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|title=Rolex Oyster Perpetual 1003 — Engine-Turned Bezel & Coca-Cola Dials | Rolexopedia
|title=Rolex Oyster Perpetual 1003 — Engine-Turned Bezel & Coca-Cola Dials | Rolexopedia
|description=The 1003 is the engine-turned 4-digit Oyster Perpetual: 34mm, no date, caliber 1560 then 1570, c.1959 into the late 1970s, in steel, 14k and 18k gold and British 9-carat cases. Its auction record is dominated by Coca-Cola twenty-five-year service dials, and the strongest steel result is the Sotheby's 'Minnie Mouse' Air-King.
|description=The Rolex Oyster Perpetual 1003 is a no-date automatic with an engine-turned bezel. Auction records show steel and gold cases, several Coca-Cola service-award dials, and catalogue variation in movement and case markings.
|keywords=Rolex 1003, Oyster Perpetual, engine-turned bezel, cal 1560, cal 1570, 34mm, Coca-Cola 25 years service, Minnie Mouse Air-King, 9K gold Glasgow import, 1003/1005
|keywords=Rolex 1003, Oyster Perpetual, engine-turned bezel, cal 1560, cal 1570, 34mm, Coca-Cola 25 years service, Minnie Mouse Air-King, 9K gold Glasgow import, 1003/1005
|image=Ref 1003 hero.webp
|image=Ref 1003 hero.webp
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The 1003 is the engine-turned 4-digit Oyster Perpetual, and the one the catalogues struggle to describe. Rolex's own term for the bezel is engine-turned; Sotheby's has called it milled, Bonhams has called it milled and ridged in the same decade, and Antiquorum, on the examples that matter most, calls it a graduated engine-turned bezel with hour divisions. Underneath the argument is the same watch as the smooth [[Reference:1002|1002]]: 34mm Oyster case, 19mm lugs, screw-down back and crown, acrylic crystal, chronometer-rated no-date automatic, caliber 1560 and then caliber 1570.
The Rolex 1003 is a no-date Oyster Perpetual with an engine-turned bezel. Auction catalogues use several descriptions for the bezel, including “milled,” “ridged” and “graduated engine-turned.” The 1003 shares the 34mm case family with the smooth-bezel [[Reference:1002|1002]], but catalogue markings vary: some steel examples have 1002 stamped inside the caseback, while gold examples have been listed with 1005 there.


Its documented population splits along an unusual line. Steel 1003s are ordinary and trade like ordinary vintage Rolex. The gold ones are mostly not catalogue watches at all: they are twenty-five-year service awards, and Coca-Cola commissioned enough of them that the reference's auction record is dominated by a single corporate gift programme. The best 1003 result on file is a Coca-Cola dial that went for roughly five times its high estimate.
Auction records include steel and gold examples, British-market 9-carat cases, personalized service-award dials and watches catalogued with Air-King dials. The sources document individual watches and sale-time configurations; they do not establish a complete production census.


==Core facts==
==Core facts==
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|-
|-
| production
| production
| c.1959 into the late 1970s
| dated auction examples run from circa 1960 to the late 1970s; production limits are not established
|-
|-
| case diameter
| case diameter
| 34mm
| 34mm in most catalogues; auction listings range from 33mm to 35mm
|-
|-
| lug width
| lug width
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|-
|-
| movement
| movement
| caliber 1530 on the earliest examples, then caliber 1560 (to c.1965), then caliber 1570
| most reference tables list calibers 1560 and 1570; one Bonhams 1003 lot lists caliber 1530, a disputed catalogue attribution
|-
|-
| certification
| certification
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|-
|-
| oversized relative
| oversized relative
| [[Reference:1018
| [[Reference:1018|1018]], the 36mm case
| 1018]], the 36mm case
|}
|}


==Where it sits in the line==
==Where it sits in the line==


Four reference numbers in this family carry engine-turned bezels, and the published literature does not draw a clean line between the 1003, 1006, 1007 and 1008. What separates them in practice is the number engraved between the lugs, not a feature anyone can call from a photograph. The 1003 is the most frequently catalogued of the four and the one that turns up in gold most often.
The 1003 is one of the engine-turned-bezel references in the four-digit Oyster Perpetual line. The [[Reference:1002|1002]] has a smooth bezel; the [[Reference:1005|1005]] is associated with the fluted gold bezel. References [[Reference:1006|1006]], [[Reference:1007|1007]] and [[Reference:1008|1008]] also appear with engine-turned bezels. Auction records use paired designations such as 1003/1002 or 1003/1005, reflecting the different numbers found between the lugs and inside the caseback. The [[Reference:1018|1018]] is the 36mm model in this family.
 
Against the rest of the group the position is straightforward. The [[Reference:1002|1002]] is the same watch with a plain surround and sold in far greater numbers; the [[Reference:1005|1005]] takes the gold fluted bezel; the [[Reference:1007|1007]] is the closest sibling of all and the one with the widest documented dial spread. The [[Reference:1018|1018]] scales the same design up to 36mm on 20mm lugs. The 1003 belongs to a middle tier of the line: dressier than the plain 1002, less formal than the fluted 1005, and available in steel or gold at either end of the range.


==Production outline==
==Production outline==


Caliber 1560 entered production in 1959 and gives the practical start of the run. The earliest documented 1003s sit right on it: case number 512,833, catalogued circa 1960, and case number 573,835, whose chronometer certificate is dated 22 December 1960. A Glasgow import mark for 1961 dates a 9K gold example, and a 9ct gold watch with its original 1966 receipt dates itself.
Auction catalogues date individual 1003 examples from circa 1960 through 1977. The records include cases 512,833 and 573,835 dated circa 1960, a Glasgow assay mark for 1961, case 531,734 dated circa 1966, case 3,044,042 dated 1972, case 3,960,865 dated circa 1975 and case 5,426,177 dated 1977. A separate Antiquorum listing describes a watch as late 1970s and records its sale in January 1980; the sale date is not a delivery date. These auction descriptions do not establish the reference’s first or last production year.
 
The run continues through case number 531,734 in 1966, 1,197,501 in 1964, 3,044,042 in 1972, 3,960,865 around 1975 and 5,426,177 in 1977. The Antiquorum lot that closes the record describes a watch produced in the late 1970s and sold in January 1980, which is the latest documented delivery. That places the reference's end alongside the rest of the 4-digit no-date group rather than with the [[Reference:1002|1002]], which carried on into the 1980s.
 
No production figure has been published, and the shape of the surviving population is uneven: steel examples appear regularly in general watch sales, while gold examples concentrate in the service-award group.


==Movement notes==
==Movement notes==


Bonhams catalogued a 26-jewel caliber 1530, movement number 98643, in a 1003 accompanied by a chronometer certificate dated December 1960; the same house recorded a 1530 in a [[Reference:1002|1002]] bought in 1962. The Watch-Wiki caliber concordance lists the 1530 only against the 5500 family and gives the 1003 to calibers 1560 and 1570, so the earliest movement in this reference is documented by catalogue text rather than by the published table.
Most reference tables list calibers 1560 and 1570 for the 1003. Bonhams listed caliber 1530, movement number 98,643, in a 1003 (case 573,835) with a chronometer certificate dated 22 December 1960. The same auction house listed a caliber 1530 in a 1002. The 1003 movement attribution conflicts with common reference tables, and the auction descriptions alone do not establish factory fitment.


Caliber 1560 runs from the start to about 1965. It is a rhodium-plated automatic of 25 or 26 jewels at 18,000 vph, adjusted to temperature and five positions, with an overcoil hairspring, a shock-protected free-sprung balance and Microstella regulating screws; the earliest examples carry the butterfly rotor, which Bonhams noted explicitly on a 1960 gold watch. Caliber 1570 takes over from 1965 at 19,800 vph, and Antiquorum's description of a 1972 example records the oeil-de-perdrix decoration and the self-compensating Breguet balance spring. Hacking seconds arrived across the 1500 family in 1972. The [[Reference:Movements|movement reference]] carries the lineage in full.
Auction records document 1560 and 1570 movements in 1003 examples. Caliber 1560 beats at 18,000 vph; caliber 1570 raises the rate to 19,800 vph. Auction descriptions also record differing jewel counts and movement details. The broader lineage and points of disagreement are covered in [[Reference:Movements|the movement index]].


==Dial map==
==Dial map==
[[File:Ref 1003 air king dial.webp|thumb|right|250px|Blue Air-King dial in a steel case catalogued as ref 1003/1002, made 1964|alt=Blue Air-King dial in a steel case catalogued as ref 1003/1002, made 1964]]


Silvered is the default and covers most of the record: sunburst and satiné finishes on steel and gold alike, with applied baton or dart markers, luminous five-minute dots and a printed chronometer line. A cream or beige tone appears on aged gold examples, and Artcurial's 1966 gold watch is described as patinated cream. Sotheby's 2021 steel example photographs as a heavily spotted cream dial with rose-toned markers, the kind of tropical change that reads as condition rather than as a factory variant.
Silvered is the default and covers most of the record: sunburst and satiné finishes on steel and gold alike, with applied baton or dart markers, luminous five-minute dots and a printed chronometer line. A cream or beige tone appears on aged gold examples, and Artcurial's 1966 gold watch is described as patinated cream. Sotheby's 2021 steel example photographs as a heavily spotted cream dial with rose-toned markers, the kind of tropical change that reads as condition rather than as a factory variant.


Beyond the silvered default the record splits three ways. The corporate service dials are the largest branch and are covered below. Air-King dials turn up in 1003 cases, in silver and in blue, which follows from the case-middle sharing with the [[Reference:5500|5500]] and is why Antiquorum catalogued one steel watch as ref 1003/1002 with an Air-King dial. British-market gold examples carry silvered dials with applied gilt dart markers and Arabic numerals at the quarters, a configuration Bonhams documented on both the 1961 Glasgow watch and the 1960 New York one.
Auction records include silvered dials, a blue Air-King dial in a watch catalogued as 1003/1002, and British-market gold examples with gilt dart markers and Arabic quarters. The catalogues describe several gold dials with Coca-Cola service inscriptions; those examples are discussed below.
 
[[File:Ref 1003 air king dial.webp|thumb|right|250px|Blue Air-King dial in a steel case catalogued as ref 1003/1002, made 1964|alt=Blue Air-King dial in a steel case catalogued as ref 1003/1002, made 1964]]


==Case, bezel, crystal, and crown==
==Case, bezel, crystal, and crown==
[[File:Ref 1003 nine carat.webp|thumb|right|250px|9K gold British-market 1003 with a Glasgow import mark for 1961, silvered dial with gilt dart markers and Arabic quarters|alt=9K gold British-market 1003 with a Glasgow import mark for 1961, silvered dial with gilt dart markers and Arabic quarters]]
The 1003 uses a 34mm Oyster case with 19mm lugs. Auction catalogues give measurements from 33mm to 35mm and thicknesses around 12mm; these are catalogue measurements, not a single factory specification. Examples have screw-down backs and crowns and acrylic crystals.


The case is the shared 34mm three-body Oyster, brushed and polished in a tonneau profile, with a screw-down caseback and Twinlock crown, drilled 19mm lugs and an acrylic crystal. Antiquorum's two most detailed lots give the case as 34mm across and 12mm thick, which is the measurement to trust; house figures elsewhere range from 33mm to 35mm on the same case.
The bezel is engine-turned. Auction houses also describe examples as “milled,” “ridged” or “semi engine-turned”; Antiquorum describes some examples as graduated and with hour divisions. The wording varies by catalogue, and not every listing provides enough detail to compare the cut pattern.


The bezel is the reference's identity and the thing catalogue text handles worst. Antiquorum's descriptions are the most useful, because they specify what the milling does: an engine-turned bezel with hour divisions, described on one lot as graduated. That is a bezel whose cut segments are indexed to the hours rather than a continuous decorative knurl, and it is the detail that separates a 1003 from a generic milled surround. Bonhams has called the same bezel milled, and Artcurial described a 1966 example as semi engine-turned, which suggests the pattern was not uniform across the run.
Catalogued cases include stainless steel, 14k and 18k yellow gold, and British-market 9-carat gold. In the Coca-Cola 1003/1005 auction record, Antiquorum explains that the number between the lugs identifies the watch’s bezel reference while the inside caseback bears the case reference. Other lots show the same paired-number pattern.


Case material spreads wider than the steel-and-gold summary implies. Stainless steel is the volume production and 14k and 18k yellow gold both appear. The British market took 9-carat cases, and Bonhams has catalogued 1003s described as 9K and as 9ct gold in three separate sales, one of them hallmarked with a Glasgow import mark for 1961. As on the rest of the family, the reference between the lugs names the bezel and the stamp inside the caseback names the case-middle tooling, which is why the paired forms 1003/1002 and 1003/1005 recur in catalogue text.
[[File:Ref 1003 nine carat.webp|thumb|right|250px|9K gold British-market 1003 with a Glasgow import mark for 1961, silvered dial with gilt dart markers and Arabic quarters|alt=9K gold British-market 1003 with a Glasgow import mark for 1961, silvered dial with gilt dart markers and Arabic quarters]]


==Bracelets, end links, and clasps==
==Bracelets, end links, and clasps==


Steel delivery follows the family pattern: riveted Oyster bracelets through the 1960s, folded links afterwards. Antiquorum's 1964 Air-King-dial example came on a steel riveted Rolex bracelet, which is period-correct for the case number. Gold watches went out on gold fold-over bracelets and on leather with a signed buckle, and one British 9ct example is documented on a fitted 9ct gold bracelet with a locking clasp. Later examples come to auction on leather more often than on their original metal, and several catalogued 1003s carry associated straps and buckles rather than factory fitments.
Auction examples show steel riveted and folded Oyster bracelets, gold bracelets, and leather straps with signed buckles. These catalogue descriptions record the watch as offered for sale; they do not establish the original bracelet or strap fitted to each head. A clasp date dates the bracelet, not the watch head. See [[Reference:Bracelets|the bracelet and clasp guide]].
 
A clasp date code dates the bracelet and not the head. The cross-family detail sits on [[Reference:Bracelets|the bracelet and clasp guide]].


==Special branches==
==Special branches==


===The Coca-Cola service awards===
===The Coca-Cola service awards===
Several auctioned gold Oyster Perpetuals carry Coca-Cola logos and “25 Years of Service” inscriptions. For the 1003, Antiquorum catalogued an 18k gold case, number 5,426,177, as made in 1977; Sotheby’s sold that same case in 2014. A second 1003/1005, case 3,044,042, was catalogued as made in 1972 and sold by Antiquorum in 2007. A third watch was catalogued as late 1970s and sold in New York in January 1980. Other references, including 1002 and 1005, also appear in auction records with Coca-Cola service inscriptions.
<gallery mode="packed" heights="180">
<gallery mode="packed" heights="180">
File:Ref 1003 coca cola full.webp|An 18k gold Coca-Cola 1003, case dated 1961
File:Ref 1003 coca cola full.webp|An 18k gold Coca-Cola 1003, case dated 1961
File:Ref 1003 coca cola.webp|The 25 Years of Service Coca-Cola dial on the same watch
File:Ref 1003 coca cola.webp|The 25 Years of Service Coca-Cola dial on the same watch
File:Ref 1003 coca cola caseback.webp|Caseback engraved to "'Sal' Eaton," 25 years' service, The Coca-Cola Co., dated September 1, 1961
File:Ref 1003 coca cola caseback.webp|Caseback engraving for Sal Eaton, 25 years’ service, dated 1 September 1961
</gallery>
</gallery>


Coca-Cola marked twenty-five years of employee service with a gold Oyster Perpetual, and the 1003 is the reference the programme used most visibly. The configuration is consistent: a gold case under the paired designation 1003/1005 or 1003/1002, a satiné or matte silver dial carrying the Coca-Cola script logo and a 25 Years Service dedication, applied gold baton indexes with tritium dots, and gold baton hands. Antiquorum sold an 18k example from the Mondani collection in 2006, case number 5,426,177, made in 1977; Sotheby's Geneva sold the same watch in 2014. A second, case number 3,044,042, made in 1972, passed through Antiquorum in 2007. A third, produced in the late 1970s and sold in January 1980, came up in New York in 2004.
===The Sotheby's “Minnie Mouse”===


The programme was not confined to this reference. Christie's Dubai and Sotheby's Geneva both catalogued a 14k gold [[Reference:1002|1002]] on the same award, Artcurial sold a 14k [[Reference:1005|1005]] with the caseback engraved for its recipient, and Heritage catalogued a 14k 1005 with a hand-painted Coca-Cola inscription. What distinguishes the 1003 group is the strength of the results, which sit an order of magnitude above ordinary examples of the reference.
Sotheby’s catalogued a steel watch as “Reference 1003 Air-King ‘Minnie Mouse’” in 2020. Its silvered dial carries Air-King and Precision text, with a printed Minnie Mouse figure between the centre and six o’clock. Sotheby’s lists case 3,011,703, an inner caseback stamped 1002, caliber 1570, and a 33mm case. The dial and inner caseback support describing it as an Air-King-style watch in a case marked 1003 between the lugs; the catalogue does not establish how that combination left the factory.


===The Sotheby's 'Minnie Mouse'===
[[File:Ref 1003 minnie mouse.webp|thumb|right|250px|The printed character sits between the centre and six, under Air-King and PRECISION text|alt=The printed character sits between the centre and six, under Air-King and PRECISION text]]
[[File:Ref 1003 minnie mouse.webp|thumb|right|250px|The printed character sits between the centre and six, under Air-King and PRECISION text|alt=The printed character sits between the centre and six, under Air-King and PRECISION text]]
Sotheby's sold a steel watch in New York in October 2020 catalogued as "Reference 1003 Air-King 'Minnie Mouse'". The dial is silvered, carries Air-King and PRECISION text, and has a printed Minnie Mouse figure standing between the centre and six o'clock. Case number 3,011,703 dates it to about 1972; the inner caseback is stamped 1002 and the movement is caliber 1570. Character dials were made for the Air-King line rather than for the chronometer references, so what the lot documents is a character-dial Air-King in a 1003-engraved case rather than a factory 1003 variant. It is the strongest steel result on the reference, above its high estimate.


===The Diesel Power Company dial===
===The Diesel Power Company dial===


Artcurial sold a 14k yellow gold 1003 in Monte-Carlo in July 2011, case number 531,734, circa 1966, with a patinated cream dial carrying a Diesel Power Company service logo. The configuration parallels the Coca-Cola awards without belonging to them, and it establishes that Rolex supplied service dials on this reference to more than one corporate client.
Artcurial catalogued a 14k yellow-gold 1003, case 531,734, circa 1966, with a cream dial bearing a Diesel Power Company logo. The lot documents another personalized corporate dial; it does not establish who made or fitted it.


===British-market gold cases===
===British-market gold cases===


Bonhams has catalogued three 1003s in 9-carat gold, a case material Rolex used for the British market where import duty made 18-carat cases expensive. One carries a Glasgow import mark for 1961 with caliber 1560; another, case number 512,833, is a 1960 New York lot with the butterfly rotor; a third is a 1966 watch on a fitted 9ct gold bracelet, sold with its original receipt. Hallmarks on these cases date the import rather than the movement, and the assay office letter is the practical dating tool where the case number has worn away.
Bonhams catalogued three 1003 examples in 9-carat gold. One carries a Glasgow import mark dated 1961 and a caliber 1560; another, case 512,833, was catalogued in New York as circa 1960 with a butterfly rotor; a third was offered with a 9ct gold bracelet and a 1966 receipt. The hallmarks and receipt provide separate dating evidence; they do not date the movement. See [[Reference:Serial-numbers|the serial-number guide]] for the limits of assay dating.


==Auction record==
==Auction record==


Steel 1003s trade in the low four figures, and the gold ones split sharply by dial. An unmarked gold 1003 sits in the same band as a good steel example; a Coca-Cola service dial multiplies it. Sotheby's Geneva sold one for roughly five times its high estimate in 2014, and the same watch had made a strong result at Antiquorum eight years earlier from the Mondani collection, so the premium is not a one-sale accident. The Minnie Mouse Air-King is the strongest steel result and reflects the character-dial market rather than the reference.
Results vary by watch and dial. The table includes a 1003/1005 Coca-Cola example that sold for CHF 37,500 at Sotheby’s in 2014; the same case sold for CHF 11,800 at Antiquorum in 2006. Among the steel examples listed here, the Sotheby’s 2020 Air-King “Minnie Mouse” brought the highest result. These sales describe individual lots, not a general price range for the reference.


{| class="wikitable"
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See also the [[Reference:oyster-perpetual|Oyster Perpetual family index]], [[Reference:Movements|movement reference]], [[Reference:Bracelets|bracelet & clasp guide]], and [[Reference:Serial-numbers|serial numbers by year]].
See also the [[Reference:oyster-perpetual|Oyster Perpetual family index]], [[Reference:Movements|movement reference]], [[Reference:Bracelets|bracelet & clasp guide]], and [[Reference:Serial-numbers|serial numbers by year]].
== Gallery ==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="180">
File:Ref 1003 hero.webp|Whole-watch view, steel 1003
File:Ref 1003 coca cola full.webp|Whole-watch view, gold Coca-Cola example
File:Ref 1003 minnie mouse.webp|Air-King character dial in a 1003-marked case
File:Ref 1003 coca cola.webp|Coca-Cola service dial detail
File:Ref 1003 air king dial.webp|Blue Air-King dial in a 1003/1002 catalogue example
File:Ref 1003 nine carat.webp|British-market 9K case and dial detail
File:Ref 1003 coca cola caseback.webp|Coca-Cola service engraving on caseback
</gallery>


== Sources ==
== Sources ==
Retrieved from "https://rolexopedia.net/wiki/Reference:1003"