Rolex lady datejust 6917 26mm 1973

• rolesor
• circa 1973
• automatic winding
• Leather bracelet with stainless steel clasp (non-original)

The Datejust is the great workhorse of the Rolex catalogue, introduced in 1945 as the world's first self-winding wristwatch to display the date in a window on the dial, and never once putting a foot wrong in the eight decades since. It rises to every occasion without effort, as at home on a formal dinner table as it is on an ordinary Tuesday morning. The Lady-Datejust brought that same precision and build quality to a 26mm format that perfectly suited the era's sensibility for proportioned, elegant wristwear.

This 1973 example sits at the very opening chapter of the ref. 6917's production run, and features the plexiglass crystal that gives watches of this generation their unmistakably warm, vintage character, a quality that its sapphire-crystal successors simply cannot replicate. Inside, the calibre 2030 automatic keeps time with the quiet dependability that defines the best of Rolex's output from this period.

Presented on a leather strap, a pairing that softens the watch's presence on the wrist and lends it an almost jewellery-like quality.