Born from Records: The History of the Rolex Daytona
On September 24, 1924, driving a 350-horsepower Sunbeam race car with an 18.3-liter, 12-cylinder airplane engine, Malcolm Campbell reached 146.16 miles-per-hour at Pendine Sands.
It had taken him two prior attempts, both scuttled from faulty timing equipment, but he had set the land-speed record. And it would be the first of nine records he would set. Less than a year later, he shattered the 150-mile-per-hour barrier in the same car. In 1927, he reached 174.224 miles-per-hour. In 1928, he left the south coast of Wales and went to Daytona Beach, Florida, where he defended his record against one Henry Seagrave, who had reached 203.79 miles-per-hour; that February, Campbell bested him by just three miles-per-hour. It was a daring time when the British fought valiantly against their own countrymen, and land-speed records were held for mere months?Campbell lost his record that April, but he would set new records at Daytona four more times. Image via rolexmagazine.
In 1935, Campbell relocated to the Bonneville Salt Flats, where he would embark on his final, greatest attempt: to be the first person to break 300 miles-per-hour.
“Campbell was so important to the brand that he remains the only person for whom Rolex named a watch.”
During these attempts, he may have been wearing a Rolex Oyster. Maybe not. Nonetheless, as early as 1930, Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf had reached out to Campbell and made him one of their first brand ambassadors, and his feats an ...
-------------------------------- |
|