Rolex 1007 Oyster Perpetual

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Oyster Perpetual -> 1007

The 1007 is the engine-turned member of the 4-digit no-date Oyster Perpetual line. Same 34mm Oyster case as the 1002, same caliber 1560 and then caliber 1570, same chronometer certification and acrylic crystal; the difference is a wide, flat bezel milled with alternating cut and polished segments instead of a plain polished surround. It ran from around 1959 into the early 1980s, in steel and in solid gold, and it is the reference that carries the widest documented dial spread of the whole group.

Rolex applied the engine-turned treatment across several reference numbers at once, so the 1007 has to be read against its immediate siblings rather than on its own. What separates it in practice is variety: retailer-signed dials for Tiffany & Co. and for Serpico y Laino, gold cases in both 14 and 18 carat, a blue horizontal-brushed dial nobody has been able to match to a second example, and a 1967 steel watch whose dial carries a printed cartoon beagle.

Steel 1007 with a blue horizontal-brushed dial and the reference's engine-turned bezel

Core facts

detail value
reference 1007
family Oyster Perpetual
production c.1959 into the early 1980s
case diameter 34mm
lug width 19mm
thickness c.12mm
case material stainless steel; 14k and 18k yellow gold; steel with gold bezel
bezel engine-turned, wide and flat; catalogued variously as reeded, ribbed or milled
crystal acrylic
movement caliber 1560 (to c.1965), then caliber 1570
certification Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified
date complication none
bracelet 7205 rivet Oyster (19mm, 57 or 60 end links), later 78350 Oyster; Jubilee and leather also original
sibling references 1002 (smooth), 1003 / 1006 / 1008 (engine-turned), 1005 (fluted gold)
oversized relative [[Reference:1018 1018]], the 36mm case

Where it sits in the line

The 4-digit no-date Oyster Perpetuals are a single watch offered with a choice of bezel. The 1002 takes a smooth polished surround. The 1003, 1006, 1007 and 1008 all take engine-turned bezels in varying patterns. The 1005 takes the fluted bezel, which in this family is always cast in gold, white gold on the steel watches and yellow on the gold ones. Everything behind the bezel is shared: 34mm case, screw-down back and crown, 19mm lugs, acrylic crystal, chronometer-rated no-date automatic.

Because four reference numbers share the engine-turned description, the published literature does not draw a clean line between them, and neither do the auction houses. What the documented 1007 examples show consistently is a wide, flat bezel with the milling running edge to edge rather than a narrow band of fine reeding. Beyond that, distinguishing a 1007 from a 1003 or an 1008 comes down to the number engraved between the lugs and stamped inside the caseback, not to a feature anyone can call from a photograph.

The 1007 sits below the 1018 in the same line by two millimetres of case and one millimetre of lug width. Where the 1018 is the outlier that reaches Explorer proportions, the 1007 is the mainstream 34mm Oyster Perpetual with the more interesting bezel, and it sold in quantity for two decades on that basis.

Production outline

Rolex published no production figure for the 1007 and no dated catalogue page has surfaced that fixes its introduction. Caliber 1560 entered production in 1959 and is the earliest movement documented in the reference, which puts the start of the run at 1959 or very shortly after. Case numbers running into the 3.2 million band by 1971 and a solid-gold example catalogued as 1980s put the end of it in the early 1980s.

Dated examples fill in most of the intervening years. Case number 487969 carries caliber 1560 and belongs to the earliest group. Antiquorum catalogued case number 529090 as made in 1959, case number 1228334 as made in 1964, case number 1691063 as made in 1965 and case number 830809 as made in 1967. A caseback stamped 1007 and date-coded I.66 sits on a watch with a 1.3 million serial. Christie's dated case number 1'485'056 to around 1966 and Sotheby's dated case number 1'693'858 to around 1967 and case number 2985098 to around 1971. A hallmarked 18k example carries serial 3271XXX and a 1971 date, with a punched guarantee and a 1978 calendar card in the box. Bonhams catalogued case number 2297890 as 1970s and case number 355**** as around 1972.

One caution about dating from catalogue text. Antiquorum described a watch with case number 537632 as made in 1977, a serial that belongs to 1959 by every published chart; and Bonhams dated the Serpico y Laino gold example to circa 1950, which cannot be right because caliber 1560 did not exist until 1959. Where a house date and a case number disagree on a 1007, the case number is the better guide.

Movement notes

Caliber 1570 in a 1007, stamped TWENTY SIX 26 JEWELS, with the Microstella balance at left

Caliber 1560 powers the reference from the start of the run to about 1965. It is a rhodium-plated automatic of 25 or 26 jewels beating at 18,000 vph, adjusted to temperature and five positions, with a free-sprung balance carrying Microstella regulating screws, a self-compensating Breguet balance spring and a shock absorber. Early examples are the ones with the butterfly rotor. Chronometer certification is the reason the dial carries the Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified line.

Caliber 1570 takes over from 1965 and runs to 1974. The frequency rises to 19,800 vph and the power reserve extends to around 48 hours; the architecture is otherwise the same 26-jewel movement. Hacking seconds came to the 1500 family in 1972, which divides late 1007s from everything earlier. Both calibers are shared with the 1018 and the Explorer 1016, and the movement reference carries the full lineage.

Dial map

The Sotheby's 'Snoopy' example: the printed character sits left of centre, above the chronometer text

No other reference in this group has as much documented dial variety, and it splits along four lines: finish, colour, marker style, and retailer signature.

The default is a silvered dial, and there are at least three distinct silvered finishes on record. Sunburst is the most common, with an applied coronet and bevelled polished baton markers. A textured or linen silvered finish appears on later examples. A matte silvered version turns up on the earliest gold watches with applied gold dart and tapered bar markers. Champagne appears on gold cases, sometimes as a graduated gradient with tritium-marked hour plots. White dials appear on 1970s steel examples, and a beige or cream tone shows up on 14k gold ones, though on watches of this age the line between an original cream dial and an aged silver one is not always drawable.

Two colour branches are worth separating out. A sunburst blue dial with applied polished baton markers, white outer minute divisions and luminous five-minute dots is documented on steel examples around 1972, and is the standard blue configuration. Separately, a blue dial with a horizontal brushed finish rather than a sunburst has surfaced on a 1967 steel example, described by the specialist who handled it as one they had never seen a second time. One example is a lead, not a variant; the horizontal-brushed blue should be treated as unmapped until another surfaces. Black dials with applied gilt faceted baton markers and gilt lance hands are documented on gold cases and carry the retailer signatures discussed below.

The one thing that should be assumed rather than hoped for is refinishing. Custom-coloured 1007 dials circulate openly, and Antiquorum has catalogued at least one example explicitly as a custom dial, selling it at the bottom of its estimate. Turquoise, orange and other non-factory colours offered on this reference are refinished dials, not discoveries. Printed character dials belong in the same category; the Sotheby's 'Snoopy' covered below is the best known of them.

Case, bezel, crystal, and crown

The engine-turned bezel seen edge-on, with the Twinlock screw-down crown
Reference 1007 and REGISTERED DESIGN engraved between the lugs

The case is a three-body Oyster in a tonneau profile, polished and brushed, with a screw-down caseback and screw-down crown, 34mm across the bezel and around 12mm thick. The lugs are drilled and take a 19mm bracelet. The crystal is acrylic throughout the run; there is no sapphire 1007.

The bezel is the reference's whole identity and the thing the catalogues handle worst. Rolex's own term is engine-turned. Heritage has called it reeded, Christie's ribbed, Sotheby's milled, and Bonhams once catalogued it as a Turnograph bezel, which it is not, since the Turnograph is a rotating timing bezel and this one is fixed. On the watch itself the pattern is a wide flat band of alternating cut and polished segments running the full width of the surround, aligned so the cuts read as fine radial texture in the light. On gold cases the bezel is gold and the milling reads softer.

Case material is where the 1007 spreads furthest. Stainless steel is the volume production. Solid 14k yellow gold is documented from the earliest part of the run and is described by dealers as the more common of the two gold options; solid 18k yellow gold is documented from 1960 through 1971 and into an 1980s example that came with its original box and papers. A hallmarked 18k case runs around 53 grams. Bonhams also catalogued a steel-and-yellow-gold example under the paired designation 1007/1005, which is a reminder that in this family the case is common property and the bezel is what the reference number encodes.

Bracelets, end links, and clasps

Screw-down caseback on a 7205 rivet Oyster; the end links are stamped 60

Original steel delivery through the 1960s was on the 7205 rivet Oyster, 19mm, with a signed folding clasp. End-link stamps vary within the fitment: 57 is the number usually quoted for the 19mm 7205, and the 1967 example Sotheby's catalogued wears 60. A 1966 example survives with a caseback date-coded I.66 and a clasp stamped 2-66, head and bracelet from consecutive quarters. From the late 1960s the folded-link 78350 with 557 end links takes over, and clasp codes running into the 1970s and 1980s are period-correct on later heads. Jubilee bracelets appear on some examples. Gold watches came on gold fold-over bracelets or on leather with a signed gold buckle, and the 19mm strap width carries across.

A clasp code dates the bracelet and only the bracelet. Sixty years of servicing has separated most 1007 heads from what they left the factory on, and a later clasp stamp on an earlier case is normal wear history rather than evidence of a problem. The cross-family detail sits on the bracelet and clasp guide.

Special branches

Tiffany & Co.

A 14k yellow-gold 1007 with a Tiffany & Co. signature below the Rolex coronet is the best-documented retailer branch on the reference. The watch is case number 529090, made in 1959, with a silver dial carrying applied gold dart and tapered bar markers, caliber 1560 with 25 jewels, on a 14k gold fold-over bracelet, and triple-signed on case, dial and movement. It sold at Heritage in New York in May 2013 and again at Antiquorum in Geneva two years later, which makes it one of the few 1007s with a traceable modern ownership chain.

Serpico y Laino

The Caracas retailer Serpico y Laino signed Rolex dials in volume through the 1950s and 1960s, and an 18k gold 1007 carries the signature below 12 on a black dial with applied gilt faceted baton markers, gilt outer minute divisions with luminous five-minute dots, and gilt lance hands. The watch is case number 487969, weighs just under 53 grams and runs caliber 1560. Bonhams offered it in Paris in October 2024 and it went unsold against a high estimate. A Serpico y Laino 1018 has also surfaced, so the signature spans the family rather than singling out the 1007.

The Sotheby's 'Snoopy'

The 'Snoopy' 1007, case 1'693'858, circa 1967

Sotheby's catalogued a steel 1007 in New York in October 2020 under the lot title Oyster Perpetual 'Snoopy', and the name is literal. The silvered dial carries a printed Snoopy with Woodstock perched against him, sitting between the coronet and the Superlative Chronometer text. Case number 1'693'858, circa 1967, caliber 1570, on a 7205 rivet Oyster with 60 end links. It made USD 6,300 against a USD 4,000–6,000 estimate, the strongest 1007 result located.

The catalogue photographs the character plainly but describes the dial only as silvered and says nothing about who printed it. Rolex has never held a Peanuts licence and no factory character dial is documented on this reference, which puts the Snoopy alongside the custom colours: decoration applied outside Geneva to an otherwise honest watch. It cleared its high estimate anyway.

Auction record

The 1007 trades in the low thousands as a rule, frequently without reserve, and often in general watch sales rather than dedicated vintage Rolex auctions. Gold cases and retailer signatures carry the top of the range, and the two highest results on record are a nicknamed steel example and a Tiffany-signed gold one. The two most expensive lots offered in recent years, both gold and both estimated in five figures, failed to sell, which suggests the ceiling for the reference sits below where consignors have been placing it.

date house configuration result
Oct 2020 Sotheby's New York, lot 96 steel 'Snoopy', silvered dial, cal 1570, case 1'693'858, c.1967 USD 6,300 (est. USD 4,000–6,000)
May 2015 Antiquorum Geneva, lot 110 14k gold, Tiffany & Co. signed, case 529090, made 1959 CHF 4,750 (est. CHF 3,000–5,000)
May 2013 Heritage New York, lot 081 the same Tiffany-signed 14k gold example, case 529090 USD 4,062
Nov 2014 Christie's Hong Kong, Important Watches, lot 2430 14k gold, gilt brushed dial, cal 1570, case 1'485'056, c.1966 HKD 27,500 (est. HKD 32,000–48,000)
Nov 2024 Bonhams, Weekly Watches Online, lot 83 steel, white dial, case 2297890, Oyster bracelet, 1970s USD 1,920 (no reserve)
Mar 2018 Sotheby's, Fine Timepieces Online, lot 111 steel, silvered textured dial, cal 1570, case 2985098, c.1971 CHF 1,600 (est. CHF 1,500–3,000)
Nov 2016 Antiquorum Geneva, lot 39 steel, custom dial, case 1228334, made 1964, rivet bracelet CHF 1,063 (est. CHF 1,000–2,000)
May 2013 Bonhams Knightsbridge, lot 222 steel, sunburst blue dial, cal 1570, 78350 bracelet, c.1972 GBP 937
Oct 2024 Bonhams Paris, lot 3014 18k gold, Serpico y Laino signed black dial, case 487969 not sold (est. EUR 6,000–8,000)
Sep 2024 Bonhams, Weekly Watches Online, lot 2012 steel and yellow gold, catalogued 1007/1005, silvered dial, c.1966 not sold (est. USD 2,200–3,200)

Related references

See also the Oyster Perpetual family index, movement reference, bracelet & clasp guide, and serial numbers by year.

Sources

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