Rolex Day-Date 'Diamond Blues'

Few watches make a statement like a solid gold Rolex. This anachronistic blend of technical design and functionality with a precious metal casing material is a polarizing one, and depending on how its worn (and indeed, by whom), can send very different signals - and we'll just leave it at that.  So-called “five digit” Day-Dates (reference variants with five digits) are a quintessential staple of the Neo-Vintage era. These models showed up in the late 70s and offer the added functionality of a higher-beat movement for accuracy and a Quickset date mechanism. They retain the classic 36mm case proportion of their predecessors and were produced in seemingly endless variations of dial, bezel, and bracelet configurations. This particular example, a Reference 18296 most certainly stands out! Dating to circa 1993, it is finished in 18K white gold with factory diamond-set lugs, a smooth polished white gold bezel, a gorgeous sunburst blue dial with a factory diamond-encrusted chapter ring with diamond set indices, and a matching President bracelet with hidden deployant clasp. While not for everyone, and perhaps even excessive - this wild, stunning and rare configuration was created to be excessive - to be more. We think it has achieved that with bells on.