Proof American director Spike Lee is way ahead of the collecting curve, from a PN Rolex Daytona in ’92 to Casio
Nick GouldThe last episodes of The Last Dance, the epic documentary series on Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, have just aired. While watching, our Deputy Editor, Nick Kenyon, caught a glimpse of what looked like a vintage Rolex Daytona with a “Paul Newman” dial on the wrist of American director Spike Lee, who was a spectator at a Bulls match in 1998.
Lee is known for films such as BlacKkKlansman, Do the Right Thing, Inside Man and Malcolm X. We know Lee is a watch guy, with pieces ranging from the evergreen cool Casio G-Shocks to watches from Jaeger-LeCoultre and Rolex. I did some digging through photo archives and discovered that Lee rocked a Rolex reference 6263 Daytona in steel with a white non “Paul Newman” dial back in 1992.
Through further searching, I came across images from 1996 of Lee sporting a vintage Daytona with a “Paul Newman” dial, but couldn’t completely make out the exact reference due to the distance of the photograph. Rocking a vintage Daytona in the ’90s would have been a rarity, considering there wasn’t the level of interest like we have seen in the past 15 years for these timepieces, and it shows Lee was ahead of the curve.
Rocking a vintage Daytona in the ’90s would have been a rarity, considering there wasn’t the level of interest like we have seen in the past 15 years for these timepieces, and it shows Lee was ahead of the curve.
Now comes the moneyshot from 2006, which clearly shows Lee’s vintage Paul Newman Daytona. It is a reference 6240 Daytona with a “Paul Newman” dial and screw-down pushers.
In addition to the vintage pieces, Lee also has a stainless steel reference 116520 Daytona with a black dial and a rose gold Rolex Day-Date with black dial.
Then there is his customised steel 115620 “Cool Hand Brooklyn” Daytona edition made in collaboration with Artisans de Genève, which was a tribute to his hometown of Brooklyn and Paul Newman.
His collection of Jaeger-LeCoultres includes a Reverso, Reverso Gran Sport (pictured) and an Amvox 2 Chronograph (pictured).
He also rocks the classic Casio G-Shock in a variety of guises and is pictured below wearing one with a black and orange colourway.