Cosmograph Daytona White Gold / MOP Diamond

In Context

At 40 mm it is sized to the current mainstream: 40 mm is the median across every watch measured in this catalogue. At 12.4 mm it is a tall case, and it will catch on a cuff. The case back is closed, so the movement stays out of sight, and the sapphire crystal will resist everything short of deliberate abuse. 100 m is genuine swimming resistance — more than the shape of this watch suggests it would need.

The movement winds itself from the motion of your wrist. 72 hours of reserve puts it well past a weekend — several days off the wrist and it is still going. At 28,800 vph the seconds hand advances 8 times a second.

116509-0064 is one of 7 executions of the 116509 base reference. Underneath they are the same watch; what separates this one is a white dial and a white gold case. Beyond the time it carries a chronograph.

The 4130 is the Daytona movement of 2000 to 2023, Rolex's own chronograph. It was built with a vertical clutch, a column wheel and far fewer parts than the Zenith-based movement it replaced. It powers 133 watches in this library, every one a 40 mm Daytona. The vertical clutch starts the chronograph seconds hand without a jump and lets it run continuously without wearing the train; the column wheel gives the pushers a clean action; and a construction of around 290 components, against more than 400 in a conventional chronograph, is what Rolex meant by reliability. It is 30.5 mm across and 6.5 mm high with 44 jewels, a 72-hour reserve and a beat of 28,800 vph, and from the mid-2000s it carried the blue Parachrom hairspring. Every one is a COSC chronometer, and from 2015 a Superlative Chronometer. The [chronograph piece](/blog/how-a-chronograph-engages-column-wheel-cam-and-clutch) explains why that combination became the modern standard. In the library it powers the 116500 generation of the [Daytona](/brands/rolex/daytona): 133 references, most of them in gold, Everose and platinum, with the Cerachrom-bezel versions from 2011. The [4030](/calibers/rolex-4030) is the Zenith El Primero-based movement of 1988 it replaced, and the [4131](/calibers/rolex-4131) the 2023 update with the Chronergy escapement.

132 other watches in the library run the Rolex 4130.

Rolex

Cosmograph Daytona Stainless Steel / Yellow Gold / MOP Diamonds

116503-0007 · 40 mm

Rolex

Cosmograph Daytona Yellow Gold / Cerachrom / MOP-Diamond / Oysterflex

116518ln-00345 · 40 mm

Rolex

Cosmograph Daytona White Gold / Silver

116509-0072 · 40 mm

Rolex

Cosmograph Daytona White Gold / Grey / Strap

116519-0163 · 40 mm