Last Thursday, it was decision time between the Daytona 116500 and the 116519. I am attaching below my original deliberation between the two watches.

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I had narrowed the choice down to these two for many reasons. Ultimately, I needed to make a choice. First, however, I will say that I find both watches to be absolutely stunning to wear. On the wrist, they each have a very distinct personality. When it comes to making a choice, movement, case size, reliability, and a whole host of other factors must out of necessity go out of the door when comparing these two as they are twins in so many ways. Differentiation is needed on quite specific grounds.

Ultimately, three factors make the difference;


The white gold case of the 116519 versus the steel case of the 116500

The Oysterflex rubber strap of the 116519 versus the steel bracelet of the 116500

The black dial of the 116500 versus the gun metal grey of the 116519


Lets deal with the three in reverse order.

From what must be a purely subjective aesthetic evaluation, I find the 116519 dial to be one of the nicest of any modern Rolex. It is mesmerising. That is not to say that the dial of the 116500 isn’t a joy too. It is, but in a straight comparison, my personal bias takes me clearly to the 116519. In particular, I love the way that the 116519 dial changes in different lights. It reminded me of a 6239 I used to own that did exactly the same. I love the contrast between the bezel and the dial. Yes, on this metric, the 116519 wins for me. To be fair, the 116500 has a compelling dial too. One finds oneself staring at it constantly. I love the contrast between the sub-index grey and the black of teh dial. I also love the contrasting between the black of the dial and the red script "Daytona". It works very well and for me was a clear win over the white dial variant. 

The Oysterflex rubber is a more difficult issue to evaluate. I love both metal and rubber. In fact, I would prefer to have the 116500 on rubber. However, I like the option of having the 116500 on a bracelet too. One does not have that option with the 116519 as it comes only on rubber and that rubber needs to be fitted with exactly the right length as the adjustment capacity on the Oysterflex is just 0.5cm. For me, it wouldn’t be a big factor in the decision as I really like (even prefer) the rubber variant. But its nice to have that choice. So, on balance, the 116500 wins on this level as one does at least have a choice.

The issue of white gold versus steel is an odd one. To be blunt, they both look the same. The 166519, however, has more weight courtesy of its metal. One could also argue that the historical tradition of a Daytona is more aligned to steel than it is to a precious metal. Having said that, I like the feeling of weight to a watch. In particular, when a watch has a well-fitted rubber strap, that weight is distributed well and it doesn’t cause “watch shift” issues that can be evident on a bracelet.

The final decision was in fact much easier than I expected. The watch that I loved most was the 116519. And that is the watch I bought for my wife. I also loved the 116500, and I bought that for myself. So in the end, the decision was not as hard as it had first appeared to be. Two modern Rolex join the stable and I have to say, I am delighted with the decision.