Pre-Owned Rolex Day-Date Crown Collection Myriad Dial 40920629/AS04905

Why We Love It

Few watches make a statement like a solid gold Rolex.

This anachronistic blend of technical design and functionality with a precious metal casing material is a polarizing one, and depending on how its worn (and indeed, by whom), can send very different signals - and we'll just leave it at that.

So-called “five digit” Day-Dates (reference variants with five digits) are a quintessential staple of the Neo-Vintage era. These models showed up in the late 70s and offer the added functionality of a higher-beat movement for accuracy and a Quickset date mechanism. They retain the classic 36mm case proportion of their predecessors and were produced in seemingly endless variations of dial, bezel, and bracelet configurations.

This particular example, a Reference 18138 most certainly stands out!

Dating to circa 1987, it is finished in 18K yellow gold with factory diamond-set lugs and a matching diamond 'Cartouche' bezel, a brown 'Myriad' dial with applied Arabic indices, and a matching President bracelet with hidden deployant clasp. This is a wild, stunning and rare configuration, sure to delight even the most experienced Rolex collector.

While not for everyone, and perhaps even excessive - this watch was created to be excessive - to be more.

We think it has achieved that with bells on.

The Day-Date Story

When you’ve got a good thing going, sometimes you just know.

Such is the case with the Rolex Day-Date. At the time of the Day-Date’s release in 1956, it was Rolex’s most complicated wristwatch: all previous attempts had failed to resonate with consumers.

But as soon as Rolex secured the patent in July of 1955, production of the Day-Date was rushed for a debut at the Basel Fair the following spring.

Although early Day-Dates were plagued by technical problems resulting from the complexity of the automatic movement with dual calendar function, those were soon resolved. After President Eisenhower sported one (a gift from the manufacture), its success was secured. The watch came to be known as the “President,” (due to the fact that several U.S. presidents since Eisenhower have worn one), and it certainly lives up to its dignified nickname.

For a brand that has built its reputation on its sports watches, it's perhaps unsurprising that the Rolex Day-Date is amongst the brand's best-sellers. True, the brand has always produced dress watches, but while the brand's more overt dress watch, the Cellini, often seems out of place among the brand's Oyster-cased offerings, the Day-Date is sturdy, solid, and at home alongside the Submariners and GMTs that make up the Oyster Perpetual collection.

Rolex has approached continual development of model as they do every other, making quiet improvements over the following decades, ensuring the Day-Date is worthy as the centerpiece of Rolex's Oyster line as horological technology evolves.

Whether a simple 36mm yellow gold piece or a Day-Date II 41mm Day-Date in platinum with a gem set dial, the Day-Date is internationally recognized as time timepiece of success and leadership, and of great taste.