Reference:padellone: Difference between revisions

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By the late 1940s Rolex had assembled the pieces of the modern Oyster Perpetual — a waterproof case, automatic winding, chronometer certification, a date window — without yet combining them into a genuine high complication. The 8171 and 6062 were the answer, introduced within a year of each other and produced concurrently through 1953. Both share the same complication layout: day and month in twin apertures at 12, moonphase at 6 on a blue champlevé enamel disc, and date on a peripheral chapter ring read by a central pointer. Both were produced in 18K yellow gold, 18K pink gold, and stainless steel. Neither founded a lasting line — Rolex replaced both with the simpler Day-Date in 1956, dropping the month display and moonphase entirely, and did not put a moonphase back into a production wristwatch until the Cellini Moonphase in 2017.

The two references are not, however, mechanically identical. The 8171 is the dress watch: 38mm, snap-on caseback, no water resistance, running caliber A.295 CPL — the same movement platform used in the 4467 Big Bubbleback ("Ovettone"), fitted with a complete-calendar-and-moonphase module. The 6062 is the Oyster: 36mm, screw-down caseback and crown, waterproof, running caliber 655, a "Super-Balance" movement Rolex built specifically for the model. ~~Auction-house lot cataloguing for the 6062 —~~ Christie's and Sotheby's lot descriptions and Hodinkee's dedicated in-depth piece all independently name caliber 655 ~~— is~~ the better-evidenced reading against a Phillips collectors' guide that describes the pair as sharing "the same self-winding caliber." Case, water resistance, and movement are what separate them; the complication and the era are what unite them.

The two references are not, however, mechanically identical. The 8171 is the dress watch: 38mm, snap-on caseback, no water resistance, running caliber A.295 CPL, the same movement platform used in the 4467 Big Bubbleback ("Ovettone") fitted with a complete-calendar-and-moonphase module. The 6062 is the Oyster: 36mm, screw-down caseback and crown, waterproof, running caliber 655, a "Super-Balance" movement Rolex built specifically for the model. Christie's and Sotheby's lot descriptions and Hodinkee's dedicated in-depth piece all independently name caliber 655 for the 6062, the better-evidenced reading against a Phillips collectors' guide that describes the pair as sharing "the same self-winding caliber." Case, water resistance, and movement are what separate them; the complication and the era are what unite them.

== Why the names differ ==

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== Auction standing ==

The 6062 is, by a wide margin, the more valuable of the two at auction. A black-dial, diamond-marker 6062 known as the "Bao Dai" — commissioned in 1954 by Vietnam's last emperor during a visit to Rolex in Geneva — has twice held the record for the most expensive Rolex ever sold: CHF 370,000 in 2002, then CHF 5,066,000 in May 2017. In October 2025, a second black-diamond-dial 6062 broke the reference's own record, selling for USD 6.2 million at Monaco Legend Group's Exclusive Timepieces auction in Monte Carlo — the third-highest price ever paid for a Rolex at auction~~, per Forbes~~, and independently previewed ahead of the sale ~~by Hodinkee~~. The 8171's own record sits far below that tier: Christie's December 2013 "Sleeping Beauty," a stainless steel example with diamond-set numerals, sold for USD 1,145,000, and Phillips' 2019 Geneva pair set the reference's yellow gold (CHF 980,000) and steel (CHF 1,028,000) benchmarks. Both references reward condition and dial originality over any specific configuration; see each reference's own Auction record section for the fuller picture.

The 6062 is, by a wide margin, the more valuable of the two at auction. A black-dial, diamond-marker 6062 known as the "Bao Dai," commissioned in 1954 by Vietnam's last emperor during a visit to Rolex in Geneva, has twice held the record for the most expensive Rolex ever sold: CHF 370,000 in 2002, then CHF 5,066,000 in May 2017. In October 2025, a second black-diamond-dial 6062 broke the reference's own record, selling for USD 6.2 million at Monaco Legend Group's Exclusive Timepieces auction in Monte Carlo. Per Forbes, that is the third-highest price ever paid for a Rolex at auction, and Hodinkee independently previewed the lot ahead of the sale. The 8171's own record sits far below that tier: Christie's December 2013 "Sleeping Beauty," a stainless steel example with diamond-set numerals, sold for USD 1,145,000, and Phillips' 2019 Geneva pair set the reference's yellow gold (CHF 980,000) and steel (CHF 1,028,000) benchmarks. Both references reward condition and dial originality over any specific configuration; see each reference's own Auction record section for the fuller picture.

== Renewed attention: the 2026 Perpetual Padellone ==

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 By the late 1940s Rolex had assembled the pieces of the modern Oyster Perpetual — a waterproof case, automatic winding, chronometer certification, a date window — without yet combining them into a genuine high complication. The 8171 and 6062 were the answer, introduced within a year of each other and produced concurrently through 1953. Both share the same complication layout: day and month in twin apertures at 12, moonphase at 6 on a blue champlevé enamel disc, and date on a peripheral chapter ring read by a central pointer. Both were produced in 18K yellow gold, 18K pink gold, and stainless steel. Neither founded a lasting line — Rolex replaced both with the simpler Day-Date in 1956, dropping the month display and moonphase entirely, and did not put a moonphase back into a production wristwatch until the Cellini Moonphase in 2017.
-The two references are not, however, mechanically identical. The 8171 is the dress watch: 38mm, snap-on caseback, no water resistance, running caliber A.295 CPL — the same movement platform used in the 4467 Big Bubbleback ("Ovettone"), fitted with a complete-calendar-and-moonphase module. The 6062 is the Oyster: 36mm, screw-down caseback and crown, waterproof, running caliber 655, a "Super-Balance" movement Rolex built specifically for the model. Auction-house lot cataloguing for the 6062 — Christie's and Sotheby's lot descriptions and Hodinkee's dedicated in-depth piece all independently name caliber 655 — is the better-evidenced reading against a Phillips collectors' guide that describes the pair as sharing "the same self-winding caliber." Case, water resistance, and movement are what separate them; the complication and the era are what unite them.
+The two references are not, however, mechanically identical. The 8171 is the dress watch: 38mm, snap-on caseback, no water resistance, running caliber A.295 CPL, the same movement platform used in the 4467 Big Bubbleback ("Ovettone") fitted with a complete-calendar-and-moonphase module. The 6062 is the Oyster: 36mm, screw-down caseback and crown, waterproof, running caliber 655, a "Super-Balance" movement Rolex built specifically for the model. Christie's and Sotheby's lot descriptions and Hodinkee's dedicated in-depth piece all independently name caliber 655 for the 6062, the better-evidenced reading against a Phillips collectors' guide that describes the pair as sharing "the same self-winding caliber." Case, water resistance, and movement are what separate them; the complication and the era are what unite them.
 == Why the names differ ==
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 == Auction standing ==
-The 6062 is, by a wide margin, the more valuable of the two at auction. A black-dial, diamond-marker 6062 known as the "Bao Dai" — commissioned in 1954 by Vietnam's last emperor during a visit to Rolex in Geneva — has twice held the record for the most expensive Rolex ever sold: CHF 370,000 in 2002, then CHF 5,066,000 in May 2017. In October 2025, a second black-diamond-dial 6062 broke the reference's own record, selling for USD 6.2 million at Monaco Legend Group's Exclusive Timepieces auction in Monte Carlo — the third-highest price ever paid for a Rolex at auction, per Forbes, and independently previewed ahead of the sale by Hodinkee. The 8171's own record sits far below that tier: Christie's December 2013 "Sleeping Beauty," a stainless steel example with diamond-set numerals, sold for USD 1,145,000, and Phillips' 2019 Geneva pair set the reference's yellow gold (CHF 980,000) and steel (CHF 1,028,000) benchmarks. Both references reward condition and dial originality over any specific configuration; see each reference's own Auction record section for the fuller picture.
+The 6062 is, by a wide margin, the more valuable of the two at auction. A black-dial, diamond-marker 6062 known as the "Bao Dai," commissioned in 1954 by Vietnam's last emperor during a visit to Rolex in Geneva, has twice held the record for the most expensive Rolex ever sold: CHF 370,000 in 2002, then CHF 5,066,000 in May 2017. In October 2025, a second black-diamond-dial 6062 broke the reference's own record, selling for USD 6.2 million at Monaco Legend Group's Exclusive Timepieces auction in Monte Carlo. Per Forbes, that is the third-highest price ever paid for a Rolex at auction, and Hodinkee independently previewed the lot ahead of the sale. The 8171's own record sits far below that tier: Christie's December 2013 "Sleeping Beauty," a stainless steel example with diamond-set numerals, sold for USD 1,145,000, and Phillips' 2019 Geneva pair set the reference's yellow gold (CHF 980,000) and steel (CHF 1,028,000) benchmarks. Both references reward condition and dial originality over any specific configuration; see each reference's own Auction record section for the fuller picture.
 == Renewed attention: the 2026 Perpetual Padellone ==