Article | Rolex Padellone Stelline Complete Calendar Phillips Geneva Watch Auction Xxiv November 2026
From the Padellone to the Stelline and Back Again: Rolex and the Complete Calendar
As a yellow gold Ref. 6062 “Stelline” comes to auction, we examine the appeal of Rolex’s vintage calendar watches and what their modern successor – the new Perpetual Padellone – reveals about the brand today.
Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo is delighted to present The Geneva Watch Auction: XXIV, a live auction taking place on 7–8 November 2026 at the Hotel President in Geneva. Featuring more than 220 exceptional timepieces from leading makers including Patek Philippe, Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Cartier, and F.P. Journe, the sale includes the Rolex Ref. 6062 “Stelline” featured in this story.
The Rolex Perpetual Padellone – Refs. 53505 and 53506 – released in September 2026, is entirely uncharacteristic of a modern Rolex. Its anachronistic triple-calendar layout, its adoption of a nickname and its open display of a finely decorated movement all break established conventions that have defined Rolex in the 21st century.
The watch pays specific tribute to two important and rare Rolex models produced between 1949 and 1953: Ref. 8171, nicknamed the Padellone (meaning large frying pan) for its 38mm case, and its 36mm cousin, Ref. 6062, whose star-shaped hour markers on certain versions earned them the nickname Stelline (meaning little stars). Ref. 6062 bears distinction as the first self-winding triple-calendar wristwatch with moon phases housed in a waterproof case.
The new Rolex Perpetual Padellone Ref. 53505 in 18k Everose gold. Rolex
Both of those vintage models have performed impressively in Phillips auctions over the years, and an especially well-preserved circa 1952 yellow gold Stelline, purchased by the consignor from its original owner in Japan, will be offered at The Geneva Watch Auction: XXIV, representing a very rare opportunity.
To better understand the new Padellone, as well as its vintage counterparts, looking at recent changes of strategy at Rolex before delving into the finer details of these renowned calendar watches will provide useful context.
Rolex Before 2023
Up until 2023, Rolex was dedicated to incrementally improving a handful of continuously produced iconic models dating to just after World War II, and, relatedly, Rolex never recreated classic watches from its back catalogue, a practice it coyly left to its sister brand, Tudor.
Lot 129: A circa 1952 Rolex Ref. 6062 “Stelline” in 18k yellow gold, included in The Geneva Watch Auction XXIV. Estimate: In excess of CHF 600,000
Shifting Strategies at Rolex
This was to change, however, in 2023 when the brand released the Day-Date 36 "Jigsaw" and three Oyster Perpetual “Bubble” models. All featured playful, rainbow-colored dials and other quirks that seemed entirely out of character. A disruptive tone seemed to have been set.
With those distracting dials crowding media channels, it was easy to miss subtler, though ultimately more significant, shifts at Rolex in 2023.
For example, the 1908 Ref. 5250X trio of dress watches introduced in 2023 is loosely based on 1931's Oyster Perpetual. Rolex was, for the first time, overtly referring to its legacy prior to World War II. Also, the 1908 watches feature sapphire casebacks that expose beautifully finished movements (Caliber 7140), an entirely novel feature for a Rolex.
Additionally in 2023, Rolex installed display casebacks on the platinum Daytona Ref. 126506.
A circa 1950 Rolex Ref. 8171 "Padellone" in 18k yellow gold.
A few months later (notably outside its annual release schedule), Rolex rolled out the white-gold Daytona Le Mans (Ref. 126529LN). Its dial recalled the vintage “exotic” dials, introduced in the late-1960s and now more popularly known as “Paul Newman” dials.
That design was also an apparent acknowledgment of Newman’s unofficial yet substantial association with Rolex – an association fostered for decades by collectors and reinforced by Phillips’ record-setting auction of his personal Daytona in 2017.
Just 10 months later, Rolex discontinued the white-gold Le Mans tribute, rendering it effectively a buzzy, retro-styled limited edition – the kind of offering not previously seen from the Crown.
The new Rolex Perpetual Padellone Ref. 53505 in 18k Everose gold. Rolex
Rolex's 2024 catalogue proved mellower, but in 2025, Rolex released the technically advanced Land-Dweller. The clear caseback on the Land-Dweller signaled again the brand's new focus on movement finishing. Perhaps more relevant here, the Land-Dweller was styled after the relatively rare mechanical Datejust Ref. 1630 of 1975 and the subsequent Oysterquartz models of that decade, which featured integrated bracelets that had swept back into vogue around 2020.
The new Rolex Perpetual Padellone's automatic Caliber 7190 with Dynapulse escapement. Rolex
Putting all this together, perhaps we can see more clearly why this year’s Padellone might be considered a culmination of a shifting strategy at Rolex, one that combines mechanical innovation and elevated movement finishing with overt, self-referential horological nostalgia.
Rolex is now bringing its most collectible vintage timepieces into the bright spotlight of its current catalogue. The long-term impact this will have on collectability remains to be seen, but the buzz around vintage Padellone and Stelline models is hitting a crescendo at the moment.
The Padellone, Then and Now
It is always interesting to compare the vintage models with their modern-day counterparts. Doing so helps spell out what makes these watches so special.
The Ref. 8171 Padellone and Ref. 6062 (including the Stelline models) are arguably the most elegant Rolex models ever created.
Lot 129: A circa 1952 Rolex Ref. 6062 “Stelline” in 18k yellow gold, included in The Geneva Watch Auction XXIV. Estimate: In excess of CHF 600,000
The larger 38mm Ref. 8171 with its snap-on caseback and older styled lugs serves as the direct inspiration for the modern 39mm Padellone, as the adopted nickname makes obvious. The Ref. 8171, though large for its time, is faithful to the style of the era’s dress watches.
The continuous lines of the 36mm Ref. 6062’s waterproof Oyster case, however, may seem more quintessentially Rolex in character. Add in the star-shaped markers of the rare “Stelline” Ref. 6062 models, and what emerges is the most unique of these triple-calendar watches, one that only Rolex could have produced.
Dial close-up of a circa 1950 Rolex Ref. 8171 "Padellone" in stainless steel.
However, all three of these watches, old and new, have more in common than not. All feature the month and day of week below the 12 o'clock position, a pointer date around the outer edge of the dial, and a moonphase complication above 6 o'clock. All use four adjusters mounted in the caseband to set the various calendar functions.
There are some notable differences between the old and new models, however. The older watches carry traditional enamel man-on-the-moon discs behind a so-called bosom aperture, whereas the modern Padellone features a fully exposed disc with a Grand Feu enamel night sky and a rhodium-plated meteorite full moon and a dark blue PVD-coated new moon.
To accommodate the open moon-phase disc, the modern watch moves the running-seconds hand from the subdial to the central arbor, lending the newer model a slightly more complicated appearance at first glance. The most significant differences between old and new, though, are mechanical.
All three may be considered triple-calendars, but the new model accounts for the length of month (known as an annual calendar), whereas the older models (called complete calendars) do not. Further, the vintage models do not change the date instantaneously (a feature the Datejust acquired in the mid-1950s), while the new one does so handily.
The calendar system of Caliber 7190 on the new Rolex Perpetual Padellone. Rolex
The new Padellone – perhaps paradoxically, given its 20th-century design – truly represents the cutting-edge of Rolex's mechanical technology. It houses the Dynapulse escapement first introduced in 2025's Land-Dweller.
A full technical explanation is beyond our scope here, but the Dynapulse (along with George Daniels’ Co-Axial escapement popularized by Omega) is one of the very few promising alternatives to the Swiss lever escapement, the mechanism used in the vast majority of mechanical watches since the mid-19th century.
Rolex has also simplified the annual calendar mechanism with its Haplos system. Adding just two components to the date mechanism, it uses programming on the reverse of the month disc to inform an annual lever of the current month. This allows the mechanism to distinguish between 30- and 31-day months.
In the Spotlight
It is an interesting moment for these vintage Rolex triple-calendar watches. The added exposure of a current Rolex model that points back to these important, elegant references is something collectors and scholars will have to consider going forward, especially given that the vintage models so rarely come up for sale, especially the Ref. 6062 Stelline models.
Lot 129: A circa 1952 Rolex Ref. 6062 “Stelline” in 18k yellow gold, included in The Geneva Watch Auction XXIV. Estimate: In excess of CHF 600,000
It is also an interesting moment to consider Rolex more broadly, given that it was sometimes difficult to make sense of its shifting strategies in recent years. But, the recent release of the Perpetual Padellone Refs. 53505 and 53506 brings clarity to this moment. It is fitting – and exciting – that Rolex is shining the spotlight directly on such renowned and beautiful watches as the Ref. 8171 Padellone and the Ref. 6062, including the Stelline variants, all of which certainly deserve the tribute they are finally getting.
You can learn more, place a bid, and view the entire Geneva Watch Auction: XXIV catalog here.
