Unpolished 1990 Rolex Cellini 18ct Gold 5112/8 Box & Papers
Ref: 5112/8
Specification
Lugs : 18mm
Condition :Â Pre-Owned
Box & Papers : Box & Papers
Case Material : 18ct Yellow Gold
Warranty : 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty
Points of Mention
This watch is sold with its original Rolex box and paperwork including receipts. The watch comes paired with its original Rolex 18mm leather strap with a Rolex 18ct yellow Gold buckle. The watch is from August 1990 and is sold in worn condition with light wear visible, and the case is unpolished. The watch comes with our 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty.
For more photos see here - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1JD2J3cGk1X_E2e8bcQlFQQgoG4NgcDoF?usp=drive_link
4K YouTube video, skip to 5:13Â -Â https://youtu.be/85lHa_TUQMM
The Watch
Here we have an unpolished 1990 Rolex Cellini 18ct Gold 5112/8 Box & Papers with a curvaceous 32mm 18ct Yellow Gold case that gently curves over your wrist thanks to the straight-angled hallmarked lugs. The Cellini range is named after the Italian goldsmith and sculptor, Benvenuto Cellini and is inspired by their dress watches of the 1950s. A lug-to-lug length of 38mm and a case thickness of just 5.5mm ensures a comfortable fit, and on the right side is a signed crown. A smooth bezel holds a flat sapphire crystal above a gold-toned sunburst dial. Applied 18ct Yellow Gold Arabic numeral indices mark the hours, elegant 18ct Yellow Gold stick hands sit majestically in the centre, at 12 o’clock we have the Rolex coronet and at 6 o’clock Cellini in a flowing script completes this sophisticated dress watch. On the reverse, a snap-off case back, hallmarked, inside a manually wound Rolex Cal. 1601, 19/20 jewels, beating at 19,800 beats per hour. The watch comes paired with its original Rolex 18mm leather strap and an 18ct Yellow Gold pin buckle, and the watch comes with its Rolex presentation box and paperwork including receipts.
Personal Note
This era of Rolex Cellini is when Rolex got it right in my opinion, this reference 5112/8 is beautifully simple and elegant on the wrist at 32mm, ultra-thin at only 5.5mm with a manually wound calibre, it ticks all the boxes for a classic dress watch. I would love to see Rolex bring back some of the more simple designs like this at smaller case sizes, but I still believe these older references will be superior on the wrist. Don't hesitate to add this unpolished example to your collection, paired on its original strap with original buckle and accompanied by its box, paperwork and receipt, a better example will be hard to find!
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 were 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 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.