The Rolex Day-Date is still the ultimate watch of ballers and shot-callers

Time+Tide

Whether you call it the Day-Date, the President, the Presidential, or even El Presidente, this is likely the watch most non-watch people think of when they think of Rolex. While watch nerds may rattle off esoteric Swiss watchmakers and obscure reference numbers, without a doubt, Rolex is the go-to answer when you ask a normal person what a “nice” watch is, and the gold Day-Date is the first thing their mind’s eye sees whenever the Geneva-based manufacture is mentioned.

Rolex is as ubiquitous a brand as Band-Aid or Kleenex, and with good reason. Their culture of consistent quality, year after year, has stood them in good stead with watch buyers worldwide. New models are seldom released, rather, incremental design tweaks come at a sometimes glacial pace. The result? The majority of Rolex designs are generally considered classics, refined over many years through small improvements to the movements, case dimensions, dial materials, and other components. They control every aspect of their production, from the milling of cases and bracelets down to movement manufacture, and even the smelting of their own gold alloys. With proper servicing, a Rolex can be handed down for generations. They hold their value as well, and can even be used as currency in the right circumstance. Unless you’re extremely lucky (or a very good repeat customer), you can’t even buy one at retail. So how did the Day-Date reach this peak at the top of the horological mountain?

Early history

There were plenty of nice watches in the world before the Day-Date. Gold pocket watches with high complications, thin and elegant dress watches from watchmakers like Patek Philippe, even Rolex themselves were crafting fancy timepieces from precious metals long before. But let’s face it, you can’t wear most dress watches in the pool, and manufacturers eventually began fancying up their larger, more utility-based tool watches into what is now known as the “dress sports watch” category. A watch that can easily transition from a day at the office to a night out, and then handle a weekend’s activity with ease. Rolex’s own Datejust fits squarely in that box, but what about those customers looking for something a bit extra? Enter the Day-Date.

First introduced in 1956, the 36mm Day-Date was the first watch to feature both a full day of the week aperture and a separate date window on the dial. It evolved from the Datejust’s basic architecture, but was exclusively offered in precious metal, including the trademark fluted bezel. The water-resistant Oyster case nailed the brief for a luxury do-all watch, too, gliding effortlessly from boardroom to beachfront. The new three-link bracelet looked suitably luxe as well, and felt like wrapping your wrist in little ingots of gold. It’s this bracelet, made exclusively for the Day-Date, that’s now simply referred to as the “President”.

Rise to fame

So why ‘President’? Contrary to popular belief, US President Dwight Eisenhower did not wear a Day-Date (his was a yellow gold Datejust). But JFK did own a Day-Date, however briefly. Apparently a gift from Marilyn Monroe (complete with a personalised engraving), Kennedy disposed of it as soon as possible.

It was JFK’s successor LBJ who launched the Day-Date to presidential status. The ‘President’ moniker stems from Lyndon B. Johnson’s 36mm white-dialled yellow gold Day-Date that he wore during his presidency.

Updated movements and more dial variations followed over the years, and the model became viewed as the Rolex. The Day-Date was a cultural institution: You couldn’t throw a martini olive without hitting one at a country club. Movie stars and musicians loved it, and it became a symbol for many that you’d finally “made it”.

With the Day-Date’s expanding popularity came the opportunity for greater personalisation, and a vast array of dial choices became available: anything from fine burlwood, precious stone like tiger eye or onyx,  and even the so-called “Stella” dials with their bright colours (unloved upon their release, they’re echoed in today’s wildly popular Oyster Perpetual) were all on offer.

And if you needed next-level wrist presence, the final frontier was the jewelled Rolex. Anything from delicate diamond dial markers to fully iced-out cases and bracelets were possible, depending on your need to be ostentatious. You couldn’t watch an action movie in the ’80s without seeing one on the wrist of a coke kingpin, and the explosion of hip-hop during that same period saw the rise of rappers endlessly striving to one-up a rival’s wrist game.

Today, the Day-Date remains as popular as ever, with long waiting lists and inflated prices on the secondary market. You can choose from models in traditional yellow gold, white gold, Rolex’s proprietary Everose Gold, and even platinum, along with a host of tasty dial flavours. And although now available in a larger 40mm size (as well as the traditional 36mm), the look remains unmistakably Presidential, and the luxury watch to which all others are compared.

Stella dials

It’s worth going a little deeper on the Stella dials as they offer us to biggest departure from the classical aesthetic codes of Rolex, and laid a curious path to the launch of perhaps the most controversial Rolex in recent times, the Puzzle dial. The Stella name relates to a collection of Day-Date models that feature brightly colours lacquered dials that were produced from the early 1970s to the late 1980s. These watches being produced by Rolex at this time feels completely out of character. The brand’s bread and butter was tough, no-nonsense tool watches like the Submariner and Milgauss. Any sense of creative expression or colour was pretty hand to come by from the brand at the time, bar the odd cloisonne enamel dial that was completed in an extremely traditional style.

These bright, modern feeling watches were not wildly successful at the time of their release but found a real following on the secondary markets in the last few years now that more information about that is out there. For example, it has been revealed that the origin of the Stella nickname was not Italian collectors, or the work of artist Frank Stella, as many thought for a long time, but it was in fact the name of the company who supplied the brightly colours lacquer to the Rolex dial supplier. The supplier actually changed part way through the Stella run, as it started with Lemrich and then carried over to Stern when the former went out of business. There are also some who believe Singer could have made some of the dials. There is so much variety in terms of colours and styles, it’s easy to see how there could be multiple suppliers.

With colours ranging from yellow, light blue, green, oxblood red, and perhaps the most rare, light purple, there is a full spectrum of colours out there. And while many see the lacquered dial Oyster Perpetuals of 2020 as their natural successors in modern time, you also cannot ignore the brash Puzzle dial Day-Date of 2023. This now discontinued piece was the last expression of creativity from Rolex in the “Presidential” line, and it also combined a common feature often seen on the original Stella watches, and that’s the use of precious stones for the markers.

Famous wearers

Golf legend Jack Nicklaus could be the Day-Date’s biggest fan. Rolex presented him with his yellow gold President in 1967, and surprisingly, it was the first watch he’d ever owned. It became his only< watch, one he would put on after every tournament win that followed, becoming one of Rolex’s most iconic ambassadors in the process. And being one of the nicest guys in sport, he auctioned that very watch in 2019 for $1.2 million to benefit the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation.

Legendary investor and Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett may be worth $100 billion dollars on any given day, depending on the market, but even he can’t always get what he wants. A longtime Rolex fan (he’s worn the same yellow gold Day-Date for years), it’s rumoured that he actually wanted to buy Rolex, but was quietly…rebuffed. Really sorry about that one, folks.

Jay-Z is a longtime President wearer, having rocked several versions over the course of his career.

Late actor James Gandolfini (as mobster Tony Soprano) famously wore a yellow gold Day-Date in the hit series The Sopranos, an on-the-nose choice for his powerful character.

Favourite models

Not that they’re easy to get these days, but I’ve highlighted a few of the modern references you should be checking out. Here it is: The modern iteration of the iconic all-gold-everything Rolex Day-Date. With its 36mm case size and gleaming champagne gold dial, what more is there to say?

Perhaps the classiest version of the Day-Date, the dial created for the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra brings one of the big initiatives that Rolex works on, philanthropic ventures in the arts, to your wrist. With shades of green that play off of the brand’s iconic colour, and violin outlines, this is one you never want to pass on if you get the opportunity.

The slate ombré release from last year captured the cool, effortless vibe that only the Day-Date is capable of when the bright colours of a yellow gold or platinum piece are subdued by rose and a soft gradient dial.

For the ultimate expression of wealth, the platinum Day-Date with Eastern Arabic numerals might be peerless. It weighs far more than nay watch should, but the icy blue dial with its exotic text tells everyone you have access to watches very, very few people do.

And here’s my personal pick: the 36mm Day-Date in white gold with silver dial. Ever so tasteful, it’s the polar opposite of the jewelled models, and the ultimate in stealth wealth.