Rolex - The Hong Kong Watch Auction: ONE Hong Kong Monday, November 30, 2015 | Phillips
  • Manufacturer: Rolex
    Year: Circa 1999
    Reference No: 18238
    Movement No: 7'695'480
    Case No: T572332
    Model Name: Day-Date
    Material: 18k yellow gold and malachite
    Calibre: Automatic, 3155, 31 jewels
    Bracelet/Strap: 18k yellow gold Rolex President bracelet, 165 mm. maximum length, end links stamped 55B
    Clasp/Buckle: 18k yellow gold Rolex concealed folding deployant clasp stamped Rolex, reference 8385
    Dimensions: 36 mm. diameter
    Signed: Case, dial and movement signed
    Accessories: With Rolex undated Officiel Chronometer Certification, sales tag, fitted presentation box and outer packaging.
    Literature: For another example of a reference 18238 with malachite dial, please see Day-Date The Presidential Rolex by Pucci Papaleo, page 404 and 405.

  • Catalogue Essay

    Rolex incorporated a variety of different hard stones into their dials to add colour and beauty to their creations. In additional to their beauty, these materials most often carry strong spiritual meanings and properties. Malachite, symbolizes a good luck and is used as an ornamental stone in jewelery as well as for decorative purposes.

    The present Day-Date is fitted with a malachite hard stone dial, due to the fragility of the stone, no hour markers have been fitted to the dial. The graphics are in gold and gold frames surrounded the calendar apertures, like with all Rolex hard stone Day-Dates.

    Still retaining its original factory sticker and accompanied by its Guarantee, this Day-Date is a superb example combining beauty and rarity.

  • 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. 18238
A fine and very rare yellow gold calendar wristwatch with sweep centre seconds, malachite dial, bracelet, chronometer certificate and fitted presentation box

Circa 1999
36 mm. diameter
Case, dial and movement signed

Estimate
HK$160,000 - 300,000 

Sold for HK$275,000

Contact Specialist

Thomas Perazzi
Head of Watches, Asia
+852 2318 2001
thomasperazzi@phillips.com

Ziyong Ho
Specialist
+852 9386 2032
ziyongho@phillips.com

Jill Chen
Specialist
+852 2318 2033
jillchen@phillips.com

The Hong Kong Watch Auction: ONE

Hong Kong Auction 1 December 2015 11am