Rolex Day-Date

Why We Love It “This is gold, Mr. Bond. All my life, I have been in love with its color, its brilliance, its divine heaviness.” If you, like Auric Goldfinger, have a taste for gold and want to feel its "divine heaviness" on your wrist, then we have the watch for you.  A Reference 1803 minted in the mid-60s, this watch is gold on gold, from the crisp 18k case to the warm dial. Speaking of the dial, it boasts a creamy patina to the luminescent elements and a Spanish date wheel. When only the shiniest, most brilliant watch will do, then this Day-Date is for you.  The Story When you’ve got a good thing going, sometimes you just know. Such is the case with the Rolex Day-Date. At the time of the Day-Date’s release in 1956, it was Rolex’s only complicated wristwatch: all previous attempts had failed to resonate with consumers. But as soon as Rolex secured the patent in July of 1955, production of the Day-Date was rushed for a debut at the Basel Fair the following spring. Although early Day-Dates were plagued by technical problems resulting from the complexity of the automatic movement, those were soon resolved. After President Eisenhower sported one (a gift from the manufacture), its success was secured. The model would be tweaked and improved throughout the 1950s and on into the 60s, until the introduction of the Reference 1803 in 1965, which—due to its long production run—is deemed by many collectors to be the Day-Date to own.