The Rolex Daytona “Paul Newman” is the world’s most coveted and valuable vintage watch. Although there are numerous reasons for its popularity, not the least of which is its connection to the Cool Hand Luke star, the watch’s distinguishing feature is its unique dial.
But the Paul Newman dial, recognized for its subdials featuring square-tipped lollipop markers and serif font, wasn’t exclusive to Rolex. Officially called an “exotic” dial, these dials were produced for a number of brands in the 1960s and ’70s by a Swiss dial maker named Singer.
After Rolex, the brand best known for using Singer’s exotic dials in its chronographs is probably Nivada Grenchen, and the brand has even reproduced some of its Singer-dialed mid-century chronographs. One such Newman-like chrono is the Autochron, a quirky automatic based on a 1970s Nivada prototype.
First resurrected by Nivada as the Chronosport back in 2024, the reborn Autochron featured a black dial and a pair of khaki-colored Paul Newman-style subdials.
Now, two years later, Nivada debuts an even cooler version of the Chronosport that incorporates orange accents akin to another 1970s classic from the brand, the Chronomaster Sport Aviator Sea Diver “Orange Boy.”
