• Free worldwide delivery

Rolex and a number of other Swiss watch manufacturers joined forces in the 1960s to produce the first Swiss-made quartz movement. The resulting Beta 21 calibre was used by Rolex in the ‘Il Texano’ (ref. 5100) in 1970.Apart from their pioneering quartz movements these watches were also revolutionary due to their angular case shapes and integrated bracelets. Indeed, they look a lot like the Royal Oak and Nautilus designed by the legendary Gerald Genta in 1972 and 1976, respectively. While the details are murky, a longtime colleague and friend of Genta has said that it was Genta who designed the Il Texano. It would certainly make sense, as the Royal Oak and Nautilus followed a few years later and feature the same design cues.In any case, the Il Texano was limited to just 1,000 pieces. In the early 1970s Rolex left the Beta 21 collective to develop its own in-house quartz calibre. A few years later this resulted in the Oysterquartz line. The Oysterquartz line took the angular design to a further extreme.In 1976, a year before introducing the Oysterquartz, Rolex cased an automatic movement in the case intended for the Oysterquartz Datejust. Despite featuring a 36 mm case, these watches received the ref. 1530 indicating that it was a Rolex Date. It is believed that only a few hundred of these watches were produced. This specimen of the 1530 is in amazing condition. The case still sports the original faceted edges. It even comes on its original integrated bracelet with faceted edges, whereas most 1530s have an Oysterquartz bracelet that looks similar but has flat links.Usually, the reference number and serial number for Rolex watches are stamped between the lugs at the 12 and 6-hour position, respectively. As this is impossible on the 1530 due to the integrated bracelet, these numbers are lightly engraved on the underside of the lugs. On this specimen, these numbers are still clearly visible indicating that this watch has barely been polished.The dial is unique for a Rolex watch. The 1530 essentially treats the rehaut, the sloped inner bezel ring, as part of the dial by placing the minute track and tritium lume plots there. The 1530 came with silver dials, but to the lacquer used these dials have turned a warm champagne color over time, giving the watch a wonderfully warm retro look. The dial sports applied stick markers, the S.C.O.C. text above the 6-hour position, a date aperture on the 3-hour position, and is protected by a durable sapphire crystal.What makes the watch extra special is that it comes as a complete set, with the original inner and outer box, Japanese booklets and Japanese punched papers.