Rolex 'Neanderthal' Daytona 6240
Daytona -> 6240 -> Neanderthal
The Neanderthal is a Paul Newman-configuration 6240 that Phillips sold in 2018 as the earliest known Paul Newman prototype. The nickname points to the dial's crude, proto-Paul-Newman look. Perezcope's 2022 dossier disputes the prototype story and argues for a later construction using a 6238 donor dial. Both readings remain on the public record.
What the Neanderthal is
As it appeared at Phillips, the Neanderthal carried a set of features that set it apart from the documented Paul Newman Mk1–Mk4 progression. The typeface sits between the known Mk1 and Mk2 forms, which is where the working label Mk1.75 comes from, and the block markers lack the outline seen on Mk2 dials. The dial sits in a 6240 host case with screw-down pushers and a pre-1970 serial. Sub-dial geometry is the contested part: Perezcope reads it as closer to 6238 than to 6239 production.
The Phillips sale (12 May 2018)
Phillips sold the Neanderthal as Lot 32 at Daytona Ultimatum and framed it as the earliest known Paul Newman prototype: a dial from before the documented Mk1 run, with typography and proportions Rolex later abandoned.
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Reference | 6240, stainless steel |
| Sale | Phillips Daytona Ultimatum, Geneva |
| Date | 12 May 2018 |
| Lot number | 32 |
| Price (all-in) | CHF 3,012,500 |
| Position on Rolex auction list at sale date | 4th all-time |
| Framing | Earliest known Paul Newman prototype |
The sale placed the Neanderthal at the fourth position on the all-time Rolex auction list at the time, behind Newman's own 6239 (USD 17,752,500 at Phillips Winning Icons, New York, 26 October 2017), the Unicorn 6265 (CHF 5,937,500 at the same Ultimatum sale), and the Bao Dai 6062 (CHF 5,066,000 at Phillips Geneva, May 2017).
The Perezcope dispute (November 2022)
Jose Pereztroika, writing as Perezcope, published "Rolex Daytona 6240 Paul Newman Neanderthal: A myth goes extinct" in November 2022. The dossier disputes the prototype framing on four strands of evidence.
Orologi & Market April 1998
The April 1998 issue of Orologi & Market is the core of Perezcope's case. It appears to show the same dial in a construction context decades before Phillips presented it as a 1960s prototype. If that reading is right, the prototype story collapses.
Mk1.75 typeface analysis
Perezcope reads the printing as a modern attempt to imagine a missing pre-Mk1 step. Font weight, spacing, and stroke endings all sit wrong against period Singer dials.
Sub-dial geometry from 6238 donor
The sub-dial layout reads to Perezcope like a 6238 donor rather than a true 6239-era Paul Newman dial. On that reading the Neanderthal is a reworked 6238 dial.
Singer stamp comparison
The Singer dial-maker stamp on the Neanderthal's dial back, compared against authenticated Singer stamps across the Mk1–Mk4 progression, reads as mismatched to any production window. The stamp style does not fit the 1965–1969 6240 production range or any adjacent Singer production batch.
Phillips's position and the Neanderthal's case
Phillips never claimed an archive-backed Rolex prototype. The house argued from the dial itself, on the logic that a dial which does not fit Mk1 production might belong to a phase before it. That inference is what Perezcope rejects.
Nobody disputes the case. The 6240 stainless-steel case with screw-down pushers, acrylic crystal, and acrylic bezel insert is period-correct, the 6240 production years of 1965–1969 fit a pre-Mk1 Paul Newman framing, and the case clears the standard 6240 verification checkpoints. The argument is entirely about the dial.
Why the dispute matters
The disagreement matters because the two readings imply completely different objects. If Phillips was right, the watch rewrites early Paul Newman chronology. If Perezcope was right, the market paid prototype money for a later construction.
Where the market lands on the Perezcope dossier will only show at the next public sale of the Neanderthal, should it surface. The watch has not been re-catalogued publicly since 2018.
Relation to other disputed Daytona variants
The Neanderthal sits in a cluster of high-value disputed-authenticity Daytona variants, each with Perezcope as the second voice raising forensic questions against an auction-house lot:
| Variant | Phillips framing | Perezcope counter | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albino 6263 | Factory Rolex variant (Hodinkee 2013 consensus) | 1990s Tom Bolt construction (Perezcope 2025) | 3 examples sold; dispute unresolved |
| Unicorn 6265 | Only known white gold manual-wind Daytona with period-correct service replacements (Phillips 2018) | Frankenstein — components assembled post-2010 per 2010 Newoldschlock IG photos (Perezcope 2022) | Sold CHF 5.94M 2018; dispute unresolved |
| Neanderthal 6240 | Earliest Paul Newman prototype (Phillips 2018) | Late-1990s construction on 6238 donor per Orologi & Market April 1998 (Perezcope 2022) | Sold CHF 3.01M 2018; dispute unresolved |
The pattern is familiar. An auction house presents a watch with a rarity story, a forensic counter-dossier appears later, and no final authority closes the argument. The market then keeps trading the watch with that uncertainty attached.
Host reference
The Neanderthal is documented as a single example on a single 6240 case. No other 6240 Paul Newman examples appear in the published literature, and the Neanderthal is the only one cited at auction.
Related references
- Daytona family index
- Daytona 6240 — the host reference
- Daytona 6239 — the first Cosmograph
- Paul Newman dials — the disputed dial family context
- Albino Daytona — parallel disputed variant
- Unicorn Daytona — parallel disputed variant
- Daytona glossary
Sources
- Made for Racing: Rolex and the Daytona — Phillips, 2018
- Phillips Geneva, Daytona Ultimatum, Lot 32 catalogue essay, 12 May 2018
- Rolex Daytona 6240 Paul Newman Neanderthal: A myth goes extinct — Jose Pereztroika, Perezcope, November 2022
- Orologi & Market, Italian collector magazine, April 1998, page 44
- Historical Perspectives: The Very First Rolex Daytona — Benjamin Clymer, Hodinkee, 2013
- In-Depth: The History of the Rolex Daytona — Erik Slaven, Monochrome, 2024