Rolex 6548 Oyster Perpetual

Steel Rolex Oyster Perpetual ref. 6548 with a silver dial — Cambi, 2023 lot 186; catalogue dates the watch to circa 1957.

The 6548 is a small, automatic, time-only Oyster Perpetual. Auction catalogues document steel, gold, two-tone, and platinum cases, usually around 30 mm.

Catalogue dates range from circa 1942/43 to 1969. The earliest estimates conflict with a near-numbered example and with the reported date of Cal. 1130; these records do not establish a production span.

Core facts

Detail	Documented examples
Model	Oyster Perpetual, automatic, centre seconds, no date
Case size	28–32 mm in auction catalogues; most examples are listed at 30 mm
Case materials	Stainless steel; 18 ct yellow, rose, and pink gold; steel and gold; one platinum example
Movement	Auction catalogues attribute calibres 1130, 1160, and 1161; dates conflict with the Field Manual's 1160/1161 table. Ranfft dates Cal. 1130 to 1955.
Catalogued dates	Auction and dealer records include 1950s–1969 examples; Sotheby’s circa-1945 and Dorotheum’s circa-1942/43 estimates remain unresolved

Where it sits in the line

The 6548 is a compact no-date Oyster Perpetual. Some catalogues call examples “mid-size”; others describe a 28 or 29 mm watch as a lady's or boy-size model. The labels vary with the catalogue and period. The case measurements are more useful than trying to assign one modern size category.

Production outline

Dorotheum dates serial 230584 to circa 1942/43 and lists Cal. 1130. Jones & Horan dates serial 230918, also with Cal. 1130, to circa 1957; the serials differ by 334. Ranfft dates Cal. 1130 to 1955. These records disagree, and the sources do not establish which date or identification is wrong. Dorotheum; Jones & Horan, lot 485.

Other catalogues date examples around 1945, 1955 and 1957; later examples continue through 1969. A dealer listing dates a 30 mm 6548 to 1958. These are dates assigned to individual watches, not confirmed production years or boundaries. Sotheby's; Christie's; Cambi; Pandolfini; dealer listing.

Movement notes

Auction houses attribute calibres 1130, 1160, and 1161 to 6548 examples. Dorotheum's circa-1942/43 rose-gold watch, Antiquorum's circa-1960 gold watch, and Jones & Horan's circa-1957 example are listed with Cal. 1130. Cambi's steel watch catalogued around 1957 is listed with Cal. 1160. Christie's circa-1955 gold watch has a 26-jewel automatic movement, but its catalogue does not give a caliber. Sotheby's assigns Cal. 1161 to its circa-1964 “Mickey Mouse” dial watch; Bonhams lists the same caliber in a circa-1968 entry jointly catalogued as 6548/6549.

The caliber dates and lot dates do not line up. The Vintage Rolex Field Manual lists Cal. 1160 in 1968 and Cal. 1161 in 1970, both based on Cal. 1100; Sotheby's assigns Cal. 1160 to a circa-1945 watch, Cambi assigns it to one dated circa 1957, and Sotheby's lists Cal. 1161 on a circa-1964 watch. Ranfft dates Cal. 1130 to 1955, while Dorotheum lists that caliber on a watch dated circa 1942/43. The sources do not establish a fitment sequence or resolve these conflicts. Check the individual movement rather than infer its caliber from the case number or a catalogue date.

Dial map

Christie's late-1950s steel lot describes a silvered dial with baton markers. Antiquorum's gold example has a black dial; other gold or champagne dials appear in the Dorotheum and Christie's catalogues. Bonhams describes a blue sunburst dial on a joint 6548/6549 lot. Cambi records a lapis-lazuli stone dial. A 1958 dealer listing describes a silver dial that had turned brown; it does not document the dial's earlier color. These examples do not make a complete dial catalogue.

Two dials belong to individual sale examples. Sotheby's called its circa-1964 silvered dial with Mickey Mouse graphics a “Mickey Mouse” dial; the catalogue does not establish whether the graphics left Rolex that way. Sotheby's 2025 steel example has a red dial that it explicitly identifies as later. Neither describes standard 6548 production.

Steel Rolex Oyster Perpetual reference 6548 with a red replacement dial — The dial on this Sotheby's 2025 example is identified in the catalogue as a later replacement.

Case, bezel, crystal, and crown notes

The Dorotheum, Christie’s, and Sotheby's descriptions specify screw-down crowns or backs. Christie's describes a baton-marker bezel on one steel example. Its gold and platinum examples have tonneau-shaped cases. The sources reviewed here do not establish a reference-specific crystal specification.

The Farsettiarte 1964 lot has an inside caseback stamped “6549 / 1964.” Sweetroad’s 1966 listing shows another 6549-stamped back, “M.66,” and reports seeing the pairing on other 6548s. The photographs document these two watches; no factory parts record located here establishes original fitment or a general caseback policy.

Sotheby's 2025 lot 8773; steel case with later red dial.
Exterior caseback of the same Sotheby's lot.

Bracelets, end links, clasps, and packaging notes

Catalogued steel examples appear on Oyster bracelets, including folded-link and riveted examples. Curio Firenze describes a 78350 bracelet with 551 end links as later-period parts on one 6548. A Bonhams entry jointly attributed to 6548/6549 is fitted with a Jubilee bracelet, but the paired reference prevents treating that as a confirmed 6548 fitment. Gold examples are also recorded on leather straps with signed buckles. Christie’s described an original fitted presentation box with its unusual platinum watch; one Cambi steel lot included a box and warranty. These accessories belong to those individual lots, not to every 6548.

Special branches

Christie’s catalogued a platinum, diamond-set watch with green enamel numerals at 1 and 3, a silvered dial, and a tonneau-shaped case. Its lot essay says “two examples of this model” were produced, dating them to 1957 and 1961. It does not make clear whether “model” means this platinum configuration or reference 6548 as a whole. The other dated 6548 lots on this page make the broader reading hard to reconcile; the statement is an auction-house claim, not a factory production record.

Cambi catalogued a yellow-gold 6548 with a lapis-lazuli dial around 1962. Christie’s separately reported a 1957 platinum example and a 1955 gold example. These show that the reference was offered or assembled in unusual materials and dial treatments, but the available records do not establish how many were made or whether every component was original when sold.

Cambi's circa-1962 yellow-gold example with lapis-lazuli dial; catalogue attribution.
Sotheby's circa-1964 steel example, catalogued as “Mickey Mouse”; factory originality of the dial is not established.

Christie's published no suitable image of its platinum example in the sources located for this page.

Historical market and auction record

The catalogue sample below records the variety of watches catalogued under the reference. The dates are auction-house estimates for individual examples.

Date assigned	House and lot	Catalogued configuration
c. 1942/43	Dorotheum, 25 May 2023	18 ct rose gold, 28 mm, cal. 1130; serial 230584; restored dial
c. 1945	Sotheby's, lot 8773	Steel, 30 mm, cal. 1160; case 312'326; later red dial
c. 1955	Christie's	18 ct gold, gilt dial, 30 mm, 26 jewels; reference confirmed in a sale notice
c. 1957	Christie's	Platinum, diamond-set case, green enamel numerals; 30 mm
c. 1957	Jones & Horan, Auction 1901, lot 485 (2 June 2019)	Steel, 30 mm, cal. 1130; serial 230918
c. 1957	Cambi, lot 186	Steel, 30 mm, silver dial, cal. 1160; case 324.xxx; box and warranty listed
late 1950s	Christie's, lot 319	Steel, silvered baton dial, 29 mm, 26-jewel movement
c. 1960	Antiquorum, lot 145	18 ct gold, black dial, 30 mm, cal. 1130
c. 1960	Antiquorum, lot 139	Pink gold, black dial, 31 mm, cal. 1130
c. 1962	Cambi, lot 69	18 ct yellow gold, 31 mm, lapis-lazuli dial, cal. 1130
c. 1964	Sotheby's	Steel, 30 mm, cal. 1161; silvered “Mickey Mouse” dial; case 1'075'177
1964	Farsettiarte, lot 48	Catalogue identifies ref. 6548 and cal. 1160; 32 mm; inside back stamped 6549 / 1964
c. 1968	Bonhams, lot 161	Steel, 30 mm, cal. 1161; listed jointly as 6548/6549
c. 1968	Gazette Drouot, lot 58	Steel and 18 ct yellow gold, 29 mm, white dial; clasp dated 4 66
1969	Pandolfini, lot 418	Steel, 30 mm, cal. 1161; Roman-numeral dial

Cambi, 2023: steel case and silver dial, catalogued circa 1957.
Sotheby's, 2025: steel case; catalogue identifies the red dial as later.
Same Sotheby's 2025 watch, side view.
Same Sotheby's 2025 watch, exterior caseback.
Cambi, 2024: yellow-gold case with lapis-lazuli dial.
Sotheby's, circa 1964: dial catalogued as “Mickey Mouse”; originality not established.

Sources