Reference:218238: Difference between revisions

|title=Rolex 218238 Day-Date II — 41mm Yellow Gold President, Caliber 3156, 2008–2015 | BezelBase

|description=The 218238 is the Day-Date II — Rolex's only 41mm Day-Date, 2008–2015 Baselworld run on the cal 3156 with Parachrom hairspring and Paraflex shock absorbers. 18k yellow gold case, fluted bezel, hidden Crownclasp on a 41mm President bracelet.

|modified_time=2026-06-29T01:18:47Z

<small>[[Reference:day-date|Day-Date]] -> '''218238'''</small>

[[File:Ref 218238 hero.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Rolex Day-Date II 218238 — 41mm 18k yellow gold, champagne diamond dial, fluted bezel, hidden Crownclasp on the 41mm President.|Rolex Day-Date II 218238 — 41mm 18k yellow gold with the factory champagne diamond dial. The 2008–2015 reference is the only 41mm Day-Date Rolex has ever produced.]]

The 218238 is the Day-Date II, produced for seven years from 2008 through 2015 on the cal 3156. The movement is the cal 3155 scaled up with a 2.5mm wider main plate to fit the 41mm Oyster case that the reference introduced. That 5mm jump from 36mm to 41mm is the single largest dimensional change in the Day-Date line since the 6510 launched in 1956. Same fluted bezel on yellow gold, same hidden Crownclasp on a President bracelet scaled to 41mm. The Day-Date II is also the shortest-run Day-Date reference in the modern era and the only 41mm Day-Date Rolex has ever produced. By Baselworld 2015 the Day-Date 40 (228xxx) had taken its slot at 40mm, splitting the difference between the 36mm classic and the 41mm Day-Date II.

{| class="wikitable"

| 41mm 18k yellow gold Oyster — only 41mm Day-Date Rolex has ever made

| 17 across the family (WatchBase)

The 218238 is the 41mm experiment in the Day-Date line. Rolex pushed it out at Basel 2008 as the late-2000s response to the broader luxury-watch shift toward larger dress watches; Patek, Audemars Piguet, and Vacheron had already pushed dress watches past the 38mm ceiling that had defined the category through the 1990s. The Day-Date II launched alongside the Datejust II as a coordinated 41mm-plus pairing. The Datejust II ran longer. The Day-Date II discontinued after seven years and Rolex split the difference with the 40mm Day-Date 40 (228xxx) from 2015.

Every Day-Date before and after the 218238 sits at either 36mm (1803 through 118238, then 128238 from 2019) or 40mm (228 series from 2015). The 5mm case jump and the seven-year run combine to make the 218238 the most divisive Day-Date in the modern catalogue. Early-launch press read the proportions as overstated, with aBlogtoWatch calling the case "chunky" and the bezel "conspicuously wider than before"; the post-discontinuation collector market has read the same proportions as distinctive and the 218238 as a future-classic candidate.

The movement is the cal 3156, the cal 3155 architecture scaled up. WatchBase lists a 28.50mm base plate; Watch-Wiki cites a 2.5mm wider main plate than the 3155, giving a 30.97mm overall dimension. That dimension is the architectural reason the movement exists. The 3156 was also the first Day-Date caliber to ship with both the Parachrom Blu hairspring (rolled out across Rolex from approximately 2005 but only universal on Day-Date from the 218238) and the Paraflex anti-shock system. The successor cal 3255 on the Day-Date 40 jumps the power reserve to approximately 70 hours across 14 patents.

Seventeen distinct dial codes are documented across the family in the WatchBase reference database, the most exhaustive specific-dial roster published for the 218 generation.

There is no 218389 Tridor in the catalogue. Rolex discontinued the Tridor (tri-tone gold President) around 2000 with the 18239B closeout; no Tridor 218xxx appears in WatchBase, dealer archives, or the auction record. The modern-reference numbering scheme (last digit indicating metal: 8 yellow, 9 white, 5 Everose, 6 platinum) doesn't support a 218389 slot either. There is also no 218339 white-gold-diamond reference. The diamond-bezel white-gold 218xxx is the 218349; dealer listings citing "218339" are typos for 218239 or 218349.

The cal 3156 carries 31 jewels, runs at 28,800 vph (4 Hz), holds approximately 48 hours of power reserve, and is COSC chronometer certified to the pre-2015 ±4 / +6 seconds per day standard. Double quickset advances day and date independently via the crown, the seconds hack, and the balance is the standard Glucydur with Microstella weight screws. The base plate measures 28.50mm with the 30.97mm overall main-plate dimension that Watch-Wiki notes runs 2.5mm wider than the cal 3155.

Two firsts for the Day-Date line landed on the 3156: the Parachrom Blu hairspring, which arrived across the Rolex catalogue from approximately 2005 but only became universal on Day-Date with this caliber, and the Paraflex anti-shock system. The 3156 retired in 2015/2016 with the Day-Date II discontinuation. The Day-Date 40 successor stepped to the cal 3255 with 14 patents, 70-hour power reserve, Chronergy escapement, and Superlative Chronometer ±2-seconds-per-day certification. The cal 3156 sits as the bridge between the 3155 architecture of the 118238 era and the cal 3255 modern era.

[[File:Ref 218238 dial detail.webp|thumb|right|300px|alt=Rolex Day-Date II 218238 case detail — 41mm Oyster profile, fluted yellow gold bezel, President bracelet attachment.|218238 case detail — the 41mm Oyster profile and President bracelet attachment. The 5mm jump from the 36mm 1803/18038/118238 lineage was the single largest dimensional change in the Day-Date line since the 1956 launch.]]

The 218 generation runs four factory bezel configurations. The fluted bezel sits on yellow gold (218238), white gold (218239), and Everose (218235) and continues the default Day-Date format since the 1803 era. The smooth domed bezel is reserved for the platinum 218206; it is Rolex's traditional platinum format and a strong identifier from across the room, and the 218206 is the only 218 production-volume reference to wear it. Factory diamond bezels appear on 218348 (yellow gold) and 218349 (white gold), set with round-brilliant diamonds in the bezel ring. The Datejust II's fluted-with-aftermarket-diamond range does not apply here; aftermarket gem-setting on a 218238 is identifiable through stone-cut and prong-style inconsistencies against the factory work.

Champagne Roman is the production-volume dial on the 218238 yellow gold, the default configuration in the secondary market and the dial collectors picture when they hear the reference. White Roman and black Roman round out the standard yellow gold trio.

Chocolate dial with Roman markers is the signature dial for the Everose 218235 (-0035) and white gold 218239 (-0040), a 218xxx-era introduction that became a Day-Date marker. Chocolate paired with diamond markers on Everose pushes well past the base price.

A meteorite dial has been listed on dealer pages tagging "218239 meteorite," but no factory-catalogued example has surfaced in the auction record or the WatchBase index. Documented examples place meteorite on the 228239-0055 Day-Date 40 baguette configuration rather than the 218xxx generation. Treat the 218 meteorite claim as unverified pending a primary Rolex catalogue confirmation.

Factory pavé in the 218 line surfaces on 218206-0052 (platinum diamond Roman) and 218235-0008 (Everose pink diamond). The factory-set ruby-and-diamond baguette champagne dial 218238 is one of the rarest configurations and trades in the high USD 50,000 range against USD 30,000–39,000 for the standard yellow gold 218238. Factory diamond hour markers appear on both the 218348 (yellow gold) and 218349 (white gold) alongside their diamond bezels. Production volume on the diamond-bezel siblings is small relative to the standard fluted-bezel references, and surfaced examples trade above USD 80,000.

The standout 218 generation auction lot is the Day-Date II Royal Khanjar reference 218206, a platinum diamond-set example with Arabic day-and-date discs commissioned for the Sultan of Oman around 2012 and engraved on the caseback with the Royal Khanjar crest. Sotheby's catalogued the lot in their 2025 Origins sale and again in Important Watches Part I (GE2504). Bonhams has separately catalogued and sold a production-spec 218206 platinum c. 2010. Phillips coverage of the reference is thinner; Day-Date II auction interest concentrates on the special-order and commissioned platinum examples rather than gold production lots, which trade primarily on the secondary market.

The 218 generation has appreciated steadily post-discontinuation. The Day-Date 40 successor (228238) has appreciated roughly 30 percent over the last five years on aggregated market data, and the 218238 has tracked that arc on the discontinued-supply premium. The 218238 reads less as a value reference now than as a future-classic candidate with the discontinued-only-41mm-Day-Date framing carrying the case.

The 218238 launched at Baselworld 2008 alongside the Datejust II at a USD 27,650 MSRP for the base yellow gold and USD 30,150 with the 8 round + 2 baguette diamond dial. Rolex rolled out the random scrambled serial system catalogue-wide in 2010, and the 218238 production straddles the rollover. Late G-serial examples and random-serial post-2010 examples both surface in the secondary market through approximately 2012. Around 2012 Rolex executed the Sultan of Oman Royal Khanjar 218206 platinum commission, the caseback engraved with the Royal Khanjar crest. Baselworld 2015 brought the discontinuation: the Day-Date 40 (228xxx) launched at 40mm, replaced the Day-Date II 41mm outright, and continued the 36mm 118238 line until that line's own discontinuation in 2019.

==Sources==