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Entrepreneur Alessandro Benetton spotted wearing Rolex

Alessandro Benetton, heir to the Benetton Group empire and former president of Benetton Formula — the team that took Michael Schumacher to his first two Formula 1 World Championships — was recently spotted wearing a vintage Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Ref. 6265 in stainless steel with a black dial and the model's signature screw-down pushers. The pairing of a motorsport-pedigreed owner with one of horology's definitive racing chronographs is anything but accidental.

The Ref. 6265 entered production around 1970 and remained in Rolex's catalogue until approximately 1988, making it the last manually wound Daytona reference before the brand transitioned to the automatic Zenith-based Ref. 16520. At its heart sits the Calibre 727, a Valjoux 72-based movement beaten to 18,000 vibrations per hour, offering 30 minutes and 12 hours of elapsed-time recording. The defining technical upgrade over its predecessor, the Ref. 6263, is the introduction of screw-down chronograph pushers at 2 and 4 o'clock — a feature that dramatically improved water resistance and gave the case a purposeful, industrial aesthetic that collectors prize to this day.

The black-dial variant of the Ref. 6265 is particularly significant in collector circles. Whether fitted with a glossy black 'sigma dial' or a matte black surface, these examples command consistent premiums over their white-dial counterparts. Condition, originality of the dial, and pushers are the critical grading factors — a fully original example with unpolished case is increasingly rare after five decades of circulation.

For Benetton, the choice carries obvious biographical weight. His family's racing team operated at the pinnacle of Formula 1 throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, precisely the era when vintage Daytonas were transitioning from undervalued tool watches to objects of serious desire. A man who watched Schumacher chase tenths of a second on a stopboard has earned the right to wear the chronograph that professional racing drivers once strapped to their wrists.

On the current grey market, a clean stainless steel Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Ref. 6265 with black dial trades in the €50,000–€65,000 range depending on provenance and condition, consistent with the €55,000 valuation noted at sighting. Rolex never officially retailed this reference in the modern era, placing it exclusively in the secondary market where demand continues to outpace supply.