Reference:18248: Difference between revisions

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Latest revision as of 23:54, 28 September 2026

Day-Date › 18248

The 18248 is the bark-finish Day-Date of the caliber 3155 era and the successor to the caliber 3055 bark 18078. Its yellow-gold bezel and bracelet centre links carry the coarse vertical "bark" texture, called écorce in French, while caliber 3155 allows independent setting of both the day and date. It is generally dated from 1988 to about 2000. The diamond-bezel reference in this generation is 18348; a watch's reference, case, bezel, and provenance should be checked together. Auction records also document the 18248 with several special dials.

Core facts

detail	value
reference	18248
family	Day-Date
production	1988 to about 2000
movement	caliber 3155, 31 jewels, 28,800 vph, double quickset (day and date), ~48h, COSC
case	36mm 18k yellow gold President
crystal	sapphire
bezel	bark (écorce) finish
bracelet	President 8385 with bark-finished centre links, hidden Crownclasp, solid links
lume	tritium ("T SWISS MADE T") for most of the run, Luminova near 2000
dial	champagne and silver stick; ferrite/meteorite, dégradé Stella, onyx and hardstone, Roman, diamond-set
crown	Twinlock screw-down
siblings	18238 (fluted), 18239 (white-gold fluted), 18249 (white-gold bark), 18348 (diamond bezel), 18346 (platinum diamond)
predecessor	18078 (caliber-3055 bark)
successor	118xxx 6-digit Day-Date generation

Where it sits in the line

The 18248 is the bark member of the caliber-3155 Day-Date generation and the textured sibling of the fluted 18238. The 18348 has a factory diamond bezel, while 18248 and 18249 are the yellow- and white-gold bark references. Case, movement, crystal, bracelet, and dial fitment should be checked on each watch; the bark texture follows the treatment used on the 18078.

Production outline

The 18248 is generally dated from 1988 to about 2000. Rolex does not publish reference-level production totals or a complete change register. Auction and specialist examples show tritium-marked dials and later non-tritium service or delivery configurations; dial, case, bracelet, and movement should be inspected individually.

Movement notes

The 18248 runs the caliber 3155, the double-quickset Day-Date movement: 31 jewels, 28,800 vph, a roughly 48-hour reserve and COSC certification, with both the day and the date set from the crown. That double quickset is the substantive advance over the 18078, whose caliber 3055 quicksets only the date and leaves the day to be advanced by running the hands. The 3155 was used across the fluted and bark references of this generation and continued into later Day-Date references, with individual service history still relevant. The Reference:Movements page holds the caliber lineage, and the 18238 entry covers the 3155 in detail.

Dial map

Bark Rolex 18248 with blue dégradé Stella dial — A bark 18248 with a blue dégradé Stella diamond dial : the textured case collected as a pairing with a 1990s special dial.

Documented examples include champagne or silvered stick dials, ferrite or meteorite-effect dials, blue dégradé Stella dials, onyx and hardstone dials, wood-effect dials with Chinese-calendar displays, Roman dials, and diamond-set configurations. These are catalogue and auction observations, not a complete factory dial list. The dial taxonomy that spans the whole President line sits on the 1803 entry.

Case, bezel, crystal, and crown

The case is the 36mm yellow-gold Oyster used across the caliber-3155 Day-Date generation, with sapphire crystal, Cyclops, Twinlock crown, and screw-down caseback. The bark texture is worked into the bezel and, on documented examples, the bracelet centre links; caseback markings and polished or textured surfaces should be checked on the individual watch.

Bracelets, end links, and clasps

Documented 18248 examples use a President bracelet with bark-finished centre links and concealed clasp. Bracelet reference, clasp date, link construction, and service history should be checked separately from the watch head; replacement plain links are possible.

Special branches

Bark with an exotic dial

Bark Rolex 18248 with diamond-set onyx dial — A bark 18248 with a diamond-set onyx dial and Arabic numerals at 6 and 9.

Auction descriptions often distinguish 18248 examples by case finish and dial combination. Ferrite, meteorite-effect, Stella, onyx, hardstone, and wood-effect dials appear in the cited records; no complete reference-wide dial census is asserted.

Auction record

The cited auction table records individual 18248 examples with different dials and results. Condition, originality, bracelet completeness, provenance, venue, and currency affect each result; no current reference-wide price range or ranking is asserted here.

date	house	configuration	result
2024	Christie's Hong Kong, lot 2337	wood-effect dial, Chinese calendar	HKD 214,200
2023	Phillips Geneva XVII, lot 148	ferrite Roman dial	CHF 31,750
2022	Sotheby's Cologne	diamond-set onyx dial, Arabic 6/9	result not published
2020	Sotheby's Hong Kong, lot 103	blue dégradé Stella diamond dial	result not published
2017	Sotheby's Geneva, lot 317	blue Stella dial	CHF 12,500

Bark 18248
Blue Stella dial
Onyx dial

Related references

Day-Date 18208 : 1988–2000
Day-Date 18238 : 1988–2000
Day-Date 18348 : 1988–2000
Day-Date 19018 : Oysterquartz President (1977–2001)
Day-Date 18028 : 1977–1988
Day-Date 18038 : Cal 3055 President (1977–1988)

Sources

Wikipedia: Rolex Day-Date — family chronology
Rolex Day-Date technical material — current family terminology
Christie's 18248 wood-effect dial catalogue — individual auction evidence

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{DISPLAYTITLE:Rolex Day-Date 18248}}
 {{#seo:
-|title=Rolex Day-Date 18248 — The Caliber-3155 Bark President
+|title=Rolex Day-Date 18248 : The Caliber-3155 Bark President
-|description=The Rolex 18248 is the yellow-gold bark-finish (écorce) Day-Date on caliber 3155 — double quickset, sapphire crystal, 1988-2000. The successor to the bark 18078; not a diamond-bezel reference (that is the 18348). Collected as a bark case with 1990s exotic dials.
+|description=The Rolex 18248 is the yellow-gold bark-finish (écorce) Day-Date on caliber 3155 : double quickset, sapphire crystal, 1988-2000. The successor to the bark 18078; not a diamond-bezel reference (that is the 18348). Collected as a bark case with 1990s exotic dials.
 |keywords=Rolex 18248, Day-Date 18248, bark finish Day-Date, écorce, caliber 3155, double quickset, ferrite dial, yellow gold President
 |image=Ref 18248 hero.webp
@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 |og_type=article
 |published_time=2026-06-16T04:56:13Z
-|modified_time=2026-06-29T01:18:18Z
+|modified_time=2026-08-04T00:10:58Z
 |robots=index,follow,max-image-preview:large
 |titlemode=replace
 }}
-<small>[[Reference:day-date|Day-Date]] → '''18248'''</small>
+<small>[[Reference:day-date|Day-Date]] › '''18248'''</small>
-The 18248 is the bark-finish Day-Date of the caliber-3155 era, the double-quickset successor to the caliber-3055 bark [[Reference:18078|18078]]. It is a yellow-gold President whose bezel and bracelet centre links carry the coarse vertical "bark" texture, écorce in French, now with the caliber 3155 that finally let an owner set both the day and the date from the crown. It ran from 1988 to about 2000. A common listing error files the 18248 as a diamond-bezel reference; its factory finish is bark, and the diamond-bezel Day-Date of this generation is the 18348. Like the 18078 before it, the 18248 is collected as a textured case paired with an exotic dial.
+<div class="rp-lead">
+[[File:Ref 18248 hero.webp|thumb|center|640px|alt=Rolex Day-Date 18248 in yellow gold : the bark (écorce) bezel and bracelet centre links of the caliber-3155 era, here with a ferrite dial.|Rolex Day-Date 18248 in yellow gold : the bark (écorce) bezel and bracelet centre links of the caliber-3155 era, here with a ferrite dial.]]
+</div>
+The 18248 is the bark-finish Day-Date of the caliber 3155 era and the successor to the caliber 3055 bark [[Reference:18078|18078]]. Its yellow-gold bezel and bracelet centre links carry the coarse vertical "bark" texture, called écorce in French, while caliber 3155 allows independent setting of both the day and date. It is generally dated from 1988 to about 2000. The diamond-bezel reference in this generation is [[Reference:18348|18348]]; a watch's reference, case, bezel, and provenance should be checked together. Auction records also document the 18248 with several special dials.
-[[File:Ref 18248 hero.webp|thumb|right|260px|alt=Yellow gold Rolex Day-Date 18248 bark finish ferrite dial|Rolex Day-Date 18248 in yellow gold — the bark (écorce) bezel and bracelet centre links of the caliber-3155 era, here with a ferrite dial.]]
 ==Core facts==
-{| class="wikitable"
+{| class="wikitable rp-facts"
 |-
 ! detail
@@ Line 66: / Line 69: @@
 |-
 | successor
-| caliber-3155 carryover into the 6-digit era (scarce)
+| 118xxx 6-digit Day-Date generation
 |}
 ==Where it sits in the line==
-The 18248 is the bark member of the caliber-3155 Day-Date generation, the textured sibling of the fluted [[Reference:18238|18238]]. The generation splits by finish the way the caliber-3055 references did before it: the 18238 is the fluted volume reference, the 18348 carries the factory diamond bezel, and the bark follows in yellow gold as the 18248 and in white gold as the 18249. The 18248 is routinely mislabelled as a diamond-bezel watch in the market, but the digit denotes the bark finish, and the diamonds on a genuine 18248 sit in the dial rather than on the bezel. Everything behind the finish is 18238: the same 36mm case, caliber 3155, sapphire crystal and President bracelet. The bark is the same coarse écorce the 18078 introduced in the previous generation; what changed is the movement underneath.
+The 18248 is the bark member of the caliber-3155 Day-Date generation and the textured sibling of the fluted [[Reference:18238|18238]]. The 18348 has a factory diamond bezel, while 18248 and 18249 are the yellow- and white-gold bark references. Case, movement, crystal, bracelet, and dial fitment should be checked on each watch; the bark texture follows the treatment used on the 18078.
 ==Production outline==
-The 18248 ran from 1988, when the caliber 3155 replaced the 3055 across the Day-Date line, until about 2000, when the 6-digit references took over. The bark remained a low-volume niche finish, made in far smaller numbers than the fluted 18238, which is why it surfaces so rarely. Across the run the only running change of note is the lume: early examples carry tritium, marked "T SWISS MADE T" at the foot of the dial, while the latest examples near the 2000 handover switch to Luminova. No quartz, no case change, no movement change inside the reference; the 18248 is a stable, single-spec watch whose variety lives entirely in the dial.
+The 18248 is generally dated from 1988 to about 2000. Rolex does not publish reference-level production totals or a complete change register. Auction and specialist examples show tritium-marked dials and later non-tritium service or delivery configurations; dial, case, bracelet, and movement should be inspected individually.
 ==Movement notes==
-The 18248 runs the caliber 3155, the double-quickset Day-Date movement: 31 jewels, 28,800 vph, a roughly 48-hour reserve and COSC certification, with both the day and the date set from the crown. That double quickset is the substantive advance over the 18078, whose caliber 3055 quicksets only the date and leaves the day to be advanced by running the hands. The 3155 is the long-serving modern Day-Date movement, carried unchanged from the fluted 18238 into the 6-digit 118238 that followed. The [[Reference:Movements]] page holds the caliber lineage, and the [[Reference:18238|18238]] entry covers the 3155 in detail.
+The 18248 runs the caliber 3155, the double-quickset Day-Date movement: 31 jewels, 28,800 vph, a roughly 48-hour reserve and COSC certification, with both the day and the date set from the crown. That double quickset is the substantive advance over the 18078, whose caliber 3055 quicksets only the date and leaves the day to be advanced by running the hands. The 3155 was used across the fluted and bark references of this generation and continued into later Day-Date references, with individual service history still relevant. The [[Reference:Movements]] page holds the caliber lineage, and the [[Reference:18238|18238]] entry covers the 3155 in detail.
 ==Dial map==
-[[File:Ref 18248 stella.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Bark Rolex 18248 with blue dégradé Stella dial|A bark 18248 with a blue dégradé Stella diamond dial — the textured case collected as a pairing with a 1990s special dial.]]
+[[File:Ref 18248 stella.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Bark Rolex 18248 with blue dégradé Stella dial|A bark 18248 with a blue dégradé Stella diamond dial : the textured case collected as a pairing with a 1990s special dial.]]
-The bark is the constant on the 18248; the dial is where the variety lives, and the most collected examples pair the textured case with a dial idiom of the 1990s. The common configuration is a champagne or silvered stick dial. Beyond that the reference is associated with the ferrite or "meteorite" dials, blue-grey textured grounds that suit the organic bark, blue dégradé Stella dials with diamond markers, glossy onyx and hardstone dials with diamond-set Arabic numerals at six and nine, and the occasional wood-effect dial with a Chinese calendar for the Asian market. Roman-numeral and diamond-set dials round out the range. The deep dial taxonomy that spans the President line sits on the [[Reference:1803|1803]] entry; on the 18248, as on the 18078, the dial is the identity of the individual watch.
+Documented examples include champagne or silvered stick dials, ferrite or meteorite-effect dials, blue dégradé Stella dials, onyx and hardstone dials, wood-effect dials with Chinese-calendar displays, Roman dials, and diamond-set configurations. These are catalogue and auction observations, not a complete factory dial list. The dial taxonomy that spans the whole President line sits on the [[Reference:1803|1803]] entry.
 ==Case, bezel, crystal, and crown==
-The case is the 36mm yellow-gold Oyster shared across the caliber-3155 Day-Date, with a sapphire crystal and Cyclops, a Twinlock screw-down crown and a screw-down caseback, here stamped with the 18200 case-family number on the inside. The defining feature is the bark finish, the coarse vertical woodgrain worked into the bezel, identical to the texture the [[Reference:18078|18078]] introduced. The case flanks and lugs stay polished, so the bark reads as a deliberate band around the dial. It is the same finish the 18078 carried; the 18248 differs by its movement and its later production, not by its surface.
+The case is the 36mm yellow-gold Oyster used across the caliber-3155 Day-Date generation, with sapphire crystal, Cyclops, Twinlock crown, and screw-down caseback. The bark texture is worked into the bezel and, on documented examples, the bracelet centre links; caseback markings and polished or textured surfaces should be checked on the individual watch.
 ==Bracelets, end links, and clasps==
-The 18248 wears the President bracelet, reference 8385, with the concealed Crownclasp and the solid links of the 5-digit era, and the bark carries onto the bracelet's centre links so the texture runs from the bezel down the length of the bracelet. A bark 18248 that keeps its original bark centre links rather than service-replaced plain ones is the complete expression of the reference. As with any President, a clasp date code dates the bracelet, which may be older or newer than the head, and the cross-family detail sits on [[Reference:Bracelets]].
+Documented 18248 examples use a President bracelet with bark-finished centre links and concealed clasp. Bracelet reference, clasp date, link construction, and service history should be checked separately from the watch head; replacement plain links are possible.
 ==Special branches==
@@ Line 100: / Line 102: @@
 [[File:Ref 18248 onyx.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Bark Rolex 18248 with diamond-set onyx dial|A bark 18248 with a diamond-set onyx dial and Arabic numerals at 6 and 9.]]
+Auction descriptions often distinguish 18248 examples by case finish and dial combination. Ferrite, meteorite-effect, Stella, onyx, hardstone, and wood-effect dials appear in the cited records; no complete reference-wide dial census is asserted.
-The bark 18248 is collected as a case-and-dial pairing, the same way the 18078 is. The ferrite and meteorite-effect dials are the signature of the caliber-3155 era, where the wood and burl dials had defined the 18078. Blue dégradé Stella dials with diamond markers, diamond-set onyx dials with Arabic numerals, and wood-effect Chinese-calendar dials all appear on the bark case. On a reference this scarce, the dial is what separates one 18248 from the next and what sets the result.
 ==Auction record==
-The 18248 is thinly represented at the major houses, and where it appears the dial drives the lot. Christie's sold a ferrite wood-effect example with a Chinese calendar in Hong Kong in 2024 for HKD 214,200, the strongest documented result for the reference. Phillips catalogued a ferrite Roman-dial example in Geneva in 2023, and Sotheby's has handled both diamond-set onyx and blue dégradé Stella examples across recent sales, with a blue-Stella example selling in Geneva in 2017 for CHF 12,500. A plain champagne or silver bark 18248 sits at a more modest level, roughly the low-to-mid five figures in dollars, trading on condition and full set; the special dials are what reach the upper end.
+The cited auction table records individual 18248 examples with different dials and results. Condition, originality, bracelet completeness, provenance, venue, and currency affect each result; no current reference-wide price range or ranking is asserted here.
 {| class="wikitable"
@@ Line 116: / Line 117: @@
 | 2024
 | Christie's Hong Kong, lot 2337
-| ferrite wood-effect dial, Chinese calendar
+| wood-effect dial, Chinese calendar
 | HKD 214,200
 |-
@@ Line 122: / Line 123: @@
 | Phillips Geneva XVII, lot 148
 | ferrite Roman dial
-| published lot reference
+| CHF 31,750
 |-
 | 2022
 | Sotheby's Cologne
 | diamond-set onyx dial, Arabic 6/9
-| published lot reference
+| result not published
 |-
 | 2020
 | Sotheby's Hong Kong, lot 103
 | blue dégradé Stella diamond dial
-| published lot reference
+| result not published
 |-
 | 2017
@@ Line 140: / Line 141: @@
 |}
-==Sources==
+<gallery mode="packed" heights="180">
+Ref 18248 hero.webp|Bark 18248
+Ref 18248 stella.webp|Blue Stella dial
+Ref 18248 onyx.webp|Onyx dial
+</gallery>
+== Related references ==
+* [[Reference:18208|Day-Date 18208]] : 1988–2000
+* [[Reference:18238|Day-Date 18238]] : 1988–2000
+* [[Reference:18348|Day-Date 18348]] : 1988–2000
+* [[Reference:19018|Day-Date 19018]] : Oysterquartz President (1977–2001)
+* [[Reference:18028|Day-Date 18028]] : 1977–1988
+* [[Reference:18038|Day-Date 18038]] : Cal 3055 President (1977–1988)
+See also the [[Reference:day-date|Day-Date family index]], [[Reference:Movements|movement reference]], [[Reference:Bracelets|bracelet & clasp guide]], and [[Reference:Serial-numbers|serial numbers by year]].
+== Sources ==
+* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolex_Day-Date Wikipedia: Rolex Day-Date] — family chronology
+* [https://www.rolex.com/watches/day-date Rolex Day-Date technical material] — current family terminology
+* [https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6498000 Christie's 18248 wood-effect dial catalogue] — individual auction evidence
-* ''The Vintage Rolex Field Manual'' — Colin A. White, Morning Tundra
+* ''The Vintage Rolex Field Manual'' : Colin A. White, Morning Tundra
-* [https://www.phillips.com/detail/rolex/CH080123/148 Phillips, "Rolex Ref. 18248 Day-Date, 18k yellow gold bark with ferrite Roman dial — Phillips Geneva Watch Auction XVII, lot 148", Phillips, 2023]
+* [https://www.phillips.com/detail/rolex/CH080123/148 Phillips, "Rolex Ref. 18248 Day-Date, 18k yellow gold bark with ferrite Roman dial : Phillips Geneva Watch Auction XVII, lot 148", Phillips, 2023]
-* [https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6498000 Christie's, "Rolex Ref. 18248 Day-Date, 18k yellow gold bark with ferrite/wood-effect Chinese-calendar dial — Christie's Hong Kong, lot 2337", Christie's, 2024]
+* [https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6498000 Christie's, "Rolex Ref. 18248 Day-Date, 18k yellow gold bark with wood-effect Chinese-calendar dial : Christie's Hong Kong, lot 2337", Christie's, 2024]
-* [https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/watches-weekly-hong-kong-17/rolex-day-date-reference-18248-a-yellow-gold-and Sotheby's, "Rolex Ref. 18248 Day-Date, 18k yellow gold bark with blue dégradé Stella diamond dial — Sotheby's Watches Weekly, Hong Kong, lot 103", Sotheby's, 2020]
+* [https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2020/watches-weekly-hong-kong-17/rolex-day-date-reference-18248-a-yellow-gold-and Sotheby's, "Rolex Ref. 18248 Day-Date, 18k yellow gold bark with blue dégradé Stella diamond dial : Sotheby's Watches Weekly, Hong Kong, lot 103", Sotheby's, 2020]
-* [https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/fine-jewels-watches-handbags-cologne/day-date-ref-18248-yellow-gold-wristwatch-with-day Sotheby's, "Rolex Ref. 18248 Day-Date, 18k yellow gold bark with diamond-set onyx dial — Sotheby's Cologne, Fine Jewels, Watches & Handbags", Sotheby's, 2022]
+* [https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/fine-jewels-watches-handbags-cologne/day-date-ref-18248-yellow-gold-wristwatch-with-day Sotheby's, "Rolex Ref. 18248 Day-Date, 18k yellow gold bark with diamond-set onyx dial : Sotheby's Cologne, Fine Jewels, Watches & Handbags", Sotheby's, 2022]
-* [https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/important-watches-ge1705/lot.317.html Sotheby's, "Rolex Ref. 18248 Day-Date, 18k yellow gold bark with blue Stella dial — Sotheby's Important Watches, Geneva, lot 317", Sotheby's, 2017]
+* [https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2017/important-watches-ge1705/lot.317.html Sotheby's, "Rolex Ref. 18248 Day-Date, 18k yellow gold bark with blue Stella dial : Sotheby's Important Watches, Geneva, lot 317", Sotheby's, 2017]
 * [https://www.sothebys.com/ Sotheby's editorial, "The Rolex Day-Date: A Complete Collector's Guide", Sotheby's]
 * [https://italianwatchspotter.com/the-history-of-the-rolex-day-date/?lang=en Italian Watch Spotter editorial, "The History of the Rolex Day-Date", Italian Watch Spotter]
@@ Line 156: / Line 177: @@
 [[Category:Day-Date]]
-[[Category:Working Draft]]