Posts Tagged ‘1803’
Anthracite, Matte Grey Dial 1803 Rolex Day-Date
Stone dials are fraught, Tiffany stamps are equally perilous, and the only thing less common than a Stella dial is one without a crack in the lacquer. That’s the cynic’s view of the state of Day-Dates, and it’s definitely somewhat supportable. However, not all that glimmers in Day-Date is quite so loud or need be…
Read MoreSequoia Wood Dial 1803 Rolex Day-Date
If you really know your Day-Dates, this wood dial will immediately look a different to what you’re used to seeing. It’s made of sequoia, not the birch, mahogany, or walnut you’re perhaps more familiar with, and it’s what came first. In fact, this isn’t just the first wood dial Rolex, it’s one of the earliest…
Read MoreCoral Red Stella Dial 1803 Rolex Day-Date
The emoji Day-Date isn’t the first time Rolex let their hair down, but when they did so in the past, man, it was just so much more tasteful and elegant. They say subtlety is an art that’s been lost on our generation and I’m inclined to agree. Back in the 70s, this ‘cherry’ red Stella…
Read More‘Japan No Lume’ 1803 Rolex Day-Date
Hardstone dials are all the rage these days. Day-Dates are synonymous with onyx, lapis, and jasper. But in the earliest days of the Day-Date, there weren’t stones. There were Stellas. And before there were Stellas, there were gilt pie-pans. An early Day-Date in white precious metal is just about the ultimate in discreet opulence as…
Read MoreSalmon Stella 1803 Rolex Day-Date
I’m as fond of a good metaphor for communicating my views on any given watch as China are of polluting oceans. The Day-Date, more than almost any other watch, lends itself to a particular analogy: drink. There are endless variants, each quite personally expressive, and they all get you to about the same place. In…
Read MoreHavana Dial 1803 Rolex Day-Date
The joys of Rolex Day-Date collecting are in many ways like the joys of mild alcoholism. In both, the satisfaction is to be found in minor variation. With any Day-Date, you are getting what is in essence the same functional capability, proportion, and design. But the details vary endlessly in extremely intricate ways such as…
Read More1803 Oxblood Stella Rolex Day-Date
The Day-Date (colloquially President) is arguably Rolex’s most iconic model, full stop. It is classic, subdued, sophisticated, timeless, and coveted. Like much of vintage Rolex the variety of iterations and custom-order examples within this one model could serve as subject to multiple volumes of research. This elicits the query, where to start? Well, when both…
Read MoreLilac Stella 1803 Rolex Day-Date
Aside from the strata of piece unique one-offs for royalty, this is unquestionably one of the rarest Rolex dials to ever be produced—in single digits. Moreover, it’s a Stella. Stella Day-Dates are increasingly sought after for many reasons; this is the original colorful OP with added complication, one of Rolex’s earliest attempts to flirt with…
Read MoreItalian 1803 Rolex Day-Date in WG
We love a Day-Date around here. Whether oxblood, khanjar, or more the more restrained offering shown today, the 1803 is cemented in Wilsdorf’s lore and the iconography of watch history. Yet, collectors will still usually freak out only for the more exotic variants: lapis, missoni, rubellite, Jurassic park dials, etc. I am today singing the…
Read MoreLinen Dial 1803 Rolex Day-Date
If Rolex had an essentials album, the 1803 would undoubtedly be a starred track. In production for nearly three decades as the halo product, Wilsdorf’s innovative Day-Date complication became synonymous with status after a 1966 ad with a red phone which simply stated, ‘the president’s watch.’ Day-Date collecting could be considered an art itself, given…
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