Manufacturer: Rolex Year: 1990 Reference No: 18238 Case No: L561'294 Model Name: Day-Date Material: 18k yellow gold Calibre: Automatic, 3155 Bracelet/Strap: Rolex President, end links stamped 55B Clasp/Buckle: Concealed deployment clasp Dimensions: 36mm. Diameter Signed:Movement, dial, case and bracelet signed Literature: The present lot is illustrated in Day Date, The Presidential Rolex by Pucci Papaleo, Spin Edizioni
Catalogue Essay
The innumerable light reflections given by this glamorous stone creates a powerful visual effect leaving us spellbound. Yet another extraordinary and rare dial, showcased in this Day-Date manufactured in 1990. The opal displays gold printed writing and no hour markers.The natural stone-made dials showed the “Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified” script at 6 o’clock. This COSC certification establishes that an automatic watch provides an average daily rate of – 4 / + 6 seconds in 24 hours; the Day-Date was the first Rolex wristwatch to display such certification as well as one of the first timepieces ever to do so.The date is enlarged 2.5 times by means of the magnifying Cyclops lens. Moreover, the winding crown allows a quick setting of both date and day of the week.
Founded 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.