Reference:218239: Difference between revisions

The 218239 is the white-gold Day-Date II, made from 2008 to 2015 on the caliber 3156, with a fluted white-gold bezel and a solid white-gold President bracelet. It is the quietest reference in a generation that was not built to be quiet. White gold reads as steel at arm's length, so a 41mm President in this metal weighs like precious metal and looks like nothing in particular, which is the point of a white-gold Rolex and the reason the reference has always sold in smaller numbers than its yellow-gold and Everose siblings.

The 218239 is the white-gold member of the Day-Date II, the 2008 generation that pushed the President to 41mm. Its siblings are the yellow-gold [[Reference:218238|218238]], the Everose [[Reference:218235|218235]] and the platinum [[Reference:218206|218206]], and it shares the fluted bezel, the caliber and the bracelet architecture with the two gold references. White gold and platinum are the two discreet metals in the generation, and they take opposite approaches: the platinum announces itself through the smooth bezel and the ice-blue dial that Rolex reserves for the metal, while the white gold hides inside the same fluted-bezel silhouette the yellow gold wears.

No production figure has been published for the 218239, and the reference is thinner on the ground than the others. Searches of the dealer market return a handful of white-gold Day-Date IIs against many yellow-gold and Everose examples, which is consistent with how white-gold Day-Dates have always sold, though it is market evidence rather than a factory number and should be treated as such.

The caliber 3156 was built for the Day-Date II and used in no other model. It takes the caliber 3155 architecture and widens the main plate by roughly 2.5mm to suit the 41mm case, keeping 31 jewels, a 28,800 vph beat, about 48 hours of reserve, double quickset for day and date, and COSC certification. The balance is Glucydur with Microstella screws, the hairspring is the blue Parachrom, and Paraflex shock protection is fitted. The 3156 was introduced with the generation in 2008 and retired in 2015 and 2016, when the Day-Date 40 moved to the caliber 3255. There is no white-gold-specific movement; the 218239 runs what the [[Reference:218238|218238]] runs, and the [[Reference:Movements]] page holds the caliber lineage.

Chocolate on white gold is the pairing worth seeking out. The dial arrived as a Day-Date II signature and is usually associated with Everose, where warm-on-warm is the obvious combination; against white gold the brown has to carry the whole watch, and it does. The white Roman dial at the other end is the most self-effacing Day-Date Rolex made in this period, a 41mm solid-gold President that could be read as a steel watch from across a table.

Aftermarket work is common on this reference and needs separating from factory configuration. White-gold 218239 cases turn up with diamond-paved Roman dials, custom-set diamond bezels, baguette dials and fully diamond-set President bracelets, none of it Rolex work. A factory diamond dial such as the silver or black layouts is a catalogue variant with a code behind it; an aftermarket paved dial is later jewellery. Stone cut, prong style and the regularity of the setting are what separate them, and the difference shows up in price on resale.

The 41mm case is the generation's defining choice and its most argued-over one. Contemporaneous coverage read the proportions as substantial, with wide lugs and a long profile, and Rolex answered the criticism by moving to 40mm in 2015. On white gold the effect is different from the gold references: without the visual warmth of yellow or Everose, the size registers as heft rather than flash, which suits some wrists and defeats others. The weight is not subtle either way, as solid white gold is denser than yellow.

White gold is the metal a Day-Date buyer chooses to avoid being read as a Day-Date buyer, and the 218239 is the most complete expression of that in the generation. The case, bezel and bracelet are solid 18k, the movement is chronometer-certified, and the whole thing passes for steel at conversational distance. The white Roman dial takes the idea furthest. Against the platinum [[Reference:218206|218206]], which uses the smooth bezel and the ice-blue dial as a signal to anyone who knows what those mean, the white gold gives away nothing at all.

Two distinct things get called a diamond 218239. The factory versions are the silver and black diamond dials, standard fluted bezel, catalogue configurations. Everything else is added later: paved dials, set bezels, diamond bracelets. The gap shows in the asking prices, where aftermarket-set white-gold examples are offered well above plain factory ones, but that spread is the value of the stones and the setting work, not of the reference, and it narrows sharply on resale. For anyone wanting factory stones on a white-gold Day-Date II at 41mm, the reference to look for is the 218349 with its factory diamond bezel.

The Day-Date II's auction record belongs almost entirely to the platinum [[Reference:218206|218206]], where a documented Bonhams London result of £32,000 in June 2025 and the commissioned examples carry the generation's saleroom history. No 218239 lot surfaced in the research for this entry, but the major houses expose upcoming sales rather than full archives to search, so the absence is a gap in the record rather than evidence the reference has never been catalogued. The 218239 changes hands on the secondary market, which says more about how modern gold Day-Dates are traded than about the watch.

On the secondary market in 2026, factory-dial 218239s on the standard fluted bezel are asked between roughly USD 29,800 and 39,500. That spread is wide for a reference with so few dial options, and it tracks the seller rather than the watch: the same white Roman configuration sits near the bottom of the band at one dealer and the factory diamond dials near the top at another. Dated examples with box and papers sit around USD 38,000. Aftermarket diamond-set examples are asked at USD 54,000 to 55,000, a figure that reflects the stones rather than the reference. The white gold sits below the Everose [[Reference:218235|218235]] and close to the yellow-gold [[Reference:218238|218238]] in the generation, which makes it, for anyone who actually wants the metal, the value entry into a 41mm President.

* [[Reference:218235|Day-Date 218235]] — 2008–2015 — Everose Day-Date II

* [[Reference:218238|Day-Date 218238]] — 2008–2015 — yellow gold Day-Date II

* [[Reference:218206|Day-Date 218206]] — 2008–2015 — platinum Day-Date II

* [[Reference:118238|Day-Date 118238]] — 2000–2019

* [[Reference:118235|Day-Date 118235]] — 2005–2019

* [[Reference:118208|Day-Date 118208]] — 2000–2019