Adam West, a rakishly handsome and talented actor who was eventually constrained by his role as the Caped Crusader, passed last friday night, age 88, after a short battle with leukemia. He famously played Batman in a popular (if campy) 1960s Batman TV series and due to the strength of his portrayal, never managed to shrug the association with the campy series after its cancellation.

He eventually rebounded with voiceover work as a fictionalised corrupt and vain version of himself as major of Quahog on “Family Guy” from 2000 to its recent season. Famously, he brought not just his unique vocal cadence and diction to Bruce Wayne but also his taste for watches – Adam West is recognised for his yellow gold Rolex Day-Date as much as his character, Bruce Wayne is due to his love for the watch on-screen and off.

In addition to his yellow gold Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date, Adam West was dressed predominantly in Ralph Lauren when he played Bruce Wayne.

The rakishly handsome West loved his yellow gold Rolex Day-Date so much that a number of his reel characters wore his real life timepiece.

As Bruce Wayne, Adam West shared his real love for his yellow gold Rolex Day-Date in his reel life

Before he became the Dark Knight, or as his family referred to him – “The Bright Knight” due to the stark contrast between his portrayal and the recent gothic turn of modern portrayals, West was a rising star from the late 50s where he too brought his vocabulary, gold Rolex Day-Date and almost aristocratic diction to roles on “Lawman,” “The FBI Story,” “Colt .45,” “Maverick,” “Hawaiian Eye,” “Bonanza,” “The Rifleman,” “Perry Mason,” “Gunsmoke,” “The Real McCoys,”, and “The Detectives”. Airing from 1959-62, his role in “The Detectives” playing a police sergeant was his longest running body of work before Batman which only ran for 3 seasons.

The yellow gold Rolex Day-Date has other notable owners including beloved Civil Rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King.

History of the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date

Other notable owners of the gold Rolex Day-Date includes Dr. Martin Luther King. The Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date, famously nicknamed the Presidents’ watch, earned its reputation by being a favourite of American presidents. As a result, it bestowed an aura of prestige beyond it already luxurious countenance and regal Day and Date functions. Worn by heads of states, royalty and men like West and King, the Oyster Perpetual Day-Date became the ultimate status watch It is the ultimate status watch of the 70s and 80s embodying the accomplishments and prestige of the brand and of those who wear it.

Launched in 1956, the Rolex Day-Date soon symbolised the apex of watchmaking for a brand which already obtained chronometer certification in 1914, produced the world’s first water resistant watch which also protected the movement from particulates and humidity with its “oyster case” in 1926; it also adopted an automatic winding system in 1931 which they would dub ‘perpetual’ and thus by the time Rolex unveiled the Oyster Perpetual Day-Date, it was the sum of watchmaking artistry which represented the brand – especially with its instantaneous jump calendar system as opposed to what most other watches did which was complete various date indicators closer to 2am – the novelty of instant calendar switching at midnight, earned it the nickname “miracle of midnight”. The near universal appeal of the Rolex Day-Date also meant that the day of the week arc-shaped window display at 12 o’clock was available in a choice of 26 different languages.

A millimeter smaller than 2008’s 41mm Day-Date II, the modern Day-Date 40 returns to sophisticated, less conspicuous elements, eschewing the large Roman numerals for baton indexes on this Everose gold model.

The Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date today

At Baselworld 2015, Rolex launched the ever popular Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date in a new size and a refined aesthetic – paying special attention to the bracelet and the movement. A millimeter smaller than 2008’s 41mm Day-Date II, the Day-Date 40 returned to sophisticated, less conspicuous elements, eschewing the large Roman numerals for baton indexes for platinum and Everose gold models and new minimalist Roman markers for yellow and white gold editions.

Minimalist Roman numeral hour markers are a nice touch on the new yellow gold and white gold Rolex Day-Date models.

Goes without saying that the modern Rolex Day-Date is fitted with the new generation manufacture Calibre 3255 featuring 14 patents including new bidirectional Perpetual rotor, twice the precision of a standard certified chronometer and 50% more power reserve (70 hours). The new Rolex Day-Date also features user friendly all-day/any-time calendar correction and hacking seconds for precise time setting.