Rolex Datejust Ref. 4467 - 'Ovettone' w/ 'Roulette' Date

Hard to believe - but the Datejust has been around since 1945. It is far older than its bigger and attention-hogging Submariner brethren. The Datejust was Rolex’s idea of the perfect everyday watch. The robustness of the Oyster case, combined with the elegance of an Oyster Perpetual. The ‘4 digit’ series of Datejust are particularly attractive for their pie-pan dials which offer a layer of three-dimensionality to the dials that went away with the advent of quickset date and 5-digit Datejusts. 

While the 16xx series of Datejusts are plentiful, coming across the earlier references is actually uncommon, as Rolex simply was not making as many watches in the 40s and 50s as they later would. So its a special day when we are able to find not only an early Datejust, but one in the condition like the piece that we have here....

This is a Reference 4467, and despite being from the late 1940s, this piece has many of the characteristic, and yes, iconic, features that the Datejusts of today still have, but with some subtle differences that are unique to Rolexes from this era: The bezel is more finely 'fluted' (known as a 'coin-edge' bezel). The 'roulette' date disk has alternating red and black numerals. The indices themselves are of the 'dart' style. The hands are of the 'alpha'-style. And last but not least, the case itself has a few minor differences, namely the caseback carrying over some of the 'bubble-back' shape of even older Rolex models.

This particular example dates to circa 1947 and happens to be in fantastic overall condition. The case shows signs of having been very lightly refurbished previously, remaining thick and symmetrical and showing just light signs of wear throughout. The correct 'coin-edge' is also in matching condition. The dial inside is remarkably well preserved. Cream in color, it shows only light signs of aging and has lovely applied 'dart' indices. The luminous plots remain fully-intact and match the correct 'alpha' handset beautifully.

Even the crown on this example is correct for the period, with both the Brevet 'cross' and Rolex Coronet signatures.

But theres more!

This example comes fitted to its wildly rare and correct gold Jubilee bracelet.

We cannot overstate how special and hard to come by these are, and we are honored to be able to offer this piece on the site.