30
Rolex
Ref. 18078
Day-Date “Pinball”
A fine and attractive yellow gold wristwatch with blue Aventurine “pinball” diamond-set dial, day, date, and bracelet
- Estimate
- $20,000 - 40,000
- Manufacturer
- Rolex
- Year
- Circa 1979
- Reference No
- 18078
- Movement No
- 038’6247
- Case No
- 6’174’078, case back interior stamped 18000
- Model Name
- Day-Date “Pinball”
- Material
- 18K yellow gold and diamond
- Calibre
- Automatic, cal. 3055, 27 jewels
- Bracelet/Strap
- 18K yellow gold Rolex President bark-finished bracelet, end links stamped 55, max overall length 170mm
- Clasp/Buckle
- 18K yellow gold Rolex deployant clasp stamped 8723
- Dimensions
- 36mm Diameter
- Signed
- Case, dial, movement and, clasp signed
Catalogue Essay
-- The reference 18078, specific to its bark-finished details, was released in the 1970s and has become one of the most desirable and collectible Day-Dates from the Rolex collection. The wristwatch is highlighted by its distinctive bark-finished fluted bezel and President’s bracelet with bark-finished center links.
-- The present model, with a hardly ever seen blue aventurine, diamond-set dial is a wonderful example of this golden age of the Day-Date. A type of quartz, blue aventurine is a rare natural quartz hard stone, obtaining its color due to the presence of dumortierite, a fibrous blue mineral within the quartz structure. The model has remained Rolex’s flagship – its most luxurious wristwatch with an enduring aura of sophistication.
Rolex
Swiss | 1905Founded 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.