Rolex Day-Date 'Masterpiece'

Double Quickset Day-Dates were once a thing of fantasy. Early Day-Date models offered no Quickset functionality, meaning that both the Day and Date functions had to be manually set - with a fair amount of winding, mind you - by the user in order to display the correct information on the calendar complications. by the late 1970s, Rolex had improved the system and began offering Single-Quickset versions in the 'five digit' References based on the 18038. These versions allowed easier setting of the Date function, but you still had to crank through all seven days in order to set the Day. It wasn't until the introduction of the 182XX in the late 1980s that things got infinitely easier. The top of the line for Rolex's most elegant offerings going into the early aughts was their Masterpiece Collection. Part horology, part jewelry, all high-concept design, the Masterpiece Collection was where Rolex flexed their artistic muscles, elevating their standard timepieces into the realm of something truly special. This particular example, a Reference 18948 from the Rolex Masterpiece Collection, features a 39mm 18k yellow gold case with a 'Pearlmaster bracelet finished in Rolex's proprietary Tridor gold, a factory 18k yellow gold bezel with factory diamonds, and a silver meteorite dial with factory diamond-set indices and a matching handset. An already 'elevated' Day-Date with a twist, for when the standard fare of solid gold won't cut it. Simply masterful...