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Rolex
Ref. 1803
Day-Date
A very rare and early yellow gold calendar wristwatch with unusual big logo bracelet, centre seconds and geometric engine turned dial
- Estimate
- CHF30,000 - 60,000
CHF81,250
Lot Details
- Manufacturer
- Rolex
- Year
- 1960
- Reference No
- 1803
- Case No
- 544'977
- Model Name
- Day-Date
- Material
- 18k yellow gold
- Calibre
- Automatic, 1555
- Bracelet/Strap
- Rolex brick link
- Clasp/Buckle
- Folding deployant clasp with big logo stamped 2.60
- Dimensions
- 36mm. Diameter
- Signed
- <em>Movement, dial, case and bracelet signed</em>
Specialist
Full-Cataloguing
Catalogue Essay
Released during the mid Fifties, the Day-Date immediately distinguished itself on the international watchmaking scene as the first wristwatch to showcase the date and the day of the week, fully displayed by means of an aperature on the dial. Upon a closer look, this amazing yellow gold 1803 manufactured in 1960 leaves us mesmerised, and we experience a true sensational feeling. What distinguishes this piece is not its technical mastery, but rather the artistic bravery in realising the extraordinary dial, which shows a geometrical pattern recalling Michelangelo’s square on the Capitoline in Rome.
The results are perfectly harmonious matched with an 18K yellow gold bracelet exhibiting a highly linear tile link pattern.
The 1803 reference presented a new case slightly more slender compared to those of its forerunners and fitted a more reliable movement, the 1555 calibre, featuring an 18'000 beat per hour frequency.
The results are perfectly harmonious matched with an 18K yellow gold bracelet exhibiting a highly linear tile link pattern.
The 1803 reference presented a new case slightly more slender compared to those of its forerunners and fitted a more reliable movement, the 1555 calibre, featuring an 18'000 beat per hour frequency.
Rolex
Swiss | 1905Founded in 1905 England by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis as Wilsdorf & Davis, it soon became known as the Rolex Watch Company in 1915, moving its headquarters to Geneva in 1919. Like no other company, the success of the wristwatch can be attributed to many of Rolex's innovations that made them one of the most respected and well-known of all luxury brands. These innovations include their famous "Oyster" case — the world's first water resistant and dustproof watch case, invented in 1926 — and their "Perpetual" — the first reliable self-winding movement for wristwatches launched in 1933. They would form the foundation for Rolex's Datejust and Day-Date, respectively introduced in 1945 and 1956, but also importantly for their sports watches, such as the Explorer, Submariner and GMT-Master launched in the mid-1950s.One of its most famous models is the Cosmograph Daytona. Launched in 1963, these chronographs are without any doubt amongst the most iconic and coveted of all collectible wristwatches. Other key collectible models include their most complicated vintage watches, including references 8171 and 6062 with triple calendar and moon phase, "Jean Claude Killy" triple date chronograph models and the Submariner, including early "big-crown" models and military-issued variants.
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