Reference:218206: Difference between revisions

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Day-Date › 218206

Rolex Day-Date II 218206 in platinum — the ice-blue dial Rolex reserves for platinum, on the 41mm case and platinum President bracelet.

The 218206 is the platinum Day-Date II, a 41mm model produced from 2008 to 2015. Rolex paired the platinum case with a smooth bezel, a platinum President bracelet and caliber 3156. The reference was followed by the 40mm 228206 in 2015.

Core facts

detail	value
reference	218206
family	Day-Date (Day-Date II, 41mm)
production	2008 to 2015
movement	caliber 3156, 31 jewels, 28,800 vph, ~48h, double quickset, Parachrom hairspring, Paraflex, COSC
case	41mm 950 platinum
crystal	sapphire
bezel	smooth (domed) — the platinum Day-Date was not offered fluted in this generation
bracelet	platinum President with concealed Crownclasp
dial	ice-blue (glacier blue, platinum-only) in Roman, Arabic-numeral and diamond layouts; also rhodium, black, white
crown	Twinlock screw-down
predecessor	18206 / 118206 (36mm platinum)
successor	228206 (Day-Date 40, caliber 3255, from 2015)
siblings	218238 (yellow gold), 218239 (white gold), 218235 (Everose), 218348 / 218349 (diamond)

Where it sits in the line

The 218206 is the platinum member of the Day-Date II, the generation that scaled the President to 41mm from 2008 to 2015. It stands in a platinum lineage of its own, running from the 36mm 18206 of the 5-digit 18208 era through the 36mm 118206 to this 41mm reference, and on to the 40mm 228206 that replaced it. The yellow-gold Day-Date II is the 218238, with white gold the 218239, Everose the 218235, and factory diamond bezels on the gold 218348 and 218349. The cited 218206 records use a smooth bezel; Rolex introduced a fluted platinum Day-Date later, in 2023.

Production outline

The 218206 ran for the Day-Date II's full 2008–2015 life. The 41mm case defined the Day-Date II generation, which ended when the 40mm Day-Date 40 replaced it in 2015. The ice-blue dial appears in later examples, often dated around 2013, but Rolex has not published a serial boundary for the change. No production figure for the 218206 has surfaced.

Movement notes

The 218206 runs the caliber 3156, the 41mm derivative of the caliber 3155: 31 jewels, 28,800 vph, a roughly 48-hour reserve, double quickset for day and date, and COSC certification, with the Parachrom hairspring and Paraflex shock protection of the period. It is the same movement as the gold 218238, so what separates the two is the case metal and the dial. The Reference:Movements page holds the caliber lineage, and the 218238 entry covers the 3156 in detail.

Dial map

Platinum Rolex 218206 ice-blue concentric Roman dial — The ice-blue concentric-guilloché Roman dial, the most recognised of the platinum 218206 layouts.

Rolex uses an ice-blue or glacier-blue dial on its platinum Day-Date models. The cited 218206 examples include concentric Roman, Arabic-numeral and diamond-set layouts. Auction catalogues also record rhodium, grey, black and white dials; these are individual configurations rather than a complete factory dial register. The deep dial taxonomy that spans the President line sits on the 1803 entry.

Case, bezel, crystal, and crown

The case is 41mm in 950 platinum, with a sapphire crystal and a Twinlock screw-down crown. The bezel is the smooth, gently domed platinum bezel; the fluting that the gold and Everose Day-Date II references carried was not offered on the platinum in this generation, and the platinum fluted bezel did not arrive until 2023. The 41mm proportions give the 218206 markedly more wrist presence than a 36mm President.

Bracelets, end links, and clasps

The 218206 wears the platinum President bracelet, the three-piece semi-circular-link bracelet with the concealed Crownclasp, scaled to the 41mm case. Solid platinum, it is much of the reference's heft. 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.

Special branches

The Royal Khanjar

Platinum Rolex Day-Date II 218206 Royal Khanjar with ice-blue diamond-set dial — The diamond-set "Royal Khanjar" 218206, an Oman royal commission carrying the Khanjar engraved on the caseback — the modern end of the Gulf-commission tradition.

A platinum, diamond-set 218206 with an ice-blue dial was catalogued as delivered to the Diwan of the Royal Court in Oman around 2012. Sotheby's catalogued it with the royal Khanjar emblem engraved on the caseback, placing the 218206 at the modern end of the Gulf-commission tradition that runs back through the platinum 1831 and the 6612B "Lone Star."

Auction record

The cited auction record includes a 2025 Royal Khanjar lot whose result was not published, a standard ice-blue example sold by Antiquorum for CHF 45,000, and an ice-blue Arabic example sold by Bonhams for £32,000. These watches differ in dial, provenance and completeness, so the results should not be treated as a current price range or a general premium for any one configuration.

date	house	configuration	result
2025	Sotheby's	platinum "Royal Khanjar", diamond-set, ice-blue, Oman, c.2012	result not published
2025	Antiquorum Geneva, lot 768	platinum, ice-blue dial, c.2008, full set	CHF 45,000
2025	Bonhams London, lot 8	platinum, ice-blue Arabic dial, c.2010	£32,000

Related references

Day-Date 218238, 2008–2015
Day-Date 118235, 2005–2019
Day-Date 118208, 2000–2019
Day-Date 118238, 2000–2019
Day-Date 118138, 2013–2019
Day-Date 18208, 1988–2000

Sources

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{DISPLAYTITLE:Rolex Day-Date II 218206}}
 {{#seo:
-|title=Rolex Day-Date II 218206 — The Platinum Ice-Blue "President's President"
+|title=Rolex Day-Date II 218206 — Platinum Day-Date II with caliber 3156
 |description=The Rolex 218206 is the platinum 41mm Day-Date II (caliber 3156, 2008-2015) with the platinum-only ice-blue dial — the "President's President." Smooth bezel only; lineage 18206/118206 to the Day-Date 40 228206.
 |keywords=Rolex 218206, Day-Date II 218206, platinum Day-Date, ice-blue dial, glacier blue, caliber 3156, President's President, Royal Khanjar
@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 </div>
-The 218206 is the platinum Day-Date II, the 41mm President made from 2008 to 2015 and the watch most collectors picture as the "President's President." Platinum is the metal Rolex reserves its ice-blue dial for, and the 218206 wears it, with a smooth platinum bezel and the platinum President bracelet on the larger 41mm case and the caliber 3156. It is the Day-Date II in its most coveted form, even though the 41mm size that defines the generation proved divisive enough that Rolex stepped back to 40mm in 2015.
+The 218206 is the platinum Day-Date II, a 41mm model produced from 2008 to 2015. Rolex paired the platinum case with a smooth bezel, a platinum President bracelet and caliber 3156. The reference was followed by the 40mm 228206 in 2015.
@@ Line 59: / Line 59: @@
 | Twinlock screw-down
 |-
-| nickname
-| "President's President"
 |-
 | predecessor
@@ Line 74: / Line 72: @@
 ==Where it sits in the line==
-The 218206 is the platinum member of the Day-Date II, the generation that scaled the President to 41mm from 2008 to 2015. It stands in a platinum lineage of its own, running from the 36mm 18206 of the 5-digit [[Reference:18208|18208]] era through the 36mm 118206 to this 41mm reference, and on to the 40mm 228206 that replaced it. The yellow-gold Day-Date II is the [[Reference:218238|218238]], with white gold the 218239, Everose the 218235, and factory diamond bezels on the gold 218348 and 218349. Only a smooth bezel is correct here, since Rolex did not put a fluted bezel on a platinum Day-Date until 2023.
+The 218206 is the platinum member of the Day-Date II, the generation that scaled the President to 41mm from 2008 to 2015. It stands in a platinum lineage of its own, running from the 36mm 18206 of the 5-digit [[Reference:18208|18208]] era through the 36mm 118206 to this 41mm reference, and on to the 40mm 228206 that replaced it. The yellow-gold Day-Date II is the [[Reference:218238|218238]], with white gold the 218239, Everose the 218235, and factory diamond bezels on the gold 218348 and 218349. The cited 218206 records use a smooth bezel; Rolex introduced a fluted platinum Day-Date later, in 2023.
 ==Production outline==
-The 218206 ran for the Day-Date II's full 2008–2015 life. The 41mm case was the point of the generation and also its problem. It gave the President more wrist presence than it had ever had, at the cost of the 36mm formula that defined the line, and the Day-Date II ended up with the shortest run of any modern Day-Date before the 40mm Day-Date 40 replaced it in 2015. Within the platinum reference, the ice-blue dial arrived partway through the run, by most accounts around 2013. Rolex has never documented the change. No production figure has surfaced; the platinum DD-II is a low-volume reference within an already short-lived generation.
+The 218206 ran for the Day-Date II's full 2008–2015 life. The 41mm case defined the Day-Date II generation, which ended when the 40mm Day-Date 40 replaced it in 2015. The ice-blue dial appears in later examples, often dated around 2013, but Rolex has not published a serial boundary for the change. No production figure for the 218206 has surfaced.
 ==Movement notes==
@@ Line 87: / Line 85: @@
 [[File:Ref 218206 roman.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Platinum Rolex 218206 ice-blue concentric Roman dial|The ice-blue concentric-guilloché Roman dial, the most recognised of the platinum 218206 layouts.]]
-Ice-blue, the glacier-blue tone Rolex applies only to platinum, is the 218206's signature and the reason the reference is collected. It comes in a concentric-guilloché Roman layout, an Arabic-numeral layout, and diamond-set versions. Rhodium and grey, black with Arabic numerals, black diamond and white Roman were all catalogued as well, but the ice-blue is the one that reads as platinum on sight, and the platinum-and-ice-blue pairing is what earns the watch its "President's President" tag. The deep dial taxonomy that spans the President line sits on the [[Reference:1803|1803]] entry.
+Rolex uses an ice-blue or glacier-blue dial on its platinum Day-Date models. The cited 218206 examples include concentric Roman, Arabic-numeral and diamond-set layouts. Auction catalogues also record rhodium, grey, black and white dials; these are individual configurations rather than a complete factory dial register. The deep dial taxonomy that spans the President line sits on the [[Reference:1803|1803]] entry.
 ==Case, bezel, crystal, and crown==
@@ Line 102: / Line 100: @@
 [[File:Ref 218206 khanjar.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Platinum Rolex Day-Date II 218206 Royal Khanjar with ice-blue diamond-set dial|The diamond-set "Royal Khanjar" 218206, an Oman royal commission carrying the Khanjar engraved on the caseback — the modern end of the Gulf-commission tradition.]]
-A platinum, diamond-set 218206 with an ice-blue dial, delivered to the Diwan of the Royal Court in Oman around 2012, sits at the top of the reference. Sotheby's catalogued it with the royal Khanjar emblem engraved on the caseback, placing the 218206 at the modern end of the Gulf-commission tradition that runs back through the platinum [[Reference:1831|1831]] and the 6612B "Lone Star."
+A platinum, diamond-set 218206 with an ice-blue dial was catalogued as delivered to the Diwan of the Royal Court in Oman around 2012. Sotheby's catalogued it with the royal Khanjar emblem engraved on the caseback, placing the 218206 at the modern end of the Gulf-commission tradition that runs back through the platinum [[Reference:1831|1831]] and the 6612B "Lone Star."
 ==Auction record==
-The 218206 trades as a platinum modern classic, and the special commissions sit above the standard ice-blue examples. Sotheby's catalogued the diamond-set Royal Khanjar 218206 in 2025 with the result not publicly disclosed. Antiquorum sold a standard platinum ice-blue example in Geneva in 2025 for CHF 45,000, and Bonhams an ice-blue Arabic example in London the same year for £32,000. On the secondary market a standard platinum ice-blue 218206 sits in the high forties to mid sixties of thousands of dollars. That is clearly above the gold 218238, on metal value and on the ice-blue cachet, and generally below the 40mm platinum 228206 that followed it in the size the market preferred. The 41mm case is the reference's main drag on price, and the real premium concentrates on the commissioned and diamond-set examples.
+The cited auction record includes a 2025 Royal Khanjar lot whose result was not published, a standard ice-blue example sold by Antiquorum for CHF 45,000, and an ice-blue Arabic example sold by Bonhams for £32,000. These watches differ in dial, provenance and completeness, so the results should not be treated as a current price range or a general premium for any one configuration.
 {| class="wikitable"
@@ Line 133: / Line 131: @@
 == Related references ==
-* [[Reference:218238|Day-Date 218238]] — 2008–2015
+* [[Reference:218238|Day-Date 218238]], 2008–2015
-* [[Reference:118235|Day-Date 118235]] — 2005–2019
+* [[Reference:118235|Day-Date 118235]], 2005–2019
-* [[Reference:118208|Day-Date 118208]] — 2000–2019
+* [[Reference:118208|Day-Date 118208]], 2000–2019
-* [[Reference:118238|Day-Date 118238]] — 2000–2019
+* [[Reference:118238|Day-Date 118238]], 2000–2019
-* [[Reference:118138|Day-Date 118138]] — 2013–2019
+* [[Reference:118138|Day-Date 118138]], 2013–2019
-* [[Reference:18208|Day-Date 18208]] — 1988–2000
+* [[Reference:18208|Day-Date 18208]], 1988–2000
 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]].