Pagani “Daytona”
Upstart Chinese brand Pagani’s finest watch to date.
HISTORY
With the Rolex hype hitting peak-bubble in the beginning of 2022, even amongst the wide frothiness, there are few models that have stood out as ridiculously popular and high-priced examples. The 6263 Paul Newman Daytona is undoubtedly the king of all with its white dial and black sub-dials, selling for $17.8 million. The slightly “lesser” 6263 that Pagani chooses is the opposite of the Newman with a black dial and white sub-dials that generally sell for about $100,000 second-hand. The black dial is, in my opinion, the better looking of the two and a great choice by Pagani to include in their roster.
An original Rolex 6263 Daytona
DESIGN
Obviously there are few more iconic watches to start from, perhaps only the Omega Speedmaster being more immediately identifiable as a racing watch. Yet, it’s the bold contrast of this dial that amps up the 70s style machismo that makes it so desirable. The Pagani official model is 1676BK but the name on AliExpress is “2022 New PAGANI Design 39mm Men's Sports Quartz Watches Sapphire Stainless Steel 100M Waterproof Luxury Chronograph Reloj Hombre.” Thankfully they didn’t print that on the case-back.
The full dimensions are:
40.0mm diameter 13.0mm thickness 47.5mm lug-to-lug 20mm lug widthThe watch wears pretty much exactly as you’d expect the dimensions to feel. It’s compact and perfectly balanced between the head and the bracelet and the 13mm, while usually beyond my upper range of acceptability, disappears greatly due to about 2mm of it being the the sapphire crystal. Yes, you get a sapphire crystal for the $100 retail price! It does tend to smudge easily but the reflections are minimal and it is wonderfully clear. Shame on any of the bigger brands not offering sapphire on all their watches in this day and age. Also, the Tachymetre bezel slopes downwards and the crystal is only 32mm in diameter so both the smaller visual dial and the centering of the weight really helps the perception of smallness.
The face is superbly laid out, obviously with some key differences from the 6263 — this is using a Seiko quartz movement as opposed to the legendary Valjoux 727 mechanical in the original thus the sub-dials don’t have the same scales. On the Pagani, the left dial counts up to 60 minutes elapsed time, the right dial is a 24h scale and the bottom dial is a running seconds. The three dials are closer together than on the original and I think it has a better balance as a result. The omission of “Daytona” also helps in keeping the purity of the dial.
The dials are crisply printed on a semi-polished aluminum background which is luxurious and perhaps more fitting to the overall bling of the case than the original’s white dials. Legibility of these dials is extremely bad, as on the original Daytonas, which has been criticized since the original watch was released. The many small markings and monochrome colour-scheme make it difficult to quickly place where the hands are. Frankly, at $100, the style factor and the quality of finish more than offsets the unusability of the dials. We likely aren’t buying this watch primarily for critical timing tasks anyway. One other notable improvement is the radial printing of the Tachymetre numerals compared to the purely landscape on the original. While they may be equally usuable, visually I think Pagani’s choice looks better in the context of the whole watch.
Legibility aside, the Seiko movement is superbly accurate, quoted at +/- 15 seconds a month. In my short usage thus far, it has been accurate to 0 (zero) seconds a day— superb for a quartz and light-years better than any mechanical watch. Again for $100, even without the looks, this is good value purely as an instrument to tell time.
There is lume on the hands and each of the hour indices, although it is horrible and lasts only seconds after being charged. If this was improved it would be a truly great daily wearer to keep by the bedside because the hands while being poorly legible during the day are absolutely invisible without lume at night. Pagani should definitely add $5 to the cost and get some C3 on there. The chronograph functions reliably as you’d expect from a Seiko movement and the threads on the pushers are secure and feel high quality. The threaded screw-down crown is also above average and puts many $500 Seikos to shame.
The bracelet features solid end-links which are perfectly contoured to the case. The case is high quality with a mixture of polished and brushed. This is certainly not up to Rolex standards but there are no deficiencies of workmanship and the lack of hyper-bling matches the purposeful character of the watch. I dare say that this makes it feel like a watch someone has lovingly worn for many years, right out of the box. It feels warm and characterful in a way that most sub-$1000 watches do not. They simply feel cheap. The polished centre link of the bracelet is a nice touch, a nod to luxury, although again it is far from Swiss standards, though higher than any other budget standards. Your like or dislike generally will come down to your overall verdict on whether you are uncompromising and willing to pay for it, or able to look at the inate value of the materials and finish in isolation.
The case back is pretty laughable with a Fisher-Price level motorsports drawing. Luckily the etching is faint and usually unnoticeable. The clasp has a fold-over security latch while the main clasp is friction-fit only (no pushers here). At first it’s a little confusing where to open and close but it quickly becomes second nature and is a nod to many vintage Rolex designs. The sharp edges of the long clasp on the tapering bracelet are a bit overdone and can catch on things occasionally but it’s not a deal-breaker. Likely there are numerous 20mm Oyster style bracelets available online if you really want to switch. For my money, this watch is about getting the absolute maximum style for the lowest price and keeping the bracelet is the winner for me. Do I need to say it again? One Hundred Dollars…
Water resistance is listed at 100m and with the Seiko movement, screw-down crowns and case-back and generally high standard of fit and finish, I’d believe it. This is a watch that definitely transcends the average Chinese knockoff in its everyday wearability.
CONCLUSION
Let’s face it, few of us will ever own, let alone see, a Rolex Daytona. Most of us will not even be admitted into the first rung of Rolex watches and this is why Pagani (and decades of clones) exist. Until this point I had also considered Pagani a ham-fisted watchmaker which always screwed up one or more key points of any watch design, either their own or an homage. This 6263 clone is different. It is the first homage watch that I have found that I think meaningfully beats the original. Of course I can’t say that lightly, however, the combination of all factors logically and practically supports it— insanely low price, wonderful fit and finish, superb wearability and reliability for everyday use, and capturing the essential magic of the original. At 1/1000th the price. This is something you can’t and should not ignore.
By whatever means they do it, Pagani have set a bar so high not only to embarrass the ludicrous pricing on luxury watches, but perhaps more devastatingly for those watches in the sub-$1000 price range which also have no particular prestige of their own. Is there a reason for most any of them in the face of this watch? Buy one and enjoy it as the miracle that it is, even solely to own the definitive marker of this time in capitalism when so much quality can be had for so little money.
PRICE
$100.00 USD
AVAILABILITY
THE RATING
8/10 Absolute
10/10 Relative
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