Now, we all know the limited edition of Rolex King Midas ref9630 was made between 1962 and 1972 in less than 800 examples in total with just 144 in white gold and the rest in yellow gold. But how many of the Rolex reference 3580 were made from 1972 onwards?

The unlimited ref3580 was made in approx 600 examples with 250 in white gold and still the majority in yellow gold -- although the relation changed from the original reference 9630.

Ad 1) The first 200 ref3580 were made with the former dial with the MIDAS print and not with the Cellini print. Reason was probably that the original series was planned and limited to 1'000 examples, which were never made, since the chapter ref9630 was closed after 10 years in 1972 but since more than 200 dials were left over from this series they were practically mounted to the successor ref3580.

Ad 2) The reason the chapter ref3580 was closed after less than 2 years in 1974, already was the steadily and steeply increasing gold price: while in 1962 when the same weight-ref9630 was introduced the ounce fine gold was priced fix USD35 by the Fed it was rising from USD35 in 1967 to USD180 in 1974 -- +400% and the kiss of death for an almost 200 grams heavy watch.

Ad 3) With the price of gold increasing further we assume that the majority of all ref9630 or same design and weight ref3580 were smelted in the last 50 years. Especially when gold was reaching USD700 in 1980 -- inflation adjusted a much higher price than today -- such a watch could not be farther away from the trend of a plastic cased calculator watch or a steel sportswatch.