Havana Dial 1803 Rolex Day-Date

The joys of Rolex Day-Date collecting are in many ways like the joys of mild alcoholism. In both, the satisfaction is to be found in minor variation. With any Day-Date, you are getting what is in essence the same functional capability, proportion, and design. But the details vary endlessly in extremely intricate ways such as…

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‘The Owl’ 25572ST Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Day Date

Not all Day Dates come in Oyster cases. Shortly after the 5402 graced the world with its presence, AP experimented with a few variations on the theme. Out of this early/mid 80s era came many of the iconic complicated Royal Oak offerings we revere today. However, the very first complicated offering to feature in AP’s…

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Birch Burlwood Dial 18038 Rolex Day-Date

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Birch is the kind of adjective you expect to find next to ‘Eames Chair’, not ‘Day-Date’. We all know Rolex has used the Day-Date to host hundreds of exotic dial materials, many in extremely low volumes. Readers here will know of my affection for ligneous Presidents, but I haven’t elaborated on their intricacies yet. Like…

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1803 Oxblood Stella Rolex Day-Date

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The Day-Date (colloquially President) is arguably Rolex’s most iconic model, full stop. It is classic, subdued, sophisticated, timeless, and coveted. Like much of vintage Rolex the variety of iterations and custom-order examples within this one model could serve as subject to multiple volumes of research. This elicits the query, where to start? Well, when both…

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Lapis Lazuli 18038 Rolex Day-Date

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If you thought the Day-Date couldn’t get more glamorous, you were wrong. Sure, Rolex’s Day-Date has played host to many an exotic dial. But even among the coveted stella, missoni, rubellite, wood burl, and aventurine dials, many consider the depth of lapis lazuli blue the most desirable. Moreover, this Lapis Lazuli is one without ornamentation, completely…

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Linen Dial 1803 Rolex Day-Date

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If Rolex had an essentials album, the 1803 would undoubtedly be a starred track. In production for nearly three decades as the halo product, Wilsdorf’s innovative Day-Date complication became synonymous with status after a 1966 ad with a red phone which simply stated, ‘the president’s watch.’ Day-Date collecting could be considered an art itself, given…

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Royal Blue 76200 Tudor Prince Day-Date

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If you’ve always dreamt of a steel Day-Date, and many of us have, they do exist. Just perhaps not where you might expect. Arguably, Tudor’s Day-Date is just as attractive if a little less historic, something of a vice-president. The 76200 Prince Day-Date debuted in the early 1990s only to be shortly discontinued in many…

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Burl Wood Dial 18039 Rolex Day-Date

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Over the years, Rolex’s Day-Date has played host to many an exotic dial. But wood? Wood has no carat rating, wood is essentially always decomposing, and wood’s inherent market value only arrives in far larger quantities than a 36mm dial. Wood has received many a black eye as a watchmaking material from countless eco-brands whose…

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19019 Rolex Oysterquartz Day-Date

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The classic 18038 Day-Date is an institution of luxury which stands outside of time, totally ageless, as an object of discreet taste. The Oysterquartz Day-Date is the sibling who wears pink floral print shirts to Michelin-star restaurants in the heart of Paris, the sibling who orders a double of Lagavulin neat from a craft cocktail…

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Pleiade 18038 Rolex Day-Date

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I must admit outright, I am not much of a diamond dial person, factory or otherwise. But I do strive to educationally Where to begin a diamond Day-Date as uncommon as this? Masterfully crafted and ostracized or adored in equal measure depending on one’s stance; I must admit outright not to be much of a…

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