Royal Oak for Daytona?

[BMess]

I’m been considering trading my AP Royal Oak Chrono for the 126500 white dial Daytona for a while.

Would you do the trade?

Some background:
The AP has always been my favorite watch, and my grail watch since I first saw it in or around 2018. I love the way it looks, feels, and fits my smaller wrist. However, I’ve been disappointed with it recently. The power reserve to be unacceptably low. I get between 24 and 36 hours before it dies. I’ve been frustrated with the lack of hacking seconds and the difficulty in accurately setting the time and then reengaging the crown to screw down. And I have been annoyed with how delicate the watch is resulting in it being hard to wear without thinking/worrying about it. For a $30,000 watch from the “Holy Trinity” of watch makers, I’ve been disappointed and find myself feeling like the AP is just a status symbol piece of jewelry and not a watch I can appreciate from a watchmaking and/or accuracy perspective.

Historically, I never liked the Daytona. It never did anything for me. My father has a two tone Daytona that he bought in 2014 and has worn every day since. I’ve seen many ceramic SS Daytonas and a handful of oyster flex and full PM Daytonas and none of them did anything for me. When the 126500 was released, I loved it from the moment I first saw it. I love the addition of the bezel ring to break up some of the contrast between the white dial and black ceramic bezel. I also love that the bezel ring makes the watch appear/wear slightly smaller. The smaller indices and and subdials were huge wins for me also, making the watch feel perfectly refined but maintaining the it’s sport watch history. All that said, I think the 126500 white dial Daytona is Rolex’s best modern example.

For all those reasons, I’m considering trading my AP for the white dial 126500.

If it helps, I also have a Pepsi on jubilee, a vintage Panerai, and a Cartier dress watch. I like to keep the collection as small as possible, having owned close to 30 watches over the last 3 years.