1803 ‘Havana’ Day-Date

The Rolex Day-Date with reference 1803 as seen here was manufactured in 1976 and comes directly from the family of the first owner and is an original Spanish delivered watch. The watch was worn for over 40 years on the South Spanish costa and remains is excellent conditions with a strong case, original 53 President bracelet (with little stretch) and the original dial still present inside the watch. Today this dial is better known as a Havana dial.

This light brown, almost taupe-ish colored ‘Havana’ dial, also has some ‘Ghost’ characteristics to it. The soft, white printed text on the dial (which in most of the cases is printed in all black) almost seems to disappear when the watch is viewed from certain angles, giving off the most amazing appearance. This effect is better known to collectors as the Ghost effect aka Ghost dial. The dial is adorned with 18k yellow gold, Baton indices with hands manufactured from that same precious metal. One of the other crazy features on this dial must be the way the Tritium dots effected the varnish (the clear coat) of the dial, creating a lighter coloured ‘orb’ around the Tritium which seems to glow due to the difference in color, giving off a cool contrast. The effect from this cause is sometimes referred to as fried eggs and certainly looks like it too. The overall case is in a very good condition with a fat center-case and four very strong lugs, it’s obvious this gold day-date hasn’t seen much polishing! The entire watch, including the President bracelet radiate a warmer glow of the yellow gold, all thanks to the way 18k gold was composed back in the day. The slightly larger amounts of copper used to manufacture 18k yellow gold back then, gives these vintage Day-dates a wonderful, slightly darker glow – sometimes even reddish, which really adds to this watch its beauty and overall vintage appearance. The watch is worn on its original 53 numbered Presidential bracelet which closes around your wrist using the classic Oyster clasp (very easy to adjust to any wrist). The bracelet remains in a very good condition and counts 20 links excluding the Oyster clasp. (she will fit any wrist up to ca 21cm circumference).

The 1556 movement was fully serviced by our watchmakers according the Rolex factory specifications, and this 1803 ‘Havana’ Day-Date will be delivered with our 24 month warranty, including the watch’s original leather Rolex buckle box, our WWH service rapport and parts replaced during the movement service

reference: 1803
case number: 4XXXX
year of production: 1976
case diameter: 36mm
movement: automatic, Rolex caliber
box and papers: accompanied by original Day-Date box

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