The first automatic chronometer with date

The need

An everyday watch that showed the date at a glance and could be trusted to keep time.

Made by

Rolex, for its fortieth anniversary. Reference 4467.

What was new

Not the date window itself but the combination: the sealed Oyster case, the self-winding rotor, a certified chronometer rate and a date at three o’clock, in one watch.

Worth knowing

It came on a new bracelet later named the Jubilee. The date moved over slowly around midnight; the instant change arrived about ten years later. The model has been in production ever since.

Historian’s noteNot the first wristwatch with a date: Movado showed one around 1915 and a date window at three was in use by the early 1930s.

SourcesRolex