Reference:5031: Difference between revisions
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<small>[[Reference:bubbleback|Bubbleback]] → '''5031'''</small> | <small>[[Reference:bubbleback|Bubbleback]] → '''5031'''</small> | ||
The 5031 is the pink-gold twin of the ref 5030 | The 5031 is the pink-gold twin of the ref 5030, the one-year bridge between the 1945–1949 ref 4467 and the 1949 ref 6031. Same 36mm case, same A.295 automatic movement, same straight case flanks between the lugs, same small Brevet crown carried over from the 32mm Bubblebacks. The architectural difference is the metal, 18K pink or rose gold rather than yellow. Pink gold survivors from this production window are meaningfully scarcer than yellow, and a 5031 surfacing at auction is an event a 5030 is not. | ||
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== What the 5031 is == | == What the 5031 is == | ||
The 5031 is a 36mm Big Bubbleback Datejust in 18K pink gold, made for approximately one year in 1948. | The 5031 is a 36mm Big Bubbleback Datejust in 18K pink gold, made for approximately one year in 1948. Structurally it shares the 5030 at every level: case shape, movement, bezel, crystal, crown style, dial architecture. The difference is case metal and, by extension, matching hands and markers in pink gold. Within the Ovettone sequence the 5031 occupies the same position as its yellow-gold twin, directly after the 4467 and directly before the 60xx references. [https://le-monde-edmond.com/datejust-a-closer-look-at-a-rolex-icon-2/ Le Monde Edmond] (2022) and Italian auction houses use "Ovettone" for the whole Big Bubbleback cluster including the 50xx pair; the narrower dealer reading restricting the term to 4467/6031/6074/6075 would exclude the 5031. | ||
Pink and rose gold dress watches were a European preference through the 1940s. Markets in France, Italy, Switzerland, and German-speaking Europe favoured pink for formal wear, and Rolex produced pink-gold twins of most Ovettone references to meet that demand. Survival rates on the pink variants run below yellow, because pink alloys of the period were softer and more prone to polishing-out at service. | |||
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The full Ovettone arc runs: 4467 (1945) → 5028 / 5030 / 5031 (1947–48) → 6030 / 6031 (1949) → 6074 / 6075 (1950) → 6105 (1953, first “Datejust” text) → 6305 (1954, first Cyclops) → 6604 / 6605 (1956–57, first instantaneous date via Cal. 1065). The 5031 sits on the transitional shelf with its yellow-gold twin; the closest direct successor is the 1949 ref 6031, another pink-gold Ovettone that reverts to the 4467’s curvier case flanks after the straight-flank 5031 experiment. | The full Ovettone arc runs: 4467 (1945) → 5028 / 5030 / 5031 (1947–48) → 6030 / 6031 (1949) → 6074 / 6075 (1950) → 6105 (1953, first “Datejust” text) → 6305 (1954, first Cyclops) → 6604 / 6605 (1956–57, first instantaneous date via Cal. 1065). The 5031 sits on the transitional shelf with its yellow-gold twin; the closest direct successor is the 1949 ref 6031, another pink-gold Ovettone that reverts to the 4467’s curvier case flanks after the straight-flank 5031 experiment. | ||
Italian auction houses (Pandolfini, Aste Bolaffi) and mainstream dealer usage include the 5030/5031 pair in the Ovettone family, alongside Edmond Saran’s 2022 Le Monde Edmond treatment that names the 5030 explicitly. The narrower dealer convention excludes the 50xx pair and reserves the term for 4467, 6031, 6074, and 6075. Both framings coexist in current literature. | |||
<span id="the-36mm-big-bubbleback-case-the-straight-flank-experiment-in-pink-gold"></span> | <span id="the-36mm-big-bubbleback-case-the-straight-flank-experiment-in-pink-gold"></span> | ||