$245,000.00
Dial: Silver Dial “No Gap” Rolex Chronograph
Movement: Valjoux 72B
Case / Bezel: 18K Yellow Gold 36mm
Bracelet / Band: Period Accurate 18K Yellow Gold “750” with all 13 links
Buckle: Folding Rolex buckle
Year of Production: 1971
Serial Number: 1422xxx
Few watches occupy a more consequential position in Rolex history than the reference 6238. Produced in parallel with the earliest Daytonas from roughly 1962 to 1968, it was the watch that quietly perfected the template — the baton hands, the clean sub-register layout, the Oyster case architecture — before the Cosmograph name ever appeared on a dial. In 18k yellow gold, a configuration produced in an estimated 150 examples total, the 6238 transcends its already rare status and enters a different conversation entirely.
This example presents in exceptional used condition — worn with care, kept with intention. The 18k case retains strong definition across the lugs and case flanks, with the kind of natural patina that only decades of respectful ownership can produce. No aggressive polishing, no reshaping — the proportions read exactly as Rolex intended. The pushers and crown maintain their original feel.
The silver dial is the star. Luminous indices sit cleanly in their positions without drift or discoloration, and the “ROLEX / CHRONOGRAPH” text block — set in that characteristically tight, no-gap typography of the later series — remains crisp and fully legible. The three sunken sub-registers show no discoloration or pooling, and the tachymeter track around the perimeter retains excellent contrast. There is the faintest, most honest suggestion of age — not damage, not neglect, simply time.
The Valjoux-based movement runs well, and the chronograph function engages and resets with the authority you’d expect from a well-maintained example.
For the collector who understands what the 6238 represents — not the Pre-Daytona as a footnote to the Daytona, but as one of the finest and most historically significant Swiss chronographs of the 1960s — a gold example in this condition is genuinely difficult to find.