So, the inaugural Rolex Oyster Perpetual watch from 1931 was not only the company’s first automatic watch but the Rolex patented invention of the self-winding mechanism with replica rolex pearlmaster watches a free rotor also laid the groundwork for how most modern self-winding watches are made.
The first self-winding Rolex caliber powering the Oyster Perpetual was the Caliber 620. Looking at the dial of the original Oyster Perpetual, you’ll notice the running seconds subdial at 6 o’clock rather than a center sweep seconds hand. Another striking design component on the dial is the mix of Arabic numerals (3, 9, and 12 o’clock) with stick indexes. This certainly reminds us of the now-iconic Explorer-style dial, which will show up in Rolex’s catalog years later. Finally, replica rolex watches note the lack of the Rolex coronet on the dial. This famous Rolex crown would start appearing on the face of the watches in the following years.
Housing the dial is a yellow gold case, measuring approximately 32mm in diameter—a standard size for men’s watches during that era. The bezel is smooth and the winding crown sits on the case without any crown guards.
It’s hard to believe, but the Oyster Perpetual is now over 85 years old. As you can imagine, the Oyster Perpetual underwent plenty of changes over the last eight decades including new materials, new movements, new sizes, new bracelets, new crystal materials, new dial styles, and so on. However, the Oyster Perpetual’s two fundamental elements have remained—a self-winding “perpetual” movement and a water-resistant “Oyster” case.