One of the most elegant and classic Rolex watches is the Day-Date, featuring a white dial adorned with raised yellow gold Roman numerals. Rolex has been crafting this model with a similar dial for decades, but the latest 40MM version is simply remarkable!
This magnificently designed dial boasts incredibly intricate and highly stylized markers that are distinctly angular and reminiscent of Art Deco design. This level of attention to detail, coupled with timeless design language is what sets Rolex apart from all other brands and frankly, makes Rolex, Rolex...
The thing about Rolex watches, is often times you fall in love with a model, and then you just can't seem to get her out of your head, and that's the case here...well actually it's more the dial...Rolex introduced this magnificent beauty at Watches and Wonders back in 2022, and at the time a few escaped the press releases though they had never been in the Rolex catalog before. And they deserve a mention. Check out Jake's story, for example, on his favorite release of 2022, a release that flew under the radar: The Datejust 41 blue fluted motif dial.
The Rolex that caught my eye at the time was the then new 40mm Day-Date in yellow gold with a lacquered green dial and gold Roman numerals which also escaped media coverage. I find the watch just absolutely beautiful. Long-time watch aficionado Kristian Haagen was able to try one on. This was a new 2022 model.
Photo Credit: Kristian Haagen
The yellow gold combined with this green dial reminds me a lot of the discontinued yellow-gold GMT-Master II.
I find this new Day-Date beautiful; it's pure class and surely deserves to be highlighted.
This macro shot of a Rolex Day-Date is just AMAZING!!! The color combination of a rainforest green starburst dial with raised yellow gold roman numerals is stunning.
You have to give credit, where credit is due, and in this case, Rolex really did an incredible job in designing the 40MM Rolex Day-Date, which was scaled perfectly from the original 36MM model.
Rolex posted this amazing Instagram short video of a Platinum ice-blue Day-Date striking midnight. I was able to turn 10 seconds of the video into the highest quality GIF possible. I love how the day and date change simultaneously and instantly at midnight in their respective windows.
The Day-Date is considered the emblem — nay, scratch that — the ultimate watch of prestige at Rolex. It was Hans Wilsdorf in 1956 who wanted a watch that displayed the day. The Day-Date was Rolex founder's brainchild, and it became the first wrist watch in the world to show both the day and the date in full letters, a feature widely considered a major innovation in horology worldwide.
The Day-Date, which is offered only in precious metal — yellow gold, white gold, Everose and platinum — is available in 26 languages, including Latin, as Latin is still spoken in the Vatican. The ice-blue dial is reserved exclusively for platinum watches at Rolex.
The technical feat achieved in 2022 was to offer a fluted bezel in platinum, something that was made possible only after years of research and development, Rolex told me. Platinum is soft and challenging to work with, especially when carrying out finishing.
The Rolex representative told me it was akin to scooping soft butter ("du beurre mou") without leaving any residue. The most challenging part was to create the sharp edges and smooth sides that are emblematic of the fluted bezel. And Rolex had to come up with a new manufacturing process.
Rolex is discontinuing the smooth bezel on the Day-Date, as the fluted bezel is the signature design of Rolex. I wrote last year about the fluted motif seen even in Rolex architecture throughout the world. So today the Day-Date in platinum — the quintessential watch of prestige — is getting the quintessential Rolex design. It is fascinating to see a brand whose watches sell themselves still invest in research and development to improve design, quality and manufacturing.
Jack Forster compares & contrasts the 40MM Rolex Day-Date model to the 36MM
Jack Forster recently published a story titled, "In-Depth: Conspicuously Consumed—The Rolex Day-Date In 36mm and 40mm, Compared." I have to say this is the best Rolex article I have ever read written on the Rolex Day-Date. And understand, Rolex asked me to write the lead introductory story regarding the Rolex Day-Date for 'The Rolex Magazine' Issue Number 4, which is a Rolex paper magazine that cannot be subscribed to, but can only be acquired at local Rolex Authorized Dealers.
Jack began his amazing story with the following quote:
"...as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold—everywhere the glint of gold." —HOWARD CARTER, THE DISCOVERY OF THE TOMB OF TUTANKHAMEN.
Beginning his story with this gold quote serves as the most perfect elixir for such a great story. Later on in the story, Jack drops this superb quote:
"This is gold, Mr. Bond. All my life I've been in love with its color...it's brilliance, it's divine heaviness." —Goldfinger, 1964.
Once again, Jack's use of quotation is incredibly contextualizing!!! It's cuts like a warm knife through butter.
Jack Forster, Editor In Chief of Hodinkee.com pictured above
Ironically, Jack and I had a somewhat antithetical experience with the Rolex Day-Date when we were younger. He initially shied away from it, whereas I went after it like a moth-to-the-flame, or a kid-in-a-candy-store, as I point out in my above mentioned article named The Rolex Precedent. I have said many times before that often times I have to hate something before I can love it, and sometimes it's vice versa.
Rolex is celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Rolex Oyster which debuted in 1926. 2016 also represents the 60th anniversary of the Rolex Day-Date which was introduced in 1956. Rolex created a special 60th anniversary model with a green dial to commemorate this anniversary, and it comes with a green dial as seen below. Rolex is offering this model in EverRose Gold as seen below, as well as in White Gold, and both feature the new movement Caliber 3255. You can learn much more about this beauty on the Rolex Microsite dedicated to this model.
Historically Rolex has always been extremely secretive and discreet, and no journalists in the past have ever been invited "INSIDE ROLEX" to explore and report on all four Rolex Manufacturing faclities in Switzerland.
In November 2013, this changed when Rolex invited Jake to take an unprecdented journey into the heart of Rolex to learn and report on everything he witnessed and learned.
This Super-Detailed 3 Part Story is a "MUST READ" story for anybody who wants to understand what really makes Rolex tick.
