Rolex Day-Date ref. 18038

Conditions
The case of this yellow gold Rolex Day-Date with reference 18038 is in excellent condition. With nice thick lugs and nice and even brushing. The hallmarks on the lugs are crisp and strongly-defined and the reference and serial number are clearly readable. The dial is in very good condition, with a nice gold finish and applied gold baton index markers. Like the hour markers, the tritium on the hands has aged with a nice light patina, matching the indexes perfectly. Both the day and date windows on the dial compliment the patina found on the index markers and hands. The automatic movement with single quick set function was fully serviced by our watchmaker.


History
The Day-Date was originally introduced by Rolex in 1956. Back than under reference 6510 and 6511. Since the introduction it has been highly successful and one of the most popular watches from the Rolex collection. It was designed as a luxury sports watch, exclusively made from precious metals. The Day-Date is simple and clean in design, practical and a very versatile watch.

“The President”
The story goes that Rolex gifted a Day-Date to Dwight D. Eisenhower who was then President of the United States. This Day-Date was frequently spotted on the wrist of the President. Than Rolex claimed in their marketing that “Men who guide the destinies of the world wear Rolex watches” and “A Rolex will never change the world. We leave that to the people who wear them”. This is why the Day-Date is often referred to as the “President”. The term is also commonly associated with the 3 piece bracelet which can be found an many Rolex Day-Date watches.

Later the reference 1803 was introduced in 1961 and was later replaced by the references 1803x in the 1970s. The 1803x references house the caliber 3055, with single-quick-set date function. Later to be replaced with the caliber 3155, with double-quick-set date and day function.