A Rolex Oyster Quartz Day-Date in 18k yellow gold, made around 1980, its burl wood dial set with applied gold batons in the angular integrated case Rolex drew for its own quartz calibre.
Rolex's first quartz wristwatch, the reference 5100 of 1970, ran on the Beta 21, a movement developed by a group of Swiss makers. The Oysterquartz of 1977 was Rolex's own: the calibres 5035 and 5055, developed in house over five years and certified as chronometers, in a new case with flat planes and an integrated bracelet. The 5055 carried the Day-Date, in gold. Rolex built the Oysterquartz until 2001.
Rolex dressed it the way it dressed its gold dials: applied gold batons, an applied gold coronet, a gold frame around the day window, and the signatures printed in gilt. The print reads cleanly across the grain, Oysterquartz Day-Date above the centre, Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified below it, T Swiss T at 6. The dark border at the rim has taken on a light clouding between 7 and 10, the lacquer settling with age; the figure and the print are untouched by it. The hands are gold batons with their tritium inserts aged to cream, with a gold centre seconds, and the day wheel is in English.
- 1The day windowA gold frame around the day aperture at 12, the day wheel in English.
- 2Coronet and signaturesThe applied gold coronet over ROLEX, OYSTERQUARTZ and DAY-DATE, printed in gilt across the grain.
- 3The handsGold batons with their tritium inserts aged to cream, and a gold centre seconds.
- 4The burl figureBurl wood under lacquer, dark at the rim and opening into amber figure and knots across the centre.
- 5T Swiss TThe tritium marking at 6, beneath Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified.
Inside is the calibre 5055, Rolex's own quartz day-date movement, eleven jewels and certified as a chronometer, as the dial states.
The 19018 keeps everything that marks a Day-Date, the fluted gold bezel, the day spelled out at 12, the date under the cyclops, and sets it on a case of flat planes. The flanks are brushed, the bevels between them polished, and the case runs without a break into the bracelet. This example measures 36mm across and 42mm lug to lug, and the line where brushed meets polished is still sharp on every edge, the fluting on the bezel crisp.
Rolex offered wood on the mechanical Day-Date of the same years, the 18038 among them. On the 19018 the same material sits inside a squared case and an integrated bracelet, so the dial is framed in gold on every side, and the brushed planes of the case pick up the warm tone of the grain.
The bracelet follows the case. Its links are squared off to continue the case flanks, brushed on the outer rows and polished down the centre, and they are held with small screws rather than pins, a construction particular to the Day-Date version. It closes on a concealed clasp, opened by a gold coronet lever, so that from above the bracelet reads as one unbroken run of gold. The signed Twinlock crown screws down at 3.
A red protective strip remains on the brushed caseback. The polished centre links of the bracelet carry fine hairlines from wear; the brushed links are clean.
The dial is signed ROLEX, OYSTERQUARTZ DAY-DATE and SUPERLATIVE CHRONOMETER OFFICIALLY CERTIFIED, with T SWISS T at 6. The crown carries the Rolex coronet with its single bar. The case is numbered 62596xx on the flank at 6, with 18K struck on the flank at 12. Inside the clasp: the Rolex crest beneath the coronet, GENEVE and SWISS MADE, 18K 750 in its cartouche, the Swiss Helvetia head assay mark for 18k gold, the Rolex SA responsibility mark and a 750 punch.
Inside is the calibre 5055, Rolex's own quartz day-date movement, eleven jewels and certified as a chronometer, as the dial states. It was serviced in October 2026, and it runs with the day and date changing over as they should.
- Maker
- Rolex, Geneva
- Model
- Oyster Quartz Day-Date, ref. 19018
- Case Number
- 62596xx
- Date
- C.1980
- Case Material
- 18k yellow gold
- Diameter
- 36mm
- Lug to Lug
- 42mm
- Movement
- Rolex cal. 5055, quartz, chronometer certified
- Jewels
- 11
- Complications
- Day, date, centre seconds
- Dial
- Burl wood, applied gold indexes and coronet
- Hands
- Gold batons with tritium inserts, gold centre seconds
- Crystal
- Sapphire with cyclops
- Bracelet
- 18k yellow gold integrated Oysterquartz bracelet, concealed clasp
- Warranty
- 12 months, mechanical, through Vintage Times Amsterdam from date of delivery
12-month mechanical warranty through Vintage Times Amsterdam from date of delivery.
