The Iconic Day-Date by Rolex: 5-digit references

The Iconic Day-Date by Rolex: 5-digit references

The Rolex Day-Date is best known as the “President” amongst enthusiasts. The precious metal model that is iconic and extremely recognizable. In this blog we’ll have a look at the 5 digit models, mainly those with “double-quickset” (we’ll get into that later).

The Day-Date was originally introduced by Rolex in 1956. Next to featuring a day-indication at the top of the dial the watch also already featured the typical president bracelet. It was also fitted with a plexiglass and a movement that could not quickly changed the date- or day-wheel, meaning you would have to turn the hands/time forward until you are at the right day and date. The Day-Date was only introduced in precious metals (yellow-, white-, rose-gold and platinum), something which to this day still remains the case. These models also featured the typical pie-pan dial.

In 1978 Rolex upgraded the day-date from the 4 digit references (180X) to 5-digit references (18000), replacing the plexiglass to sapphire glass, getting rid of the pie-pan dial and upgrading the movement to caliber 3055. This movement upgrade meant the change to a quick-set date, meaning it was possible to quickly change the date-wheel to the correct date.

It wasn’t however until 1988 that Rolex changed the movement to caliber 3155, introducing the double-quickset feature. This meant that it was now possible to not only change the date-wheel but also the day-wheel quickly by turning the crown.

The 5-digit Day-Date is a watch that we at Timeless Vintage Watches love. The watch features all the comforts of a modern watch, whilst still maintaining that vintage look and feel of the earlier models. It comes in many variations but the ones seen most are yellow gold and white gold. Finding one in platinum is a rarity and Rolex stopped production of the rose gold models during the 5-digit era (this was later reintroduced with everose gold in the 6-digit models). The Day-Date was also made with a lot of dial options, including those made from stone or even Stella dials.