18k Rolex Day-Date 40 'President' watches

Let’s face it. The ‘80s weren’t a pretty time for watchmaking – or for design in general, for that matter. That said, Rolex was never one to try and reinvent the wheel or throw out past design codes. It also didn’t suffer nearly as badly through the decade either, compared to many of the other brands in the industry. Sitting right at the boundary of what could be considered vintage Rolex watches, the various references from the 1980s often don’t carry quite the same cachet as pieces from the ‘60s and ‘70s; however, a number of incredibly important vintage Rolex watches first appeared during the 1980s, and they have become increasingly popular in more recent years.

What does this mean for collectors? Well, among other things, it makes for an entire decade worth of Rolex watches that are still more attainable than their older counterparts (at least for now). These 1980s Rolex watches will likely never quite catch up to quite the same levels of value and collectibility as their older counterparts, but as general interest in them (and prices) have been on the rise, they make for highly attractive options for those that want a vintage Rolex but who don’t want to necessarily invest as much as what is required to obtain one of the legendary blue-chip models from the earlier 18k Rolex Day-Date 40 'President' watches years of Rolex’s history. With that in mind, here’s a handful of Rolex models from the New Wave and Synth-Pop era of the 1980s
Rolex introduced many of its pillar models during the 1950s, including the Submariner, GMT-Master, and Explorer. It was an era of incredible innovation and success for the company that had become a key player in the luxury watch industry. The brand’s professional series watches were among the finest on the market, offering unparalleled accuracy and durability.

That all changed in the 1970s when the global watch industry saw a considerable shift from mechanical watches to those powered by inexpensive quartz movements. Japan had risen through the ranks as the top watch producer, threatening to topple the entire Swiss luxury watch industry. The ASUAG group alone saw a sharp decrease in total production of 80% during this Luxury UK Rolex Replica Watches time. To compete, Rolex released their own collection of quartz-powered watches in the form of the Oysterquartz series. Through precise, well-made movements and classic Rolex styling, the company survived what has since become known as the Quartz Crisis of the 1970s.