Rolex Day-Date 18108 — Diamond-set bark bezel

Day-Date → 18108

The 18108 is an 18k yellow-gold Day-Date documented with a diamond-set bark bezel and bark-finish President bracelet. Auction records show blue and oxblood lacquer, onyx, and wood dials. Known catalogue dates place individual examples around 1985–86; the reference’s factory start and end dates remain undetermined.

Core facts

Detail	What the records show
Family	Day-Date, five-digit generation
Dated examples	Auction catalogues date examples to circa 1985 and 1986; no firm start or end date established
Case	18k yellow gold; 36 mm in most catalogues, 35.5 mm in one
Bezel	Bark finish with 12 diamonds documented on an onyx-dial example
Movement	Caliber 3055 automatic; 27 jewels in several catalogues
Dial	Blue and oxblood lacquer described as “Stella” by auction houses; also onyx and wood examples
Bracelet	President, with bark-finish centre links documented; bracelet details vary by lot

Where it sits in the line

The 18108 belongs to the single-quickset 3055 generation. Auction catalogues document the bark bezel with diamonds on the examples described here; they do not establish the full range of factory configurations.

Production outline

The dated auction examples fall in the mid-1980s. Christie's dates a wood-dial example to circa 1986 and two onyx examples to circa 1985. Sotheby's also dates its turquoise/blue-dial example to circa 1986. These are dates for individual watches, not production limits for the reference.

Movement notes

Christie's and Sotheby's identify the automatic movement as caliber 3055; catalogues that give a jewel count report 27. The 3055 corrects the date from the crown. To change the weekday, the hands must pass through midnight. The movement guide covers the 3055 and the later double-quickset 3155.

Dial map

The auction record shows several distinct dial configurations, but it does not establish a complete factory menu.

Christie's describes black onyx dials with diamond hour markers. One separately catalogued onyx dial is explicitly identified as a service dial, so it does not establish original delivery.
Christie's calls an oxblood lacquer dial “Stella.” Sotheby's uses the same term for one watch, described as turquoise in 2018 and blue in 2021. These are catalogue descriptions, not a separate reference designation.
A wood dial appears on a circa-1986 example. The catalogues reviewed do not specify the wood species.

Three-quarter view of the blue-dial 18108 with bark-finish bezel and bracelet — The same blue-dial example, shown at an angle; Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2021, lot 2135.

Case, bezel, crystal, and crown

The catalogues describe an 18k yellow-gold case, a screw-down crown and caseback, and a 36 mm diameter. One Christie's listing measures its example at 35.5 mm. Sotheby's calls the 18038 an early sapphire-crystal Day-Date; the 18108 lot descriptions here omit the crystal material on the individual watches.

The documented 18108 examples pair a bark-textured bezel with diamonds. Christie's specifies 12 stones on one onyx-dial watch; other catalogue records describe a diamond-set bark bezel without giving a count. The lots support these individual configurations, while the setting on every 18108 remains unverified.

Sotheby's 2018 catalogue titles a turquoise-dial watch “18108A” and reports a caseback numbered 18000. Its 2021 listing calls the watch 18108 and repeats case number 9'342'167, identifying the same case in both sales. The 2021 listing does not give a movement number. The catalogues leave the “18108A” title and 18000 caseback unexplained. Christie's records another 18108 with 18200 stamped inside the caseback, also without explaining the marking. These are lot-specific discrepancies; the available records do not describe a reference-wide caseback convention.

Bracelets, end links, clasps, and packaging

The catalogued watches have 18k yellow-gold President bracelets, several with bark-finish centre links. Christie's records one bracelet with clasp stamp 8723 and end links 55; those marks describe that bracelet, not the watch head. A wood-dial example has a concealed deployant clasp. Sotheby's gives an approximately 185 mm length for its blue-dial example. These are lot-specific details; the sources do not tie any bracelet to original delivery or define one specification for every 18108.

Back view of a yellow-gold Day-Date 18108 and its opened President bracelet — Case and bracelet back of the same Sotheby's example. The image does not show a movement.

Auction records

The table covers six watches. Sotheby's listed the same case in 2018 and 2021, identified by case number 9'342'167. The 2018 listing gives movement number 1'438'362; the 2021 listing gives none.

Date assigned by the catalogue	House and lot	Recorded configuration
circa 1985	Christie's, lot 5841689	18k yellow gold, diamond-set bezel, champagne dial with ruby numerals
circa 1985	Christie's online, lot 67	Black onyx dial and diamond markers; the dial is described as a service dial
circa 1985	Christie's, lot 6042612	Onyx dial, bark President bracelet; clasp stamped 8723 and end links 55
circa 1986	Christie's, lot 2363	Wood dial and bark-finish President bracelet; 36 mm case, caliber 3055
circa 1986	Sotheby's, lot 204 (2018); later listed as lot 2135 (2021)	Same case number, 9'342'167; turquoise in 2018 and blue in 2021, both called “Stella”; 2018 record gives movement 1'438'362, 2021 record omits it
Date not stated	Christie's, lot 6533554	Case 8'961'548; oxblood lacquer dial described as “Stella”; bark-finish bezel and bracelet

Blue-dial 18108, front view. Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2021, lot 2135.
The same watch at an angle, showing the case and bracelet finish.
Case and bracelet back of the same watch; movement not shown.

Sources