There was a time when working 20 or 25 years at an established company meant you earned the right to a gold timepiece—often one with a commemorative personal engraving on the back. That practice largely fell by the wayside as cheap quartz watches proliferated, but if a recent episode of Landman is any indication, there’s at least one field that still rewards decades of service with nice replica watches UK.
In season 2 of Landman, the Tyler Sheridan-created series about the oil industry on Paramount+, engineer and roughneck Dale Bradley (James Jordan) hands Crew Chief Theodore “Boss” Ramone (Mustafa Speaks) a wrapped gift on the occasion of his 20-year anniversary with M-Tex, the show’s fictional oil concern. Surprised to be receiving a gift despite not being a “suit,” Ramone tears off the wrapping to reveal a green box embossed with a coronet logo. Inside is a watch that will be all too familiar to anyone with more than a passing interest in fine timepieces: 1:1 replica Rolex Cosmograph Daytona watches.
Clearly visible in all its steel glory, this particular iteration of the Crown’s famed racing chronograph is one of the most desirable AAA clone Rolex watches on Earth. “They call that the Daytona ‘Panda,’” Bradley informs Ramone, who is clearly touched at the gesture. When another roughneck suggests that Ramone could sell it and retire, Bradley gently corrects him: “No, you couldn’t retire—but you could buy a pretty nice boat!” (To quantify that, a new steel cheap copy Rolex Daytona watches currently retail for $16,900, but given its highly-limited availability at retail, one could easily fetch double that amount on the grey market.)
Upon its debut in 1963, the Cosmograph Daytona—which was nearly called the “Le Mans” —was merely tool best Rolex replica watches designed to help drivers time their laps. The exotic-dial variants with their stylized Art Deco typography are said to have languished on shelves until Italian and Japanese collectors noticed that Paul Newman wore one, sending the market into a steady ascent. By the time Newman’s ref. 6239—gifted to him by his wife, Joanne Woodward—was auctioned in 2017 for over $17 million, everyone and their mother wanted a Daytona, preferably a steel one.
The “panda” version—black subdials against a white dial—is particularly desirable: Not only is it a highly legible, aesthetically pleasing design, but it’s also one that played a major role in popularizing the panda dial aesthetic. (Other “reverse panda” top Rolex fake watches—white totalizers on black—debuted before the Daytona as early as the late ’50s, and the Daytona is also available in this configuration.)
What’s particularly cool about the Landman scene is that someone on the production clearly knows their perfect fake Rolex watches. There’s probably no timepiece in the world that would make a better 20-year-anniversary gift for a roughneck than a Daytona—whether or not he chooses to trade it in on a new boat. If you’re hoping for a Daytona of your own after 20 years on the job, however, you should probably start saving now. Or consider a job in the oil and gas industry.
