The Rolex Oysterquartz was a quartz watch made by

Rolex Rolex SA () is a British-founded Swiss watch designer and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex'' as the brand name of ...

. Unusually, its movement features a mechanical

lever escapement The lever escapement, invented by the English clockmaker Thomas Mudge in 1754 (albeit first used in 1769), is a type of escapement that is used in almost all mechanical watches, as well as small mechanical non-pendulum clocks, alarm clocks, an ...

driven by a simple permanent magnet moving coil motor mechanically similar to a d'Arsonval

galvanometer A galvanometer is an electromechanical measuring instrument for electric current. Early galvanometers were uncalibrated, but improved versions, called ammeters, were calibrated and could measure the flow of current more precisely. A galvan ...

History

At the end of the 1970s, the Swiss watch industry was affected by the quartz crisis. Japanese watchmakers supplied the world market with large quantities of quartz watches. Rolex duly put forward a new line of watches, producing the Datejust Oysterquartz. It faced the

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

n, markets seeking to keep alive interest in Swiss watchmaking, an industry that seemed dominated by the Japanese quartz watch. The Datejust Oysterquartz dates to the beginning of the 1970s. The design differs greatly from the classic Rolex line and carved characteristics of the period: a completely angular case, an integrated band with a polished finish and

sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sa ...

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling ( quenching ...

. The whole range consisted of three versions:

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

, steel with white gold bezel, and steel and yellow gold. The Datejust Oysterquartz was initially overlooked in

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; however, it was much sought-after on the Asian and American markets. There was renewed interest in the watch once Rolex decided to take the Oysterquartz out of production. The era of the Rolex quartz watch ended in 2001, after less than 30 years. The Rolex Datejust Oysterquartz began to appear in

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

catalogues, becoming a valued collectors’ object.

Model numbers

Model numbers of the Rolex Oysterquartz include: *17000 Oysterquartz Datejust, stainless steel case and polished bezel, stainless steel integral Oyster bracelet. Price: $3,025 *17013 Oysterquartz Datejust, stainless steel case, 18K yellow gold fluted bezel, stainless steel/18K yellow gold integral Jubilee bracelet. Price: $5,050 *17014 Oysterquartz Datejust, stainless steel case, 18K white gold fluted bezel, stainless steel integral Jubilee bracelet. Price: $3,575 *19018 Oysterquartz Day-Date, 18K yellow gold case and fluted bezel, 18K yellow gold integral President bracelet with hidden clasp. Price: $16,500 *19019 Oysterquartz Day-Date, 18K white gold case and fluted bezel, 18K white gold integral President bracelet with hidden clasp. Price: $18,200 *19028 Oysterquartz Day-Date, 18K yellow gold case and Pyramid bezel, 18K yellow gold integral Pyramid bracelet with hidden clasp. Price: $18,500 *19038 Oysterquartz Day-Date, 18K yellow gold case and Pyramid bezel with 12 brilliants, 18K yellow gold integral Pyramid bracelet with hidden clasp. Price: $21,250 *19048 Oysterquartz Day-Date, 18K yellow gold case and bezel, with bezel set with 44 brilliants, dial set with 8 brilliants and 2 baguettes, 18K yellow gold integral President bracelet with hidden clasp. Price: $25,550 *19049 Oysterquartz Day-Date, 18K white gold case and bezel, with bezel set with 44 brilliants, dial set with 8 brilliants and 2 baguettes, 18K white gold integral President bracelet with hidden clasp. Price: $27,250 *19068 Oysterquartz Day-Date, 18K yellow gold case and bezel, with bezel set with 44 brilliants, dial set with 8 brilliants and 2 baguettes, 18K yellow gold integral Pyramid bracelet with hidden clasp. Price: $27,500 *19148 Oysterquartz Day-Date, 18K yellow gold case set with 8 brilliants, 18K yellow gold bezel set with 44 brilliants, dial set with 8 brilliants and 2 baguettes, 18K yellow gold integral Karat bracelet with hidden clasp set with 308 brilliants. Price: $60,000

External links

unofficial page for Oysterquartz oysterquartz.watch

unofficial page for Oysterquartz

Oysterquartz enthusiast account on Instagram

unofficial page for Rolex Oyster Perpetual
Rolex watches Products and services discontinued in 2001