Datejust
"Ike's Presidential Rolex"
Ref. EISENHOWER-DATEJUST
In 1951, Rolex presented this 18K gold Datejust to General Eisenhower as he led NATO — reportedly the 150,000th officially certified chronometer Rolex had produced. He wore it through two presidential terms. The caseback bears the five-star general's insignia and a personal inscription.
Specifications
About Rolex
The Crown
Hans Wilsdorf founded Rolex in London in 1905 with a singular obsession: making the wristwatch a precision instrument. The 1926 Oyster case was the world's first waterproof watch. The Perpetual rotor followed in 1931, and the brand never looked back. Rolex doesn't chase complications — it perfects fundamentals. Every movement is COSC-certified, every case pressure-tested. The result is a brand where the secondary market often exceeds retail, driven by controlled production and decades of aspirational positioning. From the Submariner's dive heritage to the Daytona's motorsport legacy, Rolex models carry cultural weight that transcends horology.
First waterproof wristwatch (Oyster, 1926). First automatic date-change mechanism (Datejust, 1945). Summit of Everest on the wrist of Tenzing Norgay (1953).
Rolex steel sports models (Submariner, GMT-Master II, Daytona) have historically appreciated 5-15% annually on the secondary market, outperforming many traditional asset classes over the last decade.
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