Rolex - Hong Kong Watch Auction: THREE Hong Kong Monday, November 28, 2016 | Phillips

Create your first list.

Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.

  • Manufacturer: Rolex
    Year: Circa 1985
    Reference No: 18038
    Movement No: 1'449'958
    Case No: 8'952'381
    Model Name: Day-Date
    Material: 18k yellow gold and diamonds
    Calibre: Automatic, 3055, 27 jewels
    Bracelet/Strap: 18k yellow gold Rolex President bracelet, 165 mm. maximum length
    Clasp/Buckle: 18k yellow gold Rolex folding deployant clasp
    Dimensions: 35 mm. diameter
    Signed: Case, dial and movement signed
    Literature: For another example of a dégradé 'Stella' dial set with diamond-set hour markers, please see Day-Date The Presidential Rolex by Pucci Papaleo, page 302.

  • Catalogue Essay

    Rolex has reinvented the Day-Date ever since being introduced to the market in 1955. A very popular variant is the 'Stella', which is very fashionable and sought after today. The present watch is fitted with the rarest variant of 'Stella' dial and is known by the market as dégradé or vignette dial, which is a word used by photographers to describe an image which is clear at the centre while fading off at the edges. Finished with gold graphics and enhanced with diamond-set numerals, this dégradé blue 'Stella' dial provides a stunning look and is an appealing example.

  • Artist Biography

    Rolex

    Swiss • 1905

    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.

    View More Works

Property from an Astute Collector

953

Ref. 18038
A fine and rare yellow gold and diamond-set calendar wristwatch with sweep centre seconds, blue dégradé 'Stella' dial and bracelet

Circa 1985
35 mm. diameter
Case, dial and movement signed

Estimate
HK$80,000 - 120,000 
€9,400-14,100
$10,000-15,000

Sold for HK$150,000

Hong Kong Watch Auction: THREE

Hong Kong Auction 29 November 2016