Rolex - Glamorous Day-Date Geneva Friday, May 8, 2015 | Phillips
  • Manufacturer: Rolex
    Year: 1968
    Reference No: 1803
    Case No: 1'684'900
    Model Name: Day-Date
    Material: 18k white gold
    Calibre: Automatic, 1556
    Bracelet/Strap: Rolex President
    Clasp/Buckle: Folding deployant clasp stamped 2.67
    Dimensions: 36mm. Diameter
    Signed: Movement, dial, case and bracelet signed
    Literature: The present lot is illustrated in Day Date, The Presidential Rolex by Pucci Papaleo, Spin Edizioni

  • Catalogue Essay

    The powerful contrasting visual impact given by this monochrome Day-Date with pink gold hour markers and hands renders this timepiece truly breathtaking, exceptionally rare, and important.The highly unusual dial is decorated with an engraved ‘tapisserie finish’ pattern adorned with pink gold relief and applied Arabic script numerals. Both apertures for the day and for the date are in Arabic, adding a further layer of rarity and complexity to this already historically significant Day-Date.

  • Artist Biography

    Rolex

    Swiss • 1905

    Founded 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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Ref. 1803
An extremely rare and highly important white gold wristwatch with Arabic calendar, pink gold applied Arabic numerals, centre seconds, bracelet and unusual tapisserie dial

1968
36mm. Diameter
Movement, dial, case and bracelet signed

Estimate
CHF40,000 - 80,000 

Sold for CHF149,000

Contact Specialist
Livia Russo
+41 22 317 81 86

Glamorous Day-Date

Geneva Auction 9 May 2015 7pm