased to 24 hours in 1964, making it one of the earliest full 24 hour races in the world. Since 1991 the race has been principally sponsored by Rolex and has since been known as the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Although Rolex was only included in the name of the event from 1991, it had already been closely tied to the event since the second ever running through sponsorships.
In 1963 Rolex released the Rolex Daytona, a watch that had been specifically designed for professional racing drivers. Initially the watch was only produced in very limited quantities and despite its innovative design the Daytona didn’t boom in popularity until 1986 thanks to the release of the now iconic “Paul Newman†model. This model featured square markers on the subsidiary dial and striking colours matching the subsidiary dial on the outer track. It is said that Paul Newman wore the watch from 1972 until his death in 2008 and that is how it gained its nickname.
After this boom in popularity, the Daytona became incredibly rare, prompting the release of a new line in 1991, this is when the renowned Zenith “El Primero†chronograph was first introduced. The “El Primero†is widely considered to be the most accurate production chronograph ever produced, superior even to the models in the current Daytona series.