Rolex Submariner Date Purple vintage 1981

The Rolex Submariner 16613 from 1981 has done something the contemporary market has spent decades trying to engineer: it developed a patina. The black dial has shifted. The cream and gold hands have aged toward something that cannot be replicated from a factory. Two-tone Oyster bracelet — steel and yellow gold — on a calibre 3035 movement that was already legendary when this watch was new. The purple tint on certain examples of this reference has made them objects of serious collector attention. Watch only.