We are pleased to present this Rolex Day-Date Oysterquartz reference 19018 in 18-carat yellow gold, produced in 1979 and fitted with a champagne dial in perfect condition.
The Oysterquartz holds a singular place in Rolex’s history. In 1970, the Geneva manufacture presented reference 5100, known as the “Texano”, powered by the Beta 21 caliber, co-developed with the other major Swiss manufactures, and produced in 1,000 examples in solid gold. From 1972, Rolex broke away from it to develop its own movement. The case designed to house it is angular, with wide chamfers and an integrated bracelet. It appeared in the middle of the decade on the rare references 1530 and 1630, still mechanical and self-winding. After five years of development, the Oysterquartz was launched in 1977: the Datejust in steel on the one hand, the Day-Date on the other, exclusively in gold.
The caliber 5055 that powers the Day-Date is no ordinary quartz. Its 32,768 Hz oscillator is thermocompensated by a thermistor; its gear train, inherited from the mechanical calibers 3035 and 3055, is mounted on 11 jewels and decorated like them – bevelling, perlage, Côtes de Genève. A stepper motor drives a pallet fork and an escape wheel: the seconds hand lands exactly on each marker, without the slightest play. Both day and date can be quickly corrected via the crown, and the movement was chronometer-certified from the late 1970s, as our dial attests.
Total Oysterquartz production, all references combined, is estimated at fewer than 25,000 examples over a quarter of a century – the last pieces left the catalogue in 2003 – and the Day-Date models, in gold, account for only a small share. Long shunned by mechanical purists, the Oysterquartz has for some years enjoyed a considerable revival of interest, driven by the vogue for integrated-bracelet watches – Rolex itself laid claim to its heritage in spring 2025 with the launch of the Land-Dweller.
Our example, serial number 625xxxx, features a champagne sunburst dial in perfect condition, marked “T SWISS MADE T” at 6 o’clock. Its applied yellow gold baton hour markers and closed minute track with Roman numerals frame the two dedicated windows: the day spelled out in full at 12 o’clock, the date at 3 o’clock beneath the Cyclops (the date magnifying lens) of the sapphire crystal. The luminous material of the gold baton hands and of the dots punctuating the minute track, tritium base, has developed a beautiful beige patina, warm and even, without the slightest loss.
The 36 × 42 mm case is the strength of this piece. Oysterquartz cases are very sensitive to polishing, which rounds off their chamfers and blurs the boundaries between satin-finished and mirror-polished surfaces; that is not the case here. The edges of the case middle are sharp, the wide polished chamfers are crisp, the fluted bezel is intact, and the hallmarks – “18K”, Helvetia head and “750” – remain perfectly legible on the underside of the lugs, alongside the “REGISTERED DESIGN” marking. The integrated President Oysterquartz bracelet, with screwed links and hidden clasp, shares the same crispness of chamfers; particularly long, it shows no bothersome stretch. Caliber 5055 has been fully checked and cleaned by our watchmakers, its battery replaced with a new one, and it runs perfectly. The watch comes with our Steel Warranty Card.
The Day-Date Oysterquartz is not everyone’s Day-Date. The same gold, the same President bracelet, the same prestige, but a design the trained eye recognises from afar and a movement Rolex has never reproduced since – designed to vary by less than a minute a year, always ready, with no winding or resetting. Nearly fifty years after its launch, this design is now returning to the forefront of the Rolex catalogue, and fine period examples are becoming rare. This one, with its sharp edges and impeccable dial, is undoubtedly one of them. For the integrated-bracelet enthusiast as for the Rolex collector seeking something different, it is in our view one of the most interesting yellow gold Day-Date models to acquire today, as pleasant to wear as to collect.
