A Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day Date model, often referred to as the "President", in solid eighteen carat pink gold. This is a very rare example of the always advertised "flagship" Rolex watch in the line. Even when this watch was made, in the 1990's, the President was THE Rolex to own.
Arguably, the Rolex Day Date is the ultimate status symbol. It was always portrayed to the public this way by the media team at Rolex, and it was always promoted to world leaders, titans of industry and the sports and movie stars around the globe. Although much has changed with regards to Rolex's offering, and the special variations that are on offer, it was always the "President" that led the way in rare, unusual and gem set variants. This is very much true in this case.
The watch was first introduced into the Rolex line up under the reference 6511 in 1956, and a year later was re-modeled as the 6611 and featured the Rolex calibre 1055 movement. This model ran until 1959 when the 1803 reference was introduced with a new movement again. This time the 1555 calibre. This 1803 model is fitted with the updated 1556 calibre movement which was initially launched by Rolex in 1965.
This example has the beautiful original pie pan dial with pink gold hue to the background along with markers and hands all original. These dials are very rare indeed. The dial is stamped "T Swiss T" at the six o'clock position, meaning that it contains tritium luminous material. This material replaced the highly dangerous, and radioactive Radium in 1963. Just like radium, tritium was also radioactive; however, it came with a much lower level of radiation and a much shorter half-life. While tritium was exponentially safer than radium, it only had a half-life of twelve years. This meant that after just a few decades, only a tiny fraction of the initial luminescence would remain. Additionally, as tritium ages, the color changes, which creates often beautiful, and highly sought after patinas on the luminous markers on these older Rolex watches. Tritium was far from perfect, which lead Rolex to search for a better alternative, which happened in 1998 with the introduction of Luminova. The Tritium in this case is all original to the dial, is in perfect condition with every lume plot in tact and in perfect condition. The colour is also beautiful in all of the lume. It has aged into a lovely creamy ivory colour.
This example is in superb condition throughout. The case has been polished, but only lightly with very sharp case lines throughout, along with the case feet. When looking at the back of the watch, this confirms no polishing with the three factory applied assay marks present on three of the four inside corners of the case. The original and rare model number case back sticker is present. The edges are all razor sharp, feet again strong, and all the relevant hallmarks with no signs at all of brushing or wear.
The original Rolex President bracelet is fully signed on the earlier style deployant with all the correct marks and the eighteen carat gold marks, along with correct model numbers on the inside of the end links. The bracelet is very tight with little, to no real sag at all.
To find these watches from this period in such wonderful condition is rare. To find them in pink gold from this period in such amazing condition is even more rare. The colour of this gold from this period is far more attractive than the current pink gold hue, which is a lot more red in colour.
