Rolex Day-Date Ref. 18038 ‘Stella Dial’ B+P

The coolest among Presidents.

The Rolex Day-Date has been the brand’s flagship model since 1956. ‘The President’ has been produced only with the finest materials throughout its existence, in such an iconic and unchanged design. This has led to the fact that the watch has become a symbol of success and luxury. It just has an air of wealth about it which is the reason why the Day-Date is so appealing to many.

The 1970s brought some design changes to the watch market; untraditional designs and colourful compositions became more popular than ever. Modifying ‘The President’ was no option for Rolex since they always stick to their original design, but new exciting dials were their way to address this new demand. These new dials were made out of a lacquered, multi-layered enamel and came in a variety of colours, giving the Day-Date a funky appearance. The vibrant colours matched the artwork of Frank Stella, and that’s where it got its nickname from.

The piece we’ve acquired has the shamrock green dial, and it’s absolutely beautiful. The enamel dials were a new material to Rolex and the material is very prone to scratching and cracking. Many pieces you’ll come across have imperfections, this one, however, is spotless all the way. Not a single scratch on neither the enamel nor letter printing.

It’s not just the dial that is in perfect condition, the case and bracelet are like new as well. Gold is a relatively soft metal and many vintage Day-Dates have a worn off bracelet with a lot of stretch on the links combined with heavily polished lugs. The original president bracelet on this piece is like new, and when you look close you’ll notice there’s not even a millimeter of room between the fat lugs and the bracelet’s end-link, an indicator that this watch has been worn very little.

Rolex Day-Date’s with Stella dials are pretty rare and collectible which explains the relatively high price, however, finding one in this condition with both original box and papers included is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Visit our store to see this beauty, and maybe even get a chance to buy it. We’re located in the Reestraat, Amsterdam.