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Lot Essay
One of the most stunning Day-Date “stella” dial watches ever to be offered at auction, the lacquer dial of the present watch is of the most vivid shade of yellow that can be imagined comparable to Chinese “Imperial Yellow”.
Yellow is considered the most beautiful, prestigious and highly prized colour amongst stella dials of which no two are exactly the same shade. Made in the late 1970s and early 1980s in very small numbers, the dials were lacquered with colours that were mixed by hand and then applied layer after layer until a deep rich gloss coating had built up.
In China, yellow was the Emperor’s colour and the Chinese saying, Yellow generates Yin and Yang, implies that yellow is the center of everything.
When first produced, the Day-Date models with stella dials were not a commercial success and interestingly this is underlined by the present watch which was made in 1979 but not sold until nearly a decade later in 1988. In common with several Rolex models that did not enjoy immediate success, the stella dial watches are now amongst the rarest and most desirable of all.
Yellow is considered the most beautiful, prestigious and highly prized colour amongst stella dials of which no two are exactly the same shade. Made in the late 1970s and early 1980s in very small numbers, the dials were lacquered with colours that were mixed by hand and then applied layer after layer until a deep rich gloss coating had built up.
In China, yellow was the Emperor’s colour and the Chinese saying, Yellow generates Yin and Yang, implies that yellow is the center of everything.
When first produced, the Day-Date models with stella dials were not a commercial success and interestingly this is underlined by the present watch which was made in 1979 but not sold until nearly a decade later in 1988. In common with several Rolex models that did not enjoy immediate success, the stella dial watches are now amongst the rarest and most desirable of all.