OK, so I shouldn’t even be wearing this Rolex Datejust 1603. It is a long long story but I got this watch as a present for my wonderful wife for her birthday. It all happened one evening when wine and whisky were all too much involved. I subtly said to her “do you like this Rolex, it’s a watch from your birth year?” I got a firm yes so I transferred the money and the beautiful timepiece was here a day or so later.

Now the big problem is, that I just can’t stop wearing it. The Datejust 1603 is a great size coming in at 36mm, recently serviced (featuring the Rolex 1570 automatic movement), keeps perfect time and just sits so well on the wrist. As my wife is working from home (many thanks to COVID) she is not really wearing a watch at the moment. I wanted to keep the date working before her birthday as this particular model is a non quickset variant. I know that this is an incredibly lame excuse but it works for me.

Anyway, this Rolex Datejust 1603 is from (both) our favorite era, from a time when a good watch was well made enough to last you an entire lifetime. I would have loved to have a matching bracelet to go with it, but it looks great on a strap for now.