REVOLUTION_International_Vol 54

STELLA BY STARLIGHT
I remember a Rolex Passion Meeting
in Maastricht many years ago. As is
the custom at such events, there was
a centerpiece table that was used as a
show-and-tell platform upon which
collectors set out their treasures. There
were the usual line-ups of MilSubs,
Comex, Newmans and Submariners
of every vintage from 1950s Big
Crowns to 1970s Maxi dials. It was the
era of the explosion in international
interest in vintage Rolex, which was
almost entirely focused on steel sports
watches. And then somebody opened a
watch roll of Stella-dialed Day-Dates
and so the bar was set for precious
metal Rolex; a sector that steadily
grows even until today.
The Stella dials were introduced in the 1800 plexi-glass
series Day-Dates and Rolex continued using them well
into the sapphire-era 18000 series watches of the 1980s.
The dials were available in a kaleidoscope of bright colors.
At the time this was a bold move for Rolex, who were seen
as conservative in many ways. The rich colored dials were
created by building up layers of laquer to give a high-gloss
finish. In the early days of internet 1.0, people would often
refer to these dials as enamel or porcelain, but they were
neither. There are so many different colors made, often the
same color but in different shades. Take green for example.
There were three shades — ‘Forest’, ‘Peppermint’ and
‘Seafoam’. Stella dials were made with both applied baton
markers and the classic “eight plus two” diamond set
hours. Which is the most rare is a matter of opinion, but
there is no argument that they are all beautiful dials.
STONE AGE
One of the most challenging manufacturing
processes for watch brands is the production of
stone dials. Working with stone is difficult as it
is incredibly hard and the resulting finished piece
is very thin. This leads to a large failure rate with the
brittle stone slivers being very prone to cracking. One of
the appealing aspects of stone dials, however, is the unique
nature of each one. I spoke about this in the last installment
of this series regarding the Daytona. The Day-Date used
considerably more types of stone for its dials and I’m not
sure anybody, other than Rolex, could compile a thoroughly
exhaustive list of all the stones used in the Day-Date.
However, what follows is about as close as it is possible to
get with full access to the Rolex archive.
This page
ADay-Date
1803 Stella Dial
monikered the
“Incredible Hulk”,
usinggreenlacquer
that was applied
layer upon layer
to give it that
glossy finish.
The 1803
“Doraemon”
Stella dial was
named for the
Japanese cartoon
character which
was highly popular
during the era.
Opposite
The 1803
“Firefighter” Stella
dial. The vermillion
tone of the dial
reminds one of the
bakelite material
that was a common
use in homewares.
152 VINTAGE