The New Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date 40 Jubilee Gold

Alongside the festivities surrounding the Oyster case’s 100th anniversary, Rolex had another surprise in store: a new in-house gold alloy. Known as Jubilee Gold, the first watch to flaunt the proprietary alloy is the iconic Day-Date, also referred to as the President’s watch. Catalogued in the “Exceptional Watches” collection, together with the Rolesium Daytona Albino, this off-catalogue model reference 228235JG (for Jubilee Gold) not only showcases the new gold alloy in the best possible light, but it also features an alluring and perfectly-matched green aventurine stone dial.

The choice of a Day-Date is symbolic, not only because it turns 70 this year. As the Crown’s flagship luxury watch since 1956, it is the only collection produced exclusively in precious metals (platinum and 18k gold) and has been manufactured without interruption since its debut. The original 36mm Day-Date was also the first wristwatch to feature the day of the week spelt out in full (available in no fewer than 26 languages) in an arched window at noon, with a separate date at 3 o’clock, magnified by a Cyclops lens. Paired with a beautifully crafted 3-link President bracelet with rounded links and a concealed Crownclasp, the robust Oyster case could handle depths of up to 100m. A winning combination of resilience and luxurious metals, the Day-Date found favour with American presidents, including Lyndon B. Johnson, in the 1960s.

Jubilee Gold is the brand’s first new gold alloy in over 20 years, following the introduction of Everose Gold in 2005. Always hard to describe, our take on Jubilee Gold is that it is less brash than yellow gold, warmer than white gold, but not quite as warm or coppery as rose gold. A mix of all three with a more subtle and refined beige-pink aura, Jubilee Gold is used for the Oyster case, the fluted bezel and the impressive President bracelet. Although the polished surfaces – like the bezel, lugs and the central links of the bracelet – reflect the light, the effect is subtler, softer, although I can’t see the “warm grey” tonalities suggested by the brand. Be that as it may, it is an elegant and refined alloy, and credit must be given to Rolex and its metallurgical wizards tinkering in the brand’s very own foundry (where cases, bracelets and all the precious metal alloys and Oystersteel are produced) located in Plan-Les-Ouates, just outside Geneva. The composition of this new Jubilee Gold…? An industrial secret that has not yet been revealed.

This special edition of the 40mm Day-Date, a case size introduced in 2015 along with the Superlative Chronometer Certified calibre 3255, has a thickness of 12mm and a classic Oyster monobloc case middle with a Twinlock screw-down crown and screwed caseback to guarantee its 100m water-resistance. And, as always, the signature fluted motif is used on the bezel and caseback. Entirely crafted from a solid block of 18k Jubilee Gold, the new gold alloy endows the watch with an incredibly refined air. Reserved exclusively for this family, the President 3-link bracelet features a concealed folding Crownclasp with patented ceramic inserts to enhance flexibility and prevent wear and tear. Alternating polished and satin-brushed surfaces coax out different hues and reflective qualities from the new gold alloy.

The trend for aventurine glass, meteorite and stone dials is ubiquitous today. No stranger to hardstone dials, Rolex started experimenting with this material in the 1970s, and several Day-Date references surfaced with exotic stone dials. The dial of the new Day-Date features a very attractive light-green shade of aventurine. Not to be confused with man-made aventurine glass, aventurine stone belongs to the quartz family and is a natural material. Green is one of the more prevalent colours in natural aventurine, and the delectable milky-green shade used on the dial reveals the stone’s naturally occurring inclusions.

The combination of Jubilee Gold and aventurine is a match made in heaven. The applied Rolex coronet, the frames of the date and day-of-the-week apertures, the blunt-tipped hour and minute hands, and the settings for the baguette-cut diamond indices are all crafted in Jubilee Gold. While some folk might shy away from more dainty diamond cuts, the stepped geometric lines of the ten baguette-cut diamonds lend them an assertive air. The dial is protected by a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating.

Hidden beneath the caseback is the automatic calibre 3255, the driving force of this family since 2015. With a 70-hour power reserve and a chronometric precision of +/-2 seconds per day, this Superlative Chronometer movement is wound by a bidirectional Perpetual rotor. Among its innovations is the patented Chronergy escapement, crafted from nickel-phosphorus, which not only offers high energy efficiency and remarkable resistance to strong magnetic fields but also ensures dependable operation. Enhancing the movement’s shock resistance, the oscillator is mounted on high-performance Paraflex shock absorbers.

As mentioned, this Day-Date 40 reference 228235JG is an off-catalogue model, meaning it will be available exclusively to a select handful of very loyal clients, and in very low production numbers – yes, another close-to-impossible-to-get model from the Crown, just like the Rolesium Daytona or the Le Mans Daytona before. It retails for approximately EUR 62,000. More information at rolex.com.