Rolex brings back the Padellone — with an annual calendar

Rolex does not usually surprise anyone in September. This year it did. On 15 September the manufacture announced the Perpetual Padellone — a name lifted straight from the reference 8171 of 1949, the oversized triple-calendar moonphase that collectors nicknamed the “big frying pan” and that changes hands today for the price of a house.

What it is

A 39mm case, 12.2mm thick, with a domed and finely fluted bezel. Two metals: Everose gold with an intense white dial, and 950 platinum with the ice-blue dial Rolex reserves for that metal. Day and month sit in twin apertures at twelve, the date is read off a peripheral track by a crescent-tipped pointer hand, and the moonphase at six is a blue enamel disc with a full moon and a new moon cut from meteorite.

Three references at launch: 53505-0002 in Everose on brown alligator (CHF 52,500), 53505-0003 in Everose on the seven-link Settimo bracelet (CHF 64,800), and 53506-0002 in platinum on black alligator (CHF 59,000). All three are permanent collection, not limited.

The part that matters

The calibre 7190 is the story. It is built on the Land-Dweller’s 7135 architecture — 5Hz, Dynapulse silicon escapement, 66-hour reserve — and adds an annual calendar Rolex calls Haplos: date, day and month all jump together at midnight, the mechanism knows a 30-day month from a 31, and the only correction you will ever make is at the end of February. Rolex has filed a patent on it. The watch is Superlative Chronometer certified to the tightened 2026 criteria.

What it means for the rest

This is the first time Rolex has put a calendar complication of this kind into a modern dress case, and it lands squarely in Patek Philippe Annual Calendar territory at a lower list price. Expect the platinum to be the one people ask us for, and expect none of the three to sit in a boutique window for long. We are taking expressions of interest now.