Day-Date “5 Minute Track”

Within the range of 36mm vintage watches we feel that the 1803 Day-Date is one of the most beautiful vintage Rolex watches around – Together with the 36mm vintage Datejust, the Day-date is one of our absolute favorites. The dial on this particular 1803 is best known as a “5 minute track” dial, referring to the five minute indications at the end of each hour-marker on the outer edge of the pie-pan dial. You see, normally theses printed 5 minute numerals aren’t shown with ‘ordinary’ Day-Date dials (if there even is such a thing as an ordinary Day-Date) and this style of dial doesn’t come along all the time, making these pretty collectible and rare nowadays. The colour on the dial is best described as matte gold, and even though the dial shows a light sunburst finish, to the naked eye the dial is more matte with a slight yellow tone, lighter then that warm vintage 18k yellow gold anyway, which almost shows a pinkish glow compared to the yellow dial.

The sharp Baton indices representing the hours, feature a raised, black lacquered line running down the middle of the marker. Those black lines aren’t immediately noticeable  untill you hold the watch in an angle, then it all makes sense. Those black lines increase visibility once the watch is on your wrist, its not loud but when you look down to check the time, all hours are clearly visible and its easy to read the correct time all due to those little black lines – A fine piece of Rolex engineering and design. The Day-wheel features the days of the week in English of course, while the Date wheel has the so-called open 6 and 9 numerals, both show that beautiful serif font us vintage watch collectors appreciate so much. The 18K yellow gold center-case is super thick and shows very strong lines on all sides, thankfully this Day-Date hasn’t seen much polishing during the last 46 years of its existence. All golden hallmarks are clearly present on the backside of the lugs and this Day-Date “5 minute track” still shows a sharp, 18k yellow golden fluted bezel.

We fitted this gorgeous Day-Date to our Muddy Clay Grained leather watch strap, but will also add a beautiful navy blue alligator strap with Rolex buckle. This Day-Date it’s 1556 movement was once again fully serviced according to the Rolex specs and the watch will be sold with our 24 month warranty.

reference: 1803
case number: 42XXXXX
year of production: 1976
case diameter: 36mm
movement: automatic, day and date, Rolex caliber 1556
box and papers: no

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