Reference:218239: Difference between revisions
| [checked revision] | [checked revision] |
Layout: restore the original lead caption Tag: Manual revert |
Galleries: convert 1 in-section image cluster(s) to comparison galleries (same files, same captions) |
||
| Line 21: | Line 21: | ||
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 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. | ||
==Core facts== | ==Core facts== | ||
| Line 91: | Line 90: | ||
==Dial map== | ==Dial map== | ||
[[File:Ref 218239 blue wave.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Rolex Day-Date II 218239 — white gold with the blue wave-pattern Arabic dial, shown with box and papers.|Blue wave-pattern Arabic dial on a dated 2014 white-gold example. The wave texture reached the plain fluted-bezel 218239, not only the diamond-bezel 218349.]] | [[File:Ref 218239 blue wave.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Rolex Day-Date II 218239 — white gold with the blue wave-pattern Arabic dial, shown with box and papers.|Blue wave-pattern Arabic dial on a dated 2014 white-gold example. The wave texture reached the plain fluted-bezel 218239, not only the diamond-bezel 218349.]] | ||
The documented white-gold dials divide into plain-marker layouts and factory diamond ones, with a wave-pattern dial sitting slightly apart. | The documented white-gold dials divide into plain-marker layouts and factory diamond ones, with a wave-pattern dial sitting slightly apart. | ||
| Line 151: | Line 149: | ||
===Factory diamond versus aftermarket stones=== | ===Factory diamond versus aftermarket stones=== | ||
<gallery mode="packed" heights="180"> | |||
File:Ref 218239 black diamond.webp|alt=Rolex Day-Date II 218239 — white gold with a factory black diamond dial.|Factory black diamond dial, a layout absent from the published dial-code roster. | |||
File:Ref 218239 silver diamond.webp|alt=Rolex Day-Date II 218239 — white gold with the factory silver diamond dial.|Factory silver diamond dial, catalogued as 218239-0006. | |||
</gallery> | |||
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. | 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. | ||
| Line 163: | Line 162: | ||
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. | 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. | ||
== Related references == | == Related references == | ||