Rolex Watches with Arabic Dial Complete Guide & List

Rolex watches with Arabic Dial – List of Rolex Arabic Dials

The Arabic dial Rolex watches are specially made watches for the Middle Eastern market. The “custom” watches date back to the 1950s when Rolex fitted Arabic discs to some of the most striking Day-Date watches.

Rolex has continued to have a close relationship with the Middle East market throughout the years due to the strong and important market it is for Rolex. This is also why almost all Rolex watches with Arabic dials are made in precious metal and are often also decorated with gemstones. On the dials of these special watches, the regular hour markers have been replaced by Arabic Hindi numerals.

Rolex has “customized” watches for a number of markets throughout the years and the purpose is of course to strengthen their presence and customer relationship in important and emerging markets.

In the words of Phillips auctions:

“Throughout the years, Rolex has cultivated and sustained its successful relationship with the Arab States by producing a multitude of special order watches for the region.”

Some of the Arabic dial Rolex watches are part of the standard production for the Middle Eastern market if you can even call the Arabic dial watches standard production considering their extreme rarity. But over the decades, Rolex has also manufactured multiple watches for important individuals and families, including members of Royal families. This means that several of the Arabic Rolex watches will likely never become known to the public.

Furthermore, since none of the Arabic dial Rolex watches are part of the standard product category, few people actually know that they exist. And even if they are available from Rolex retailers today, it’s not like you can just walk into a store and buy them. Due to the extremely low production, these pieces are almost exclusively reserved for the stores’ most exclusive VIP customers, often prominent people, and sometimes even for the Royal families.  Or, in Christie’s Auctions own words:

“Eastern Arabic numerals – a hallmark of the edition created by Rolex for the brand’s elite roster of Middle Eastern clients and royalty.”

The numerals used for the Arabic Rolex watches come from the Hindu-Arabic numeral system, and shall not be confused with the “regular” 1, 2, 3 numerals which are also called “Arabic numerals“.

As described by Wikipedia:

“The reason the digits are more commonly known as “Arabic numerals” in Europe and the Americas is that they were introduced to Europe in the tenth century by Arabic speakers of Spain and North Africa, who were then using the digits from Libya to Morocco. In the eastern part of Arabic Peninsula, Arabs were using the Eastern Arabic numerals or “Mashriki” numerals”. These are the ones that are used for the Arabic Rolex dials and look as follows: ٠ ١ ٢ ٣ ٤ ٥ ٦ ٧ ٨ ٩

There are no official numbers for how many watches that Rolex has made with the Arabic numerals since they first started in the 1950s. But what we can say is that they are extremely rare and the total production numbers very low. The older models with Arabic dials in particular are exceptionally rare and rarely come out for sale on the market. And if they do, it’s usually at auction at exceptionally high prices, reflecting their rarity.

After having produced Arabic dial watches since the 1950s, Rolex stopped in the late 1970s. It would take until 2016 when Rolex once again started to make Arabic dial watches for the Middle Eastern market again. And you’ll be able to see the models that Rolex has in its offering in the list below. What they all have in common, however, is that they are made in full platinum. This reflects Rolex’s goal and purpose of with these watches of targeting the ultra-wealthy in the Middle East.

Many of the Rolex watches that are seen with Arabic dials are aftermarket dials and not original Rolex dials. But Rolex has actually done a handful of watches, and continues to make, watches with Arabic numerals on the dials, exclusively reserved for the Middle Eastern market. Rolex’s  Arabic dial watches are produced in exceedingly limited numbers and sold exclusively by Middle East retailers.

There are also Day-Date and Datejust watches that do not have Arabic numerals for the hour markers, but instead Arabic day and date discs. But in this article, we will focus on the watches with Arabi numerals for the hour markers.

List of Rolex Arabic dials

---

Day-Date Platinum 228206 Arabic ice blue dial

---

Daytona platinum 116506 Arabic ice blue dial

---

Daytona platinum 116576TBR Arabic ice blue dial

---

Day-Date platinum 228206 Arabic green dial

---

Day-Date platinum 228396TBR Arabic green dial

---

Day-Date platinum 228396TBR Arabic ice blue

---

Day-Date 1803 purple Arabic dial

---

Rolex Oyster 6144 Arabic dial

---

Daytona “The Arabian Knight” with Arabic dial

---

Day-Date 1803 pink gold white Arabic dial

---

Day-Date 36 1804 platinum silver Arabic dial

---

Day-Date 36 white gold 1803 tapisserie Arabic dial

---

Day-Date 36 1803 pink gold tapisserie Arabic dial

---

Day-Date 36 1811 yellow gold champagne Arabic dial

---

Oyster Perpetual Date 1500 Black Arabic dial

---

Oyster Perpetual Date 1500 Silver Arabic dial

---

Cover photo courtesy of Phillips.com.