BRIDGING THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Close-up of the calendar function of calibre 7190. Photos: Rolex

Rolex’s newest creation, the Perpetual Padellone, draws from heritage and looks to the future.

While its design and functions pay homage to watchmaking tradition, the Perpetual Padellone offers unparalleled performance thanks to pioneering technical innovations. Its moonphase disc links the rhythm of the Moon to that of the Earth, while at midnight, the day, date and month change instantaneously, illustrating Rolex’s mastery of calendar jump mechanisms.

Proposed in 18 ct Everose gold with a grained-finish, intense white dial and a Settimo bracelet, it is available in two other versions: one crafted in 950 platinum with a grained-finish, ice blue dial and matt black alligator leather strap with a Dualclasp; the other in 18 ct Everose gold with a grained-finish, intense white dial and matt brown alligator leather strap with a Dualclasp.

The Settimo bracelet’s links are made up of seven very small, slightly contoured link elements, polished on every surface. It gently hugs the shape of the wrist, making it extremely comfortable to wear.

Perpetual Padellone in 18 ct Everose gold paired with a matt brown alligator leather strap.

With a special system to attach it to the middle case, for which a patent application has been filed, this metal bracelet is furnished with a concealed folding Crownclasp, ensuring seamless visual harmony across its surface.

At the heart of the Perpetual Padellone beats calibre 7190, protected by 30 patent applications, two of which are exclusive to it. This movement at the cutting edge of horological research stands out for its frequency of 5 hertz.

The watch takes its name from a beloved mid-century reference: the 8171, produced from the late 1940s into the early 1950s and affectionately nicknamed “Padellone” by collectors.

The earlier reference is reborn here in a 39 mm case and is mounted with a bezel that is both domed and subtly fluted. The dial of the Perpetual Padellone is decorated with a grained finish across most of its surface and a fine satin finish around the edge. A blue centre hand, with a crescent moon at its tip, points to the current date on this periphery, where the date scale is inscribed in black. 

Beneath its quiet exterior sits a mechanism of genuine ambition.

The Perpetual Padellone is a complete calendar watch, tracking not only the hours but the day, date, month and moonphase.

The day and month appear in English through two apertures at 12 o’clock, while a blue hand tipped with a crescent moon sweeps around the dial’s circumference to mark the date.

The moonphase display is where the watch truly earns its poetic reputation. Set against a fully visible blue enamelled disc that completes one rotation every lunar month – 29.53 days – the full moon and new moon are each rendered in meteorite, with the new moon given a dark blue PVD treatment for contrast.

Rather than obscuring a single lunar image to suggest phases, the two meteorite moons physically rotate into alignment with a triangular indicator above the disc, tracing the real passage of time between one new moon and the next.

A face is pad-printed on both the full moon and the new moon, a whimsical nod to the 8171 reference.

Perpetual Padellone in 950 platinum featuring a grained-finish, ice blue dial.

Two engineering achievements set this calendar apart. The first is that it is annual, requiring correction only once a year, when February gives way to March – made possible by Rolex’s patented Haplos system, a mechanism built from just two components (an additional carrier finger and an annual lever) that allows the movement to distinguish automatically between 30- and 31-day months.

Another technical innovation: the annual calendar programming is incorporated into the reverse side of the month disc, informing the annual lever of the current month. The changes of date, day and month take place instantaneously at midnight – a feature for which a patent application has also been filed.

Moonphase and calendar indications can be adjusted at any time, without affecting the movement’s integrity, using four correctors positioned around the sides of the middle case and operated with a correction stylus.

All of this is powered by calibre 7190, an entirely in-house creation visible through the transparent case back, where a cut-out oscillating weight in yellow gold and bridges decorated with Rolex Cotes de Geneve reveal the brand’s characteristic finishing.

The calibre is an evolution of the 7135 movement introduced in 2025 alongside the Oyster Perpetual Land-Dweller, and it inherits that movement’s most forward-looking technologies: a high frequency of 5 hertz, a Syloxi hairspring in silicon, a ceramic balance staff, and the Dynapulse escapement – a silicon-based innovation.

Concealed Crownclasp of the Perpetual Padellone in 18 ct Everose gold.

The Perpetual Padellone is the second watch to join Rolex’s Perpetual collection, which launched in 2023 with the Perpetual 1908 and set out to reinterpret classic watchmaking through the lens of the brand’s modern expertise.

Every watch in the collection carries the Superlative Chronometer certification, symbolised by Rolex’s green seal – a standard that was expanded in 2026 to include three new testing criteria covering magnetic resistance, reliability and durability, layered atop the precision, waterproofness, self-winding and autonomy benchmarks established when the certification was redefined in 2015.

The Superlative Chronometer certification is strictly controlled by internationally recognised, independent Swiss entities. Symbolised by a green seal, it is based on the brand’s seven pillars of watchmaking excellence, and guarantees excellent performance on the wrist for every Rolex watch. From the Oyster, the brand’s first waterproof wristwatch launched in 1926, to the Perpetual rotor self-winding mechanism invented in 1931, the brand’s founder Hans Wilsdorf’s pursuit of “perpetual excellence” continues to animate everything it produces – the “Perpetual Padellone included.