Reference 53505-0003 is the Rolex Perpetual Padellone in Everose gold on the Settimo bracelet, the only version of the new model finished entirely in gold. The Padellone name belongs to reference 8171, the complete-calendar moonphase Rolex produced from the late 1940s until 1953, which Italian collectors called the large frying pan because its case seemed so generous for the period. Rolex took the nickname as the official model name, something the brand has almost never done, and unveiled the watch in Milan on 15 September 2026 rather than at its usual spring launch. The Padellone is the second model in the Perpetual collection after the 1908, the first Rolex to bring an annual calendar and a moonphase together on one dial, and a permanent addition to the catalog rather than a limited series.
The 39mm case follows the proportions of the Perpetual 1908 and is polished in Everose gold, Rolex's own pink gold alloy. The divided bezel pairs a finely fluted lower section with a smooth domed upper section, echoed by the domed sapphire crystal and a curved winding crown, and the case back is fitted with transparent sapphire. Four small correctors sit in the case band for the calendar and moon, set with the stylus that accompanies the watch. On the intense white dial, a grained center is enclosed by a raised, satin-finished date track. The day and month appear side by side beneath 12 o'clock, a blue central hand with a crescent tip points to the date, and a blue enameled moonphase with two meteorite moons fills a chamfered opening at 6 o'clock. The Arabic numerals at 3 and 9, the faceted markers and the hands are in pink gold. What sets this reference apart is the Settimo bracelet, which Rolex introduced on the 1908 in 2025. Each link is built from seven small, slightly curved elements, so the bracelet drapes closely around the wrist, and it closes on a concealed Crownclasp that leaves the outline unbroken. In solid Everose gold throughout, the watch carries noticeably more weight and presence than the strap versions.
The Padellone's complication is a complete annual calendar with moonphase. The day, date and month all advance at the same instant at midnight, a demanding arrangement Rolex has made possible with a patented calendar system that adds only a couple of components to an instantaneous date. Because the calendar distinguishes 30-day from 31-day months, it runs through the year unaided and asks for a single adjustment when February ends. Each indication can be corrected independently through the case-band correctors, and the calendar disengages during setting, so the correctors can be used in any order at any hour without harm. The moonphase disc turns once every 29.53 days, and its two meteorite moons are treated differently, one with a black face and one coated in dark blue, so the phase stays legible throughout the cycle. The movement winds automatically, and through the sapphire back the owner sees the yellow gold rotor and Côtes de Genève decoration, a view Rolex offers on very few of its watches. The Padellone keeps the calendar layout of the 1950s original while relying on entirely contemporary Rolex engineering.
Collectors regard reference 8171 as a vintage Rolex grail, and its face, with day and month windows at 12 and the date read by a hand around the edge, is what the Padellone reproduces. The Arabic numerals at 3 and 9 point to a second period reference, the 6062. For most of the decades that followed, Rolex's identity rested on the Oyster sports watches, and its calendar complications moved into the Day-Date and later the Sky-Dweller rather than into dress watches. The Perpetual collection, launched with the 1908 in 2023 as the formal line that succeeded Cellini, set out a different path, and the Padellone is its first complication. Rolex almost always reveals new references at Watches and Wonders each spring, and the handful of standalone launches, the Deepsea Challenge among them, have been reserved for watches the brand wanted in the spotlight alone, which places the September 2026 introduction of the Padellone in select company. The Settimo configuration also ties the Padellone back to the 1908, since it wears the bracelet Rolex designed for that line, and makes clear that the two models are intended to be read as one family of Rolex dress watches.
The Settimo version is for the collector who wants the Padellone as a gold watch in the fullest sense. Where the strap versions stay light and understated under a cuff, reference 53505-0003 wears with the weight and presence of a solid gold bracelet watch, and the Settimo links give it a finish unlike the Oyster or President bracelets found elsewhere in the Rolex catalog. It suits buyers who already own a Day-Date and want a dress complication of equal substance, as well as those drawn to gold bracelet dress watches from other traditional houses. The same Everose case is also offered on a brown alligator strap, and a platinum version carries an ice blue dial. As new precious-metal Rolex references, all three are sold through authorized retailers with the waiting lists that typically accompany such watches, and this is the only one of the three finished entirely in gold.
