Eastern Arabic, Tropical Dial 1803 Rolex Day-Date, Pink Gold

This isn’t a Day-Date, it’s a dial from a very different place and time in Rolex. It’s Eastern Arabic Hindi, it’s tropical chocolate, and it’s wrapped in pink gold. This is an 1803, same as any other. Except the dial certainly spent some degree of time in the desert, it was made for royalty.. At least, it probably wasn’t made for your average Rolex client. It would’ve been made for a sheikh or someone who had weight to throw around with the brand. Fittingly, this one surfaced in Dubai. Amongst the constellation of Day-Dates, it’s off in its own corner of the sky. The sky of One Thousand and One Nights, specifically. 

Why pink gold is exceptional, this piece is all about the dial. It’s gilt-era, 1959, meaning pie-pan, Swiss only, alpha hands, and no quick set. These dials were by special order in the late 50s, through the 60s. They’re almost always yellow gold. Pink gold Day-Dates account for just a fraction of production. And this one wears its sixty years on its exterior. The chocolate dial tone is focused around the handstack and apertures, which are natural points of thinness in the lacquer and makes total sense here.

If the 1803 is the President, this is the Sheikh. The applied numerals are surprisingly raw-finished even for the era. They’re purposeful. But the best part of the sheikh we have here has to be the apertures. They look like someone poured the creamer of apertures into the coffee that is the dial and they’re begun to mix. That’s overly poetic, but this is a romantic Day-Date. It’s not the peak of condition. But it’s cohesively aged, consistent. And it’s an absolutely beautiful, purposeful object which has been lived it. And that’s actually the point of Rolex, despite what they might be trying to market today.

This example is interesting to note on condition. Because it is honest, not perfect. The case is certainly polished, as is the bracelet. The lug top brushing is halfway there. But it's sexy. And it's sexy because this dial with its pink gold furniture is as good as it gets. Honestly tropical in all the right ways, augmented by the correct handset, and with parchment tone discs. It isn't a watch that's lived in a safe. It's a watch that's lived in the Middle East. Fully. It comes from a well-regarded Dubai retailer.