Rolex Day-Date | THE ICONS

D.C. Hannay

Welcome to The Icons, a collection the place we take a horological deep dive into probably the most legendary watches of all time. We’ll delve into the story behind the watch, its evolution through the years, well-known (and notorious) wearers, the basic references, and the up to date variations you have to be testing. This week, it’s the Rolex Day-Date.

Whether or not you name it the Day-Date, the President, the Presidential, and even El Presidente, that is probably the watch most non-watch folks consider after they consider Rolex. Whereas watch nerds might rattle off esoteric Swiss watchmakers and obscure reference numbers, definitely, Rolex is the go-to reply once you ask a regular particular person what a “good” watch is, and the gold Day-Date is the very first thing their thoughts’s eye sees each time the Geneva-based manufacture is talked about.

Rolex is as ubiquitous a model as Band-Support or Kleenex, and with good cause. Their tradition of constant high quality, yr after yr, has stood them in good stead with watch consumers worldwide. New fashions are seldom launched, quite, incremental design tweaks come at a generally glacial tempo. The end result? The vast majority of Rolex designs are typically thought-about classics, refined over a few years by way of small enhancements to the actions, case dimensions, dial supplies, and different elements. They management each side of their manufacturing, from the milling of instances and bracelets right down to motion manufacture, and even the smelting of their very own gold alloys. With correct servicing, a Rolex might be handed down for generations. They maintain their worth as nicely, and may even be used as forex in the suitable circumstance. Except you’re extraordinarily fortunate (or an excellent repeat buyer), you’ll be able to’t even purchase one at retail. So how did the Day-Date attain this peak on the high of the horological mountain?

Early Historical past

There have been loads of good watches on this planet earlier than the Day-Date. Gold pocket watches with excessive problems, skinny and stylish costume watches from watchmakers like Patek Philippe, even Rolex themselves have been crafting fancy timepieces from valuable metals lengthy earlier than. However let’s face it, you’ll be able to’t put on most costume watches within the pool, and producers finally started fancying up their bigger, extra utility-based software watches into what’s now often known as the “costume sports activities watch” class. A watch that may simply transition from a day on the workplace to an evening out, after which deal with a weekend’s exercise with ease. Rolex’s personal Datejust matches squarely in that field, however what about these prospects searching for one thing a bit additional? Enter the Day-Date.

First launched in 1956, the 36mm Day-Date was the primary watch to characteristic each a full day of the week aperture and a separate date window on the dial. It advanced from the Datejust’s primary structure, however was solely provided in valuable steel, together with the trademark fluted bezel. The water resistant Oyster case nailed the temporary for a luxurious do-all watch, too, gliding effortlessly from boardroom to beachfront. The brand new three-link bracelet appeared suitably luxe as nicely, and felt like wrapping your wrist in little ingots of gold. It’s this bracelet, made solely for the Day-Date, that’s now merely known as the “President”.

Rise To Fame

So why ‘President’? Opposite to well-liked perception, US President Dwight Eisenhower didn’t put on a Day-Date (his was a yellow gold Datejust). However JFK did personal a Day-Date, nonetheless briefly. Apparently a present from Marilyn Monroe (full with a personalised engraving), Kennedy disposed of it as quickly as potential.

It was JFK’s successor LBJ who launched the Day-Date to presidential standing. The ‘President’ moniker stems from Lyndon B. Johnson’s 36mm white-dialled yellow gold Day-Date that he wore throughout his presidency.

Up to date actions and extra dial variations adopted through the years, and the mannequin grew to become considered as the Rolex. The Day-Date was a cultural establishment: You couldn’t throw a martini olive with out hitting one at a rustic membership. Film stars and musicians beloved it, and it grew to become an emblem for a lot of that you simply’d lastly “made it”.

With the Day-Date’s increasing reputation got here the chance for higher personalisation, and an enormous array of dial selections grew to become out there: something from superb burlwood, valuable stone like tiger eye or onyx,  and even the so-called “Stella” dials with their shiny colors (unloved upon their launch, they’re echoed in right this moment’s wildly well-liked Oyster Perpetual) have been all on provide.

And for those who wanted next-level wrist presence, the ultimate frontier was the jewelled Rolex. Something from delicate diamond dial markers to completely iced-out instances and bracelets have been potential, relying in your should be ostentatious. You couldn’t watch an motion film within the ’80s with out seeing one on the wrist of a coke kingpin, and the explosion of hip-hop throughout that very same interval noticed the rise of rappers endlessly striving to one-up a rival’s wrist sport.

In the present day, the Day-Date stays as well-liked as ever, with lengthy ready lists and inflated costs on the secondary market. You possibly can select from fashions in conventional yellow gold, white gold, Rolex’s proprietary Everose Gold, and even platinum, together with a number of tasty dial flavours. And though now out there in a bigger 40mm dimension (in addition to the standard 36mm), the look stays unmistakably Presidential, and the luxurious watch to which all others are in contrast.

Stella dials

It’s price going a little bit deeper on the Stella dials as they provide us to greatest departure from the classical aesthetic codes of Rolex, and laid a curious path to the launch of maybe probably the most controversial Rolex in current instances, the Puzzle dial. The Stella identify pertains to a set of Day-Date fashions that characteristic brightly colors lacquered dials that have been produced from the early Seventies to the late Eighties. These watches being produced by Rolex at the moment feels fully out of character. The model’s bread and butter was powerful, no-nonsense software watches just like the Submariner and Milgauss. Any sense of inventive expression or color was fairly hand to come back by from the model on the time, bar the odd cloisonne enamel dial that was accomplished in an especially conventional type.

These shiny, trendy feeling watches weren’t wildly profitable on the time of their launch however discovered an actual following on the secondary markets in the previous few years now that extra details about that’s on the market. For instance, it has been revealed that the origin of the Stella nickname was not Italian collectors, or the work of artist Frank Stella, as many thought for a very long time, but it surely was in actual fact the identify of the corporate who provided the brightly colors lacquer to the Rolex dial provider. The provider really modified half method by way of the Stella run, because it began with Lemrich after which carried over to Stern when the previous went out of enterprise. There are additionally some who consider Singer may have made a number of the dials. There may be a lot selection by way of colors and kinds, it’s simple to see how there may very well be a number of suppliers.

With colors starting from yellow, gentle blue, inexperienced, oxblood crimson, and maybe probably the most uncommon, gentle purple, there’s a full spectrum of colors on the market. And whereas many see the lacqured dial Oyster Perpetuals of 2020 as their pure successors in trendy time, you additionally can not ignore the brash Puzzle dial Day-Date of 2023. This now discontinued piece was the final expression of creativity from Rolex within the “Presidential” line, and it additionally mixed a typical characteristic usually seen on the unique Stella watches, and that’s the usage of valuable stones for the markers.

Well-known Wearers

Golf legend Jack Nicklaus may very well be the Day-Date’s greatest fan. Rolex offered him along with his yellow gold President in 1967, and surprisingly, it was the primary watch he’d ever owned. It grew to become his solely< watch, one he would placed on after each event win that adopted, turning into one among Rolex’s most iconic ambassadors within the course of. And being one of many nicest guys in sport, he auctioned that very watch in 2019 for $1.2 million to learn the Nicklaus Kids’s Well being Care Basis.

Legendary investor and Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett could also be price $100 billion {dollars} on any given day, relying available on the market, however even he can’t at all times get what he desires. A longtime Rolex fan (he’s worn the identical yellow gold Day-Date for years), it’s rumoured that he really wished to purchase Rolex, however was quietly…rebuffed. Actually sorry about that one, of us.

Jay-Z is a longtime President wearer, having rocked a number of variations over the course of his profession.

Late actor James Gandolfini (as mobster Tony Soprano) famously wore a yellow gold Day-Date within the hit collection The Sopranos, an on-the-nose selection for his highly effective character.

Favorite Fashions

Not that they’re simple to get lately, however I’ve highlighted a number of of the trendy references you have to be testing. Right here it’s: The trendy iteration of the enduring all-gold-everything Rolex Day-Date. With its 36mm case dimension and gleaming champagne gold dial, what extra is there to say?

Maybe the classiest model of the Day-Date, the dial created for the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra brings one of many huge initiatives that Rolex works on, philanthropic ventures within the arts, to your wrist. With shades of inexperienced that play off of the model’s iconic color, and violin outlines, that is one you by no means need to go on for those who get the chance.

The slate ombré launch from final yr captured the cool, easy vibe that solely the Day-Date is able to when the intense colors of a yellow gold or platinum piece are subdued by rose and a comfortable gradient dial.

For the last word expression of wealth, the platinum Day-Date with Jap Arabic numerals is likely to be peerless. It weighs way over nay watch ought to, however the icy blue dial with its unique textual content tells everybody you may have entry to watches very, only a few folks do.

And right here’s my private choose: the 36mm Day-Date in white gold with silver dial. Ever so tasteful, it’s the polar reverse of the jewelled fashions, and the last word in stealth wealth.