Lilac Stella Dial 18238 Rolex Day-Date

Aside from the strata of piece unique one-offs for royalty, this is unquestionably one of the rarest Rolex dials to ever be produced—in single digits known now. Moreover, it’s a Stella. Stella Day-Dates are increasingly sought after for many reasons; this is the original colorful OP with added complication, one of Rolex’s earliest attempts to flirt with outrageous color. And they sold terribly; one had to be of considerable means to acquire a Day-Date in period and bright color with precious metal was often considered too gauche for its era. Today, they’re just right: everything you love about Day-Date just with a more riotous personality.

This Stella dial is Lilac. Depending on who you ask, most will tell you that yellow, lilac, or turquoise are the least seen Stella dials. This is what’s known as a third series Stella dial, which changed convention from T Swiss T in T Swiss Made T, coinciding with five-digit references and the intro of quickset. Stella is not the name of a person or place, but a Châtelaine-based company who made the special lacquer and dye used. They appeared as Stella in Rolex catalogues which was a typically Swiss factual name—not related to Frank Stella. And there was real handcraft in a sense, these are made up of hand applied layers that individually needed to dry, then a varnish layer polished by hand. It’s high gloss, high depth, and highly susceptible to hairline fractures. They are particularly delicate, examples this unperturbed are the minority. The edges of the day and date windows are soft and rounded because of this construction— and though they often have crow’s feet emanating from the apertures, this one has none.

If you like a bit of color, this is where Rolex went for inspiration on the colorful OP range. Only it’s so much more special as an entirely distinct method of dial production. And there’s no artificial scarcity, simply no one wanted them when they were new. There are rumors of Rolex destroying multiple remaining batches in the late 80s when they exited the catalogue rather than use them up. All these decades later, they’re hugely sought after. Remind you of anything? I’ve often thought the Stella & Stone dial world is a mini-PN world waiting to be discovered. They are, in a word, special.

This example sports a very full case with strong bezel. The dial has very warm tritium plots, matched in the handset. All printed text looks correct and undegraded. It comes from a well-regarded Dubai-based retailer.