The pave diamond Lady-Datejust, with papers, and a reference to check.

The Lady-Datejust is the Datejust at 26mm, the size Rolex made for women from the 1950s until it moved the line to 28mm in 2015. It is the same watch in miniature: an Oyster case with a screw-down crown, an automatic chronometer movement, the date under its Cyclops lens at three, a fluted or engine-turned bezel, and a Jubilee or Oyster bracelet. Because Rolex made them for six decades in every dial and metal, the pre-owned market is deep and this is where the money goes when people search for a women’s Rolex.

Three things in WGACA’s listing contradict each other. The reference 69178 is Rolex’s solid yellow gold Lady-Datejust President, not a steel and gold watch on a Jubilee. The size, 28mm, is the Lady-Datejust size Rolex introduced in 2015, and a 69178 was made in the 1980s and 1990s at 26mm. And the V-series serial the seller quotes is from about 2009, twenty years after the 69178 and six years before any 28mm. What the photograph shows, a two-tone 26mm Lady-Datejust with a fluted gold bezel, a pave diamond Roman dial and a Jubilee with a Crownclasp, is the 179173 of the 2000s, and the papers in the box will carry the real reference.

WGACA gives the reference as 69178, the size as 28mm, the case as steel with a gold fluted bezel and sapphire, the dial as diamond pave and gold-tone with Roman numerals, the bracelet as a Jubilee with a hidden crown clasp, the serial as V33xxxxx, box and papers as included, the wrist as 7 inches and the condition as Excellent with minor scratching. The copy keeps the description and the photograph and rejects the reference and size, and says why; the calibre, chronometer rating, reserve and 100 metres are Rolex’s figures for the 179173 the watch appears to be.

WGACA authenticates in-house and is not a Rolex authorised dealer, and Amazon adds its 30-day return window. Ask for the serial, whether box or papers come with it, and when it was last serviced. Nothing here was measured on the watch. Above all, ask for a photograph of the reference between the lugs and of the papers before paying.

This unit is sold by What Goes Around Comes Around (WGACA) through Amazon Luxury Stores, authenticated by the seller with Amazon’s 30-day return window on top; it is one piece, and when it sells the listing goes away, so the second button opens the live search for 26mm Lady-Datejusts.

Steel and two-tone Lady-Datejusts have resold close to what pre-owned buyers paid, sometimes more, sometimes less; that is a pattern, not a promise, and nothing here is investment advice.