This yellow-gold Daytona is some serious piece of watch history with some American sauce on it.

Rolex finally retired the vintage 6xxx series Daytonas with hand-wound Valjoux movement and plexi crystals in 1988 and replaced them with the new and completely updated 16xxx series Daytonas. Up until the introduction of these new models, Daytonas weren’t very commercially viable. The 16xxx Daytonas were Rolex’ very first automatic chronographs. The watches also looked decidedly modern, with a larger 40 mm case, crown guards, and a sapphire crystal. It was all it took for the Daytona craze to begin.

This 18k yellow-gold ref. 16528 dates back to 1989, the second year of production of these "new-gen" Daytonas. Characteristic of these highly collectible early five-digit Daytonas is the floating ‘Cosmograph’ text, which appears to be printed separately from the preceding four lines of text on the dial. This peculiar detail only occurs on Daytonas carrying L- or R-serial numbers, which were only produced from 1988 until early 1990. But if you look a little lower you will something even more interesting: the most coveted retailer stamp. A Tiffany & Co signed "floating" Daytona in yellow gold!

The case remains sharp with thick lugs and strong bezel profile on this MK2 iteration. Also the original bracelet is still present, with characteristic clasp, and virtually stretch free.