Rolex Just Dropped a Surprise New £60,700 Watch - and It’s Unlike Any Rolex You Know
Rolex has launched the Perpetual Padellone, a new annual-calendar moonphase watch inspired by a 1940s model. The watch features a complex movement and is priced between £49,150 and £60,700.
Why it matters
The release marks a rare departure from Rolex's traditional product lineup, signaling a shift in the brand's design and mechanical strategy.
Rolex has unveiled an entirely new watch, and it is not another variation on the Submariner, GMT-Master or Daytona. Announced in Milan, the Perpetual Padellone is a 39mm annual-calendar moonphase inspired by one of the more unusual watches in the company’s history. It becomes only the second model in Rolex’s dressier Perpetual collection, following the 1908, introduced in 2023.There had been clues that something was coming. Last October, watch writer and eagle-eyed watch spotter Nick Gould (@niccoloy) spotted a Rolex patent filing for an instantaneous calendar mechanism, prompting speculation that the company might be preparing a new calendar watch. The answer looks backwards as much as forwards. Padellone means “large frying pan” in Italian, the nickname collectors gave reference 8171, a 38mm triple-calendar moonphase Rolex made briefly from the late 1940s into the early 1950s.
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