Why We Love it

The Oyster Perpetuals remain some of Rolex's best-loved timepieces, most warn, and most accessible watches.

Elegant and understated this particular example in steel features a warm, gold toned dial, and something extra that is not immediately visible to the eye.

Two words: Quickset Date. 

The amount of ease and function that the ref. 15000 brings is evident to anyone who has ever set a 'non-quick' watch. And In a time when more and more brands are moving toward or, in most cases returning to smaller case sizes, the Oyster Perpetual Date shines like a sensible beacon; at 34mm and a smooth bezel, the OPD is the classic that never felt the need to be anything other than itself. 

With its tidy proportions, the OPD challenges its Maxi-Cased Rolex brethren, offering an incredible bang for the buck. 

The Story

Rolex first patented the Oyster case in 1925, but the quest for a waterproof and dust-proof case began shortly before the First World War. The cases of the Great War and the early 1920s came in two or three pieces with an inner case that shielded the movement (then a manual-wind movement) from the wet, dusty conditions of the battlefield. The Oyster case of 1925 represented the culmination of ten years of development. It gained notoriety in 1927, when Mercedes Gleitze became the first British woman to swim across the English Channel, wearing - you guessed it - a Rolex. A series of advertisements followed, featuring smiling flappers holding their Rolexes in fishtanks.

As with the Oyster case, the Perpetual movement saw many iterations before finally being perfected in the 1930s. Rolex's first automatic movement quietly debuted in 1931, without the fanfare that followed the introduction of the Oyster case. The movement was met with some consternation from purists who decried the "extreme novelty" of a self-winding watch.

Nevertheless, Rolex could see that they had struck gold with the Perpetual movement. They continued to develop and improve it over the years, establishing a line of watches that would stand as an alternative to Rolex's sportier models.