Rolex's New Perpetual Padellone Revives a 70-Plus-Year-Old Design

On September 15th, Rolex unveiled the Perpetual Padellone in Milan: a 39mm annual calendar moonphase in 18k Everose gold or 950 platinum that revives the dial layout of the ref. 8171 from the early 1950s. It lands five months after Watches and Wonders, outside Rolex's usual release calendar. I first saw it in James Stacey's hands-on coverage for Hodinkee, and at that point, Rolex hadn't even posted about the watch on its own Instagram.

A Complicated 1908 Was a Matter of Time

Many of us saw this coming. When the Perpetual 1908 replaced the Cellini line in 2023, it inherited a dress watch silhouette that looked a lot like its predecessor, and the Cellini had already given us a moonphase (ref. 50535, launched in 2017) and a pointer date. Back in February 2025, I wrote that a moonphase was the safest bet for the 1908's first complication, with a triple or perpetual calendar as the bigger swing. Rolex went with the bigger swing and gave it a new name, making the Padellone the second model line in the Perpetual collection.

The First Rolex Triple Calendar Layout in Over 70 Years

Rolex ref. 8171 (left) and ref. 6062 (right). Image Source: Phillip's

The 8171 and its Oyster-cased sibling, the ref. 6062 (which we covered when one sold for roughly $6.2 million last October), both ended production by 1953, according to Phillips. The Cellini Moonphase brought the moon back in 2017, but a Rolex dial with day and month windows, a pointer date, and a moonphase hasn't existed in more than 70 years. The Padellone brings back all of it: day and month apertures at 12 o'clock, a blue date hand with a crescent-moon tip, and a meteorite moonphase at 6 o'clock.

Despite the name, this is an annual calendar, and "Perpetual" refers to the collection. Rolex's new patented Haplos system adds two parts to the date mechanism, a carrier finger and an annual lever, which let the watch distinguish 30-day months from 31-day months. You'll correct it once a year, when February turns to March, and the date, day, and month all jump instantly at midnight. The new calibre 7190 is built on the 5 Hz calibre 7135 from the Land-Dweller, with Rolex's silicon Dynapulse escapement and roughly 66 hours of power reserve. Setting is the tradeoff: corrections happen through four recessed pushers in the case band using an included stylus, which is less elegant than a crown-set calendar, though true to the original models and only a once-a-year concern if you daily wear the watch.

The Proportions Stay Close to the Vintage References

At 39mm across and 12.2mm thick, the Padellone isn't far off from the 38mm 8171, a case so large for its era that it earned the watch its nickname: "Padellone" roughly translating from Italian to "large frying pan." The applied Arabic numerals at 3 and 9 recall the dials found on some 6062s, and the grained texture gives the white and ice blue dials some visual contrast without making the dial feel busy. My favorite detail is how the ring-shaped hour hand, carried over from the 1908, echoes the circular moonphase subdial at 6 o'clock.

I’m seeing a lot of people say they wish Rolex placed a small seconds hand atop the moonphase subdial, like on the ref. 8171. I get that, but this larger center seconds hand shows off the 5 Hz movement, and I think a sub-seconds register might crowd the more exposed moonphase on the Perpetual Padellone.

Rolex Built the Context for This Watch

Rolex Perpetual 1908

For a release that came out of nowhere, the Padellone doesn't feel random, because Rolex spent three years building out the 1908 before adding a complication. The ice blue dial debuted on the platinum 1908 in 2024, and the seven-link Settimo bracelet arrived at Watches and Wonders 2025 in yellow gold. Both now appear on the Padellone.

Pricing starts at $59,000 for Everose gold on a brown alligator strap, $66,200 for platinum on black alligator, and $72,800 for Everose gold on the Settimo bracelet. That's a lot of money, but a clean 8171 trades well into six figures today, and estimates put total production somewhere between 1,000 and 1,400 pieces.

Rolex Made a Collector Nickname Official

Collectors coined the 8171 as the "Padellone" (“large frying pan”) for its oversized case. Rolex almost never acknowledges collector nicknames in its catalog, and I can't think of another Rolex model that took its official name from collector slang. Launching it in Milan, a longtime center of vintage Rolex collecting, adds to that. Rolex hasn't explained its reasoning, but the name and the city both read as a nod to the collectors who kept this reference's story alive for 70 years.

What do you think of the Perpetual Padellone? Would you take the Everose or the ice blue platinum? Let us know in the comments below.