Rolex Day-Date 18248

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	caliber-3155 carryover into the 6-digit era (scarce)

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

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

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