In the mid-1900s, Rolex made watches unlike anything it produced in the decades that followed. Reference 8171 was a triple-calendar moonphase watch in a 38mm snap-back case, which was enormous for a dress watch when 35mm was considered large. Italian collectors nicknamed it Padellone, or “big frying pan”. It was discontinued by 1952.
Soon after, Rolex introduced the Submariner, GMT-Master and Explorer as purpose-built instruments became a hallmark of its identity. The reference 8171 and its Oyster-cased sibling, the reference 6062, were Rolex’s only complete-calendar moonphase watches left behind, and they became two of the most coveted references in the vintage market.
This history makes the new Rolex Perpetual Padellone, unveiled in Milan in September, one of the year’s most anticipated launches. As the second model in the Perpetual collection, which launched in 2023 with the Perpetual 1908, it shares the line’s elegant, refined aesthetic.
Every model is Superlative Chronometer certified, a standard Rolex expanded this year with new criteria for magnetic resistance, reliability, and sustainability, along with the precision, waterproofness, self-winding, and autonomy standards established when Rolex redefined the certification in 2015.
The Padellone is powered by the new calibre 7190, developed and manufactured inhouse as an evolution of calibre 7135, which appeared in the Land-Dweller in 2025. It retains that movement’s 5 Hz frequency, Syloxi silicon hairspring, ceramic balance staff, and Dynapulse escapement.
It has an annual calendar that accounts for 30- and 31-day months and requires correction only once a year, at the end of February. The new patented Haplos system enables this. In addition, Rolex has limited the added architecture to two components coupled to the date mechanism: an additional carrier finger and an annual lever.
Since the annual calendar programme itself is encoded on the reverse of the month disc, the part that displays the month on the dial side is also used to inform the annual lever of the current month from behind. It is an economical piece of design, and characteristically Rolex.
Through the sapphire case back, a cut-out oscillating weight in yellow gold rotates over bridges decorated with Rolex Cotes de Geneve. Thirty patent applications have been filed for the calibre 7190, two of which are exclusive.
The display uses a classic complete-calendar layout. At 12 o’clock, twin apertures display the day and month in English, while a blue central hand with a crescent moon at its tip indicates the date on a scale around the dial. In a fraction of a second, the day, date, and month advance simultaneously at midnight. Rolex has filed a patent application for this mechanism, which keeps all three indications aligned as well.
The moonphase is displayed on a blue enamel disc that completes one rotation every lunar month (29.53 days). Two meteorite moons adorn the disc, with the new moon treated with a dark blue PVD coating.
Traditional moonphase indicators obscure the moon, whereas this display tracks the full interval between one new moon and the next. The two representations travel continuously, aligning in turn with a triangular index above the disc. Both moon faces are pad-printed.
Four correctors on the flanks of the middle case are operated with a stylus, and Rolex says the moonphase and calendar can be set at any time without affecting the movement’s integrity.
The watch takes its design cues from reference 8171: the 39mm case features a bezel with a domed upper section and finely fluted lower section, while the dial has a grained finish across most of its surface and satin-finished at the periphery.
The Padellone is available in three references. The first pairs Everose gold with an intense white grained-finish dial and the Settimo bracelet, introduced in 2025 on the 1908. Made of rows of seven exceedingly small, slightly contoured links, the bracelet evokes the jewellery-style bracelets of certain vintage watches and feels notably light on the wrist.
The other two models come with leather straps: one in Everose gold with a grained-finish white dial and matte brown alligator, and the other in 950 platinum with an ice-blue grained-finish dial and matte black alligator.
