Update on December 21, 2024: Bryan wrote in and said, "Just thought I’d give you a heads up. The watch Franz is wearing is not a Rolex Daytona but a Breitling 765 AVI / Co-Pilot Panda from the 1963 era. You can even slightly see the large lime 15 sec timer or right sub dial." I am so embarrassed, but I still love the look of Franz's Breitling, which is a really cool looking watch!!!
The photo above appears courtesy of the Wall Street Journal and it shows Franz Von Holzhausen sitting in the back of a prototype Tesla CyberTruck. The image below shows Franz Von Holzhausen in a recent video where we see a close up of his Daytona—which looks super cool!!!!
The screen grabs above that show Franz Von Holzhausen showing off and discussing the Tesla CyberTaxi were taken from the video below, which is fascinating:
How the CyberTruck design may have been inspired by
Paul Newman's "Big Red" Daytona?
Four years after Tesla founder, Elon Musk and lead designer, Franz von Holzhausen originally showed off the Tesla CyberTruck, they finally delivered the first models to customers at a special event held at Tesla's Texas Gigafactory, where they are being exclusively manufactured.
Beginning Friday before last, which was Black Friday, in anticipation of the official product launch which occurred this past Thursday, production Tesla CyberTrucks models began showing up in key Tesla stores around the United States, many of which are located in malls. The image above shows a Tesla CyberTruck being driven through the mall in order to get it to the Tesla Store and notice it went driving by a Rolex authorized dealership.
The lead Tesla designer, Franz von Holzhausen not only designed all the existing Tesla models, including the Model S, 3, X, Y, as well as the CyberTruck is perhaps most famous for having thrown a steel ball, the size of a tennis ball at the CyberTruck at the launch event four years ago, and much to his surprise, cracked the special glass that was supposed to be unbeatable.
So what if anything does Franz's Daytona have in common with the CyberTruck he designed? It's hard to say exactly, but as a fellow designer I could not help but wonder if Franz's CyberTruck design was inspired or informed by the design of his stainless steel Rolex Daytona?
After all, Paul Newman's 6263 Daytona and the CyberTruck have a great deal in common, beginning with the fact that are moth made primary from stainless steel. When Rolex originally debuted the Daytona back in the early to mid 1960s, it was considered to be an unusually large and sporty watch.
Interior of CyberTruck features user definable multicolor RGB LED accent light strip which is pictured above in red, which matches Paul Newman's Rolex Daytona [Reference 6263] which is pictured below.
Paul Newman's 6263 Daytona was accented with a black dial, and matching black bezel insert, along with white subdials—just like the CyberTruck has black accents. So basically, they were both big, bold, sporty designs that were initially highly polarizing, while offering an unusually rugged build quality, with unbreakable glass. Also both are considered icons of modern design. The more I think about it, the more I realize how remarkably similarly uncanny the color and material vibe is between Paul Newman's 'Big Red' Daytona and the Franz's CyberTruck!!!!
Paul Newman's Holy Grail Rolex "Big Red" Daytona picture above. This model of Daytona was nicknamed by collectors "BIG RED" as the "DAYTONA" dial designation is bigger and bolder red than on any other Rolex Daytona models. It was gifted to Paul Newman by his wife Joanne Woodward in 1983 as a gift to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.
If you are interested, you can learn much more and see all my coverage of Tesla's CyberTruck Launch over on JAKE'S TESLA WORLD.
The One More Thang
If you made it this far, chances are you are probably totally enjoying the launch of the CyberTruck, and I saved the best for last. The review of the CyberTruck below by Hagerty is by far and away the single best review, and the second video is where he discusses the making of the review and shares some shockingly profound insight on the CyberTruck.
I was talking to a friend of mine who is a serious Rolex expert and we were talking about how we were both in complete awe of Elon Musk's achievements. My pal said, "It's too bad Elon Musk never wore a Rolex, did he?" I agreed, and then he said, "Elon seems like he would be the kind of man who would wear a Rolex."
I responded by saying "I agree, and I have spent a lot of time studying photos of him, but unfortunately I never discovered evidence that he wore a Rolex :-( Then several weeks ago, much to my surprise, I FINALLY discovered multiple photos of Elon Musk rocking a Rolex.
The reason why it took me so long to discover photos of Elon Musk wearing a Rolex is it appears he wore a Rolex Datejust 30 years ago, back in 1994 when he was attending Queen's University college.
After I wrote this article, I later discovered a photo of Elon at Space X headquarters in California, taken in 2004, standing in front of an early Space X rocket, wearing his Rolex Datejust as seen below.
I have a funny anecdote to share with you. I was talking with our Captain Danny, and I shared my discovery with him that I had found images of Elon Musk wearing a stainless steel Rolex Datjust back in 1994, and I showed him the photos. Captain Danny said "Nice! Elon and you looked alike when you were young" and he included the images below of me, which was interesting as I responded to Captain Danny and said "I noticed that as well."
The photo below of me was taken when I was around 18, back in 1984, and I was rocking my stainless steel Rolex Datejust on a Jubilee bracelet, whereas in the photo above of Elon Musk clearly shows he was wearing his stainless steel Rolex Datejust on an Oyster Bracelet.
Elon is 5 years younger than I am, and I am proud, yet embarrassed to admit it, but I joined Twitter before Elon did... Obviously Elon is probably the most successful man in human history, and if not, he is certainly in that pantheon. Captain Danny included both the image above and below when he said Elon and I looked alike when we were younger. In the photo below taken in San Francisco in 1999 I was rocking my Coke GMT-Master.
Nick Gould discovered a photo of Elon Musk rocking his Rolex where we can finally see the face of his watch, and to my eyes it looks like he is wearing a Rolex Datejust, Thunderbird model as seen below.
Update on May 13, 2023: David is a fan of Jake's Rolex World and he sent in the two photos below along with a nice message:
Gday Jake
David down in Melbourne , Australia here. Thank you for the wonderful reading over many years that you have supplied. I've been on your blog since you started. You recently had a story on Musk wearing a Rolex . I watched a doco the other day about him and noted an oyster bracelet but cannot determine which model rolex he is wearing. The video is low res unfortunately. Attached is two screenshots. The best I could get I’m afraid. Thanks again for all your work.
Cheers
David
Back on April 8, 2022 I discovered the lead designer at Tesla, Franz von Holhausen rocking a vintage Paul Newman Daytona, so I thought I would add that story here.
Franz von Holzhausen
@ Giga-Texas launch April 6, 2022
Rocking a Paul Newman "Big Red"
I was working on a story for TeslaMagazine.org showcasing the Tesla Keynote for Giga-Texas and I think I discovered Tesla lead designer, Franz von Holzhausen rocking what certainly appears to be a vintage Rolex Paul Newman Daytona Big Red!?!! Assuming I made a correct positive ID, I wonder if he owns the Paul Newman's Daytona #2 that Paul Newman actually wore?
The video below is of Elon Musk's keynote for the launch of the brand spanking new Tesla Giga-Factory which is completely mind-boggling!!!!
I might be wrong, but Franz's watch sure seems to have all the telltale characteristics of a vintage Daytona...
Historically Rolex has always been extremely secretive and discreet, and no journalists in the past have ever been invited "INSIDE ROLEX" to explore and report on all four Rolex Manufacturing faclities in Switzerland.
In November 2013, this changed when Rolex invited Jake to take an unprecdented journey into the heart of Rolex to learn and report on everything he witnessed and learned.
This Super-Detailed 3 Part Story is a "MUST READ" story for anybody who wants to understand what really makes Rolex tick.
