‘Doorstop’ Dial 1803 Rolex Day-Date, Pink Gold

Doorstops aren’t cool. But they’re insanely cool when placed on dials as indices. This is a pink gold 1803, which is a pretty sick thing in itself. But the two angled markers at 6 and 9 make it something I can get really excited about. Pink gold really isn’t a normal thing, most who know will say the overall production was something like 1 in every 100 examples. Pink was a slow seller, so much so that it was discontinued in the five-digit model. And that’s what we have here, with a rather charming white dial which could not hit the vintage heartstrings harder.

Where most pink gold 1803s were champagne or silver, this is somehow white than most. And you know it was made for this case because the indices are pink. The 1803’s hallmark is a ‘pie-pan’ shaped dial, which did not survive the transition to 18038 in 1978. Why? No one wanted them. It’s the Daytona story all over again. Yellow gold was for luxury in 1960. Few people cared about pink. Today, that’s 180 degrees reversed whether for rarity or looks. Just how rare is pink? The above is the best we can do. Some say 1 in 50. Others say 1 in 1000. The folks I’d be inclined to trust are in the more reserved skeptical conservative estimate, and from what I can find I’m inclined to agree. So we’ll roughly say 1 in 1000. Given the condition, it’s really not that normal at all.

This is the kind of Day-Date that President Lyndon B Johnson might’ve actually worn, given that the famous ad picturing a red phone in hand simply stating, ‘The president’s watch’ comes from 1966. The 36mm case and all those little nods to history are just so much subtler and more discreet than the counterpart you’d find today, which has moved to a different cultural meaning. Is it quickset? No. You have to put in more legwork. But that’s a small ask for what many might consider the ultimate aesthetic. Doorstop indices were slowly phased out in the early 70s, a marker of late 60s style. Pink gold isn’t in five digits. It’s just a really lovely best-of-60s all at once. Sometimes the little things make all the difference and that really is the case here. Not every ‘special’ Day-Date has to be khanjar stamped or stone. What a value.

This example is beautiful with little to comment. The bezel is the most worn area, but remember these were never as sharp as what you might be used to in more modern productions. The dial shows no major blemishes or signs of damage. All of the tritium pips are present and beautifully golden. It comes from a well-regarded Dutch retailer.