ROLEX LADY

Flipping through certain Rolex advertisements of the early 1930s, one notices the words “For men and women” printed next to the descriptions of the watches, proving that even from the very beginning the Swiss company has always had an interest in female wrists. Indeed, the brand’s first official celebrity endorsement was a woman, the swimmer Mercedes Gleitze, who proved that the Oyster case was waterproof.
In the 1920s and 1930s the woman’s collection comprised of a sort of “watch-jewel” hybrid, sinuous, elegant and made with precious and exclusive materials. A Rolex catalogue published in 1946 shows several models, presented as part of the “Jubilee collection”, entirely in gold. Sometimes the dial of these watches (references 4407, 4394, 4336, 3771, 4484, 4473) is hidden by jewels so as to give the timepiece a bracelet/jewel alternative. When the dial and the case are clearly visible they take on either a round (ref. 4374, 4491) or a square shape (ref. 4495, 4496); the bracelets are particularly dainty with delicate and intricate workings or they are replaced with thin straps in leather only (ref. 439, 4401) or with gold inserts (ref. 4381, 4211).

The first Oyster Perpetual for ladies didn’t appear on the market until 1941 with the reference 420, subsidiary seconds and a 7 – ¾” ” covered movement.
The tendency to make woman’s watches very similar to jewellery, using predominantly more gold and diamonds, continued until very recently. The absence of woman’s professional and sport watches in official catalogues is confirmation of this; the only exception being the Yacht-Master, made for the first time 1994 with reference 69628 and available only in an 18kt yellow gold version with bidirectional rotating bezel.

Oyster Lady watches are made in three different case diameters : 24, 26 and 29 mm. The first two are of steel, steel/gold and gold (with or without precious stones) whilst the 29mm version are made only in white or yellow gold with precious stones.
There are also several luxury versions with ruby, sapphire or emerald encrusted bezel and bracelet. The type of bracelet used for this collection, named “Second Oyster” by experts, is characterised by the absence of gleaning, softness and elegance mixed with simplicity of design. Due to its very specific measurements this bracelet only fits models with a 29mm case. The other two models (24 and 26mm) are distinguished  instead by their very particular bezels: one with very fine grooving with embossed indices on the Lady Perpetual reference 67230. Another exclusive bezel is that of the model reference 67234 and recalls in its aesthetics the historic Zephyr collection.
No Oyster watch with a 24mm case bears a date aperture and they resemble jewellery less than the version with a 26mm case, to the point of being considered a more casual lady’s watch.
Rolex Lady models, past and present, can be organised thus:
-24mm, no date aperture or chronometer certificate
-24mm, no date aperture, with chronometer certificate (Superlative Chronometer)
-Lady-Date 26mm, date aperture and chronometer certificate
-Lady-Datejust 29mm, date aperture, chronometer certificate and Oyster Second bracelet
-Lady-Datejust  Pearlmaster 29mm, date aperture and chronometer certificate

All these models have a screw-down crown and back plate, sapphire crystal, a 2130 (2135 date aperture) automatic movement and a Microstella balance wheel.
The latest women’s model was presented at the Baselworld tradefair in 2008, the Datejust Special Edition 34mm made only with 18kt yellow and white gold, with arabesque dial and bracelet and diamond encrusted bezel.
Most likely, the production of this model is the result of a recent trend for women to wear watches slightly larger than the feminine standard, as testified by Sharon Stone, who has been photographed many times wearing a Rolex Submariner Date.
The following are some references:
For Rolex Datejust Lady 26mm see the Rolex Datejust section.

Steel	Steel and gold	Gold
Gold bezel	Sapphire crystal
The colour yellow represents gold in all its variants: Rose, White and Yellow. For more information contact our experts: drg@dellaroccagioielli.com