Description

This vintage Rolex ladies’ cocktail watch in 18k white gold features a square case with a circular chapter ring bearing Roman numerals set within it, a design that creates a watch-within-a-watch composition of quietly extraordinary elegance. The pale blue inner dial with the Rolex crown signature sits within the white Roman numeral ring, which itself sits within the polished square white gold case. The watch is presented on its original fine white gold mesh bracelet, with “750” stamped on the clasp confirming 18k gold throughout. The movement runs well. This is the Rolex cocktail watch at its most refined: tiny, jewellery-like, and conceived for a wrist that expects something rather less expected.

Square Rolex – A Largely Forgotten Chapter

Today, every Rolex in production has a round case. That has not always been the case. For approximately fifty years, from the 1920s through to the late 1970s, Rolex produced a sustained and varied programme of square and rectangular dress watches alongside its round models, and these pieces represent some of the most interesting and visually distinctive objects the maison ever made.

The square ladies’ Rolex cocktail watches of the 1960s are among the most appealing products of this programme. Produced in small numbers for a clientele that required something more jewellery-like than the standard Oyster family, they combined compact Rolex manual-wind movements with cases designed and finished to high jewellery standards, square polished gold cases, fine integrated mesh bracelets, and dial configurations of considerable elegance. The reference most consistent with this example is the pre-Cellini ref. 3643, produced through the 1960s and later continued as the Cellini ref. 3811 from 1968 is specifically described as a small ladies’ model often found on a mesh bracelet, and it is among the rarest square Rolex references known.

The caseback of this watch carries the markings of Rolex’s Geneva production in this period: “Records / Universelle / Genève / Suisse” with dual 750 hallmarks confirming solid 18k gold construction of both the case and the bracelet clasp. This is not gold-plated or filled. It is solid 18k white gold throughout — the case, the chapter ring surround, and the bracelet, with all hallmarks crisp and legible.

The Dial – A Circle Within a Square

The dial composition of this watch is its most immediately striking feature. The square case provides the outer frame; within it sits a polished ring bearing Roman numerals at the cardinal positions and small indices at the intermediate hours. Within that ring sits a pale blue circular dial, smaller still, signed with the Rolex crown and “Rolex” in the centre. The composition creates a series of concentric geometric frames, square and circular, that draws the eye inward through layers of white gold and blue toward the signature at the centre.

The pale blue of the inner dial is a colour choice that was fashionable in the finest Swiss ladies’ watches of the 1960s, warmer than pure white, cooler than cream, and possessed of a quiet luminosity that changes with the angle of light. The Rolex crown at the centre is applied and crisp. The white hands are original and undamaged.

Specifications

Brand: Rolex

Model: Ladies Square Cocktail Watch

Reference: ref. 3643

Year: circa 1960s

Case material: White gold-tone (18k white gold, 750 hallmarks confirmed)

Case shape: Square

Case diameter: approx. 20-23 mm

Bezel: Polished white gold square case with integrated circular chapter ring

Dial: Pale blue circular inner dial with applied Rolex crown, white Roman numeral chapter ring

Hands: White gold hands

Bracelet: Original 18k white gold fine mesh bracelet with 750-stamped clasp

Movement: Manual winding, running well

Condition: Excellent condition with minimal wear; case and bracelet clean throughout

Accessories: Watch and bracelet only (no box or papers)

Warranty: 1 year warranty

Availability

This vintage day-date automatic watch is available through Vintage Times Amsterdam.

For further information or high-resolution images, please feel free to contact:

Vintage Times

Vintage Times Amsterdam is a small watch boutique who mainly deals online and with a select group of private collectors. We are constantly looking for rare vintage timepieces and try to present the best condition available. Please don’t hesitate to get in contact for more information about this watch or other timepieces from our collection. We ship worldwide and also welcome you for a visit at our office in Amsterdam.

Vintage Times

email: [email protected]

tel / app: +31 6 4 1111 044