Rolex Day-Date 40 in Platinum now with a Fluted Bezel

Rolex adds, for the first time, a fluted platinum bezel to the platinum version of the Day-Date. That might sound like a minor update, but this is Rolex, and this is probably one of the most universally recognised watches as the world’s first wristwatch indicating the date and day of the week in a separate aperture. Let’s have a look at this great looking but maybe slightly confusing update…

The Rolex Day-Date was introduced in 1956, and the added Day of the Week display meant a major innovation. Well, it was 1956, not 2022. Today the Day of the Week might be a pretty standard function, but because Rolex was the first with this complication, it cemented its name for being innovative. Coupled with the looks of the watch, which is often referred to as the President’s watch, the Day-Date is imprinted in people’s minds across the globe.

The innovative factor remains since the movement inside, calibre 3255 introduced in 2015, meant a giant leap forward for precision. Covered by the Superlative Chronometer certification that was redefined by Rolex in 2015, it meant a −2/+2 seconds deviation per day. And that was a magnificent feat! The calibre 3255 is still used in the Day-Date and still offers a guaranteed precision that is more precise than the well-known COSC standard.

The calibre 3255 also meant a longer power reserve of 70 hours, which was achieved (among others) by Rolex’s Chronergy escapement. This escapement combines high energy efficiency with great dependability and is also insensitive to magnetic fields because it’s made of nickel-phosphorus. Of course, the movement is equipped with the blue Parachrom hairspring, which is not only insensitive to magnetism, but also up to 10 times more precise than a traditional hairspring in case of shocks.

The Day-Date 40 comes in the recognisable Oyster case, measures 40mm in diameter, and comes on the equally recognisable Presidential bracelet. This bracelet was created especially for the launch of the prestigious Oyster Perpetual Day-Date in 1956, and this three-piece link President bracelet is still reserved exclusively for the Day-Date and precious metal versions of the Datejust.

The Oyster case is water-resistant to 100 metres, a feature that is usually indicated with a horizontal bar underneath the Rolex logo on the crown. This means, in Rolex language, that it’s a Twinlock crown. The Submariner, for instance, is equipped with a Triplelock crown and displays three dots underneath the Rolex logo. However, and this seems entirely new, the new Day-Date shows a single dot underneath the Rolex logo on the crown. To confuse things more, the press release mentions that this watch is equipped with a Twinlock crown and is water-resistant to 100 meters. We’ll check this with Rolex and get back on this!

The other factor that might cause some confusion is that all white gold Day-Date models and all the new platinum Day-Date models, both white metals, come with exactly the same dial colours and from now on, both have fluted bezels. The visual identification of the fluted bezel on a white gold Day-Date is no longer pertinent since the platinum version also comes with a similar bezel. The available dial colours for both the white gold and the new platinum cases with fluted bezels are Bright black, Slate, Bright blue, Ice blue, Olive green, White, Silver (set with diamonds), meteorite and a fully diamond-paved dial. So what’s the visual differentiator? The weight, which can’t be seen, and the slightly more yellowish tone of the white gold case compared to the platinum case. Later more, when we go hands-on!

Last but not least, the sapphire crystal on the Day-Date now comes with a double anti-reflective coating and the always recognisable Cyclops lens over the date window. The AR coating is new for the Day-Date 40.

Like all Rolex’s platinum models, the price of the Rolex Day-Date 40 platinum is on request.

For more information, please visit Rolex.com.