Rolex Day-Date 40 228238«President»

Imagen: Rolex, web oficial

The storyWhy this reference matters

In 1956 Rolex introduced references 6510 and 6511, smooth bezel and fluted, doing something no wristwatch had done before: spelling out the day of the week in a window, no abbreviations. The mechanism, a day disc laid over the date disc, had been patented in 1955 by the company's own engineer, Marc Huguenin. Those first two references lasted barely a year, because the calendar change gave trouble.

The Day-Date has never been series-produced in steel. Gold or platinum, always, apart from a handful of prototypes of the reference 6611 that Rolex made for internal use and that surface at auction now and then. The President bracelet was created for it and ended up giving it the nickname. Then came the 1803, with twenty years of plexiglass and a pie-pan dial; the 18038 of 1977, with sapphire and quickset date; the 18238, with double quickset; and the 118238, by then on solid links.

The 228238 arrived in 2015 with the 40 mm case: a narrower bezel and finer lugs than the lifelong 36, so the growth would not show. Inside, the calibre 3255, with 14 patents, Chronergy escapement and 70 hours of reserve. And one improvement anybody who has lived with an old President will appreciate: ceramic inserts inside the links, so the bracelet stops stretching over the years.

SpecificationsThe numbers, in one table

IdentificationHow to tell it apart

Forty millimetres of 18-carat yellow gold, fluted bezel, sapphire crystal with a magnifier over the date and 100 metres of water resistance. The day is written out in full in the arc at twelve and the date sits at three. This example has a champagne dial with applied indices.

The President bracelet has three semi-circular links and a concealed Crownclasp: seen from above, the bracelet looks as though it never ends. Don't confuse it with the five-link Jubilee of the Datejust or the flat Oyster of the sports models, which are the two usual mix-ups.

Telling the 40 from the classic 36 is more a question of proportion than of diameter: on the 40, the fluted bezel is visibly narrower relative to the dial. And look at the language on the day disc, which Rolex offers in more than twenty and which is normally recorded in the watch's paperwork.

CollectingWhat collectors check

First, the bracelet. Hold the watch by the clasp and let it hang: if the links have play and it rattles, the President has stretched. In solid gold that means money, because the fix involves replacing gold parts. Post-2015 examples suffer far less, thanks to the ceramic inserts.

Second, the dial. This is a collection with an enormous range of dials — lacquered, hard stone, diamond-set — and also a great many redialled by workshops outside the factory. A non-original dial on a Day-Date takes a large slice of the value with it: compare typography, text placement and the finish of the indices against reference photographs before you decide.

Third, the polishing and the calendar. In gold, every pass of the wheel takes metal away: check that the bezel flutes keep their edge and that the lugs are not rounded. Then watch the midnight change: day and date should jump together and jump cleanly. If they are sluggish or change at the wrong moment, the calendar needs attention.

Common questionsWhat people ask us about this reference

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Close relativesThe ones it gets confused with