Rolex Day-Date Ref. 18038 - 'Onyx' Dial

When the Day-Date was released in 1956, it was the only complicated Rolex for sale. Hard to believe, but people didn’t want Rolex’s previous attempts at complicated wristwatches. All of that changed when President Dwight D. Eisenhower was spotted wearing the Rolex, and the watch became known as ‘The President’. An internationally known symbol of success and prestige, the Rolex Day-Date was available for many years on a strap or matching solid gold bracelet. However, this isn't your run of the mill ‘President’... The piece that we have here features a black 'Onyx' stone dial, which belongs to a family of watches produced with a series of rare and exotic stones. These dials are as rare as they are beautiful to behold. Produced for a limited time these dials were handmade by artisans — something we don't usually associate with the sports watches that Rolex is known for — and have always been coveted as some of the more collectible vintage Rolexes, full stop. This example remains in fantastic, well preserved condition, with a strong case and bracelet showing only light wear for its age, and a superb fracture-free dial with "T Swiss T" signature on the bottom. While not the rarest of the stone dials, the depth of the black Onyx is always a pleaser and never short in demand. This example is one of the cleanest we have come across! *Some marks or spots on the dial are reflections or dust on the crystal and are due to high intensity strobe lighting used while photographing. They are not actually on the watch or visible in natural lighting.