#SameOrDifferent: Rolex ref3559 vs Omega "Damier"

Sunday, September 20, 2026

#SameOrDifferent -- Omega Damier (1960) vs Rolex ref3559 (1963):

Both share the same style (whitegold round & ultrathin), the same dimensions. Both come in a high-quality case with screwed caseback and a recessed winding-crown. The case was probably made even by the same casemaker: Wenger.

Both come with the back-then innovative and expensive luxurious sapphire-crystal in a diamond-like hardness and diamond-like facets.

Both come with a silver-sunburst dial, which came up in the late 1950s and were a big thing in this era.

Even more, both are powered by a FPiguet cal21-derived ultra-thin manual movement (Rolex cal650 & Omega cal540 (*klikk)).

So both share a lot of similarities but there are minor differences, too: the Rolex has a printed crosshair on a sunburst dial and a applied crown-logo, while the Omega has a printed logo and 13 applied indexes.

NB: Rolex presented its first sapphire-crystal with the 1961-published hyper-luxurious Rolex Midas-Series (King ref9630m Queen ref9904 and Princess ref9903).