This morning, I was asked by one of our readers via email if a Rolex Daytona bearing a 24 Hours at Daytona ‘Winner’ engraving on its case back was necessarily a fake watch or not. Since I’ve covered this topic before, I decided to talk about it again today and clear up the air for those of you still wondering. While some of those watches bearing the ‘Winner’ engraving could be absolute garbage fakes, there are some of them out there, that are as real as it gets.
A few years ago, I wrote an article after Nick Boulle —son of Dennis Boulle the owner of Dallas-based watch authorized dealer deBoulle— finished in first place at the 55th Annual Rolex 24 at Daytona and was presented with a two-tone Rolex Cosmograph Daytona ref. 116523 engraved on the case back with the Rolex 24 Daytona logo and the word 'Winner'. He kindly allowed me to spend some time with his watch and photograph it in order to clarify that this watch does exist and it’s not a myth as many tend to think.
The watch is not only accompanied by a very special box but also by a special warranty card. As you can see, the box is super nice, and instead of having the traditional wavy pattern on the top of the lid, it features a checkered flag and a racetrack on relief.
Additionally, the interior of the box features a big Rolex logo in green, the watch is accompanied by a green suede service pouch, and its warranty card comes already filled with 'Rolex 24 2017' under the purchaser field and dated with the corresponding date to when the race took place.
So next time you see one of these out there, now you know what to look for and see if it’s the real deal or not.
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