Rolex Chronograph, Ref 4500 in Stainless steel, Circa 1946

Launched in the early 1940s, the Rolex reference 4500 was a taste of things to come in terms of chronograph designs from the firm with the crown.The reference 4500 chronograph introduced an all new case style with straighter, more pointed lugs that are still found on modern Rolex Oyster models, ranging from the Date just, to the Day-Date, to the Daytona. Prior to its introduction, Rolex had preferred the Calatrava-style lugs, with slightly curved lines. It is furthermore one of the very rare chronographs in an Oyster case to feature only two counters, doing without the hour totalizer. This stainless steal model with champagne dial has applied gold pyramid numerals with Romain 12 and 6. The outer black tachymeter completes the dial features with gold baton hands and two secondary dials indicating seconds and 30 minutes.