1984 Rolex Datejust 16030 Silver Tritium Dial Engine Turned
Ref: 16030

Points of Mention

This watch is sold “Watch Only" and therefore has no Rolex box or papers. The watch comes paired with a 20mm leather vintage-style strap with a reproduction Rolex buckle. The watch is from Circa. 1984 and is in worn, vintage condition as you can see from the photos. Overall, however, the watch is in very good condition for its age and the Service hands are infilled with LumiNova. The watch comes with our 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty.

The Watch

Rolex first introduced the Datejust in 1945 to commemorate the company’s 40th anniversary, the Rolex Datejust first made its appearance as the reference 4467, and upon its initial release, it was only available in solid 18k yellow gold. It wasn’t until the 1950s, with the introduction of the reference 5030 and reference 5031 Datejust, that stainless steel and Rolesor (two-tone) versions became available, and the “Datejust” name started to appear on the dial. Here we have a 1984 Rolex Datejust 16030 Silver Tritium Dial Engine Turned, a curvaceous 36mm Oyster stainless steel case, with a lug-to-lug length of 44mm and a case thickness of 12.5mm that elegantly fits your wrist with finely tapered lugs. On the right side, is a signed screw-down crown, and polished and brushed surfaces transition with crisp lines. An engine-turned stainless steel bezel holds a bevel-edged flat plexiglass crystal. The striking sunburst silver dial has an outer minute track with Tritium lume pips, applied baton indexes mark the hours, at 3 o’clock a framed date window with a cyclops magnification on the crystal, making the date easily read, slim steel baton Service hands have LumiNova lume infill along with a tapered sweeping seconds hand, an applied Rolex crown sits at 12 o’clock with “Oyster Perpetual DateJust”, at 6 o’clock “Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified”. On the reverse, a coin edge screw-down case back, inside an automatic Rolex Cal. 3035, 27 jewels, 28,800 beats per hour. The watch comes fitted on a 20mm vintage-style leather strap with a reproduction Rolex buckle.

Personal Note

The Brand

In 1905, German-born Hans Wilsdorf and his brother-in-law Alfred Davis set up a company in London that imported Swiss movements which are installed in British cases and sold to jewellers who put their names on the dials. Recognising the potential for their brand, Wilsdorf created the brand name Rolex in 1908. In 1910, a Rolex became the first wristwatch to carry the Swiss Certificate of Chronometric Precision, awarded by the Official Watch Rating Centre in Bienne, Switzerland. Demand for Rolex watches rose swiftly, and British taxes on the Swiss movements Rolex used prompted Wilsdorf to move the business to Geneva, Switzerland, in 1919. With production costs lowered, Wilsdorf quickly set out to solve the age-old problem of moisture and dust entering a watch case and damaging the movement. The Rolex watchmakers came up with a fully sealed watch case, which Wilsdorf named the Oyster, and released to an appreciative audience in 1926. In 1931, Rolex introduced the first automatic winding wristwatch, giving it the legendary name Oyster Perpetual. In 1945, they released the Datejust. The Datejust was the first watch to have the date jump instantaneously at midnight. The 1950s saw a whole lot of releases such as the Air-King (1958), the Explorer (1953), the Submariner (1953), the GMT Master (1955), the Day-Date (1956), the electromagnetic field resistant Milgauss (1956), the Lady-Datejust (1957) and the first Deep Sea model (1960). Wilsdorf’s death in 1960, saw ownership of Rolex S.A. (a collection of sub-companies) passed to the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation which was founded by Wilsdorf in 1945, the mission of which is simply to sustain Rolex S.A. indefinitely.