Rolex’s first automatic Daytona was introduced in 1988. Housing the iconic zenith-based caliber 4030, it featured a larger case and was fitted with a sapphire crystal. The watch immediately became very popular and garnered an immediate waiting lists at Rolex retailers. The gold version reference 16528 was a luxurious alternative to its stainless steel counterpart reference 16520. First generation exemplar like this piece displayed the “Cosmograph” floating written below “Rolex Oyster perpetual superlative chronometer officially certified”. This variant is known as the “floating dial”. during the first years of production the dials came out with white lacquer. Later, probably due to economic reasons, very few pieces have been produced. A “tell-tale” sign of ‘porcelain dials’ is the three-dimensional appearance of the black graphics and slightly off-white color of the background.