- By Logan Baker
Welcome to our new editorial series highlighting the exceptional watches available through Perpetual, Phillips’ boutique service offering immediate access to the world’s rarest and most desirable timepieces. You can view the current selection of available watches by stopping in our London headquarters at 30 Berkeley Square, or by visiting Perpetual online.
The Rolex Day-Date is the watch of world leaders, business power brokers, and sport superstars. It’s the watch to buy if you want to signal to the outside world that “you’ve made it.” There are very few personal items you can wear that are as effective at indicating prosperity and wealth as hanging a solid-gold watch and bracelet off your wrist.
Since its debut over 65 years ago, the Day-Date has remained an international symbol of success.
The Day-Date is unique in that it’s the only watch in Rolex’s current catalog that the brand does not offer in stainless steel. Outside of certain prototype examples, they likely never will. Precious metal has always been the name of the game for the Day-Date. The Swiss watchmaker currently offers the Day-Date in both 36mm and 40mm case configurations, in either yellow gold, pink gold, white gold, or platinum. However, even beyond the use of precious metal, Rolex has consistently found new ways to make certain Day-Date examples even more exceptional.
Rolex began experimenting with the use of unexpected materials for dials on the Day-Date and Datejust, including both wood and hardstones, in the 1970s. Authorized Dealers could special-order watches for their top clients that featured out-of-the-ordinary dials made out of everything from birch and coral to turquoise and walnut. This practice continued through the five-digit era at Rolex and appeared to peak with the release of the colorful lacquered “Stella” dials for the Day-Date in the late 1970s and early '80s. The use of unconventional dials continued and eventually expanded to include other watch families such as the Daytona and GMT-Master.
You can learn more about the evolution of these dials at Rolex in our recent story on “The Beauty of Natural Hardstone Dials,” or by revisiting the catalog of Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo’s Glamorous Day-Date auction, from May 2015, which was the world’s first thematic sale dedicated to the Day-Date.
Rolex continues to offer hardstone dials in certain new models. Watches & Wonders 2022, for instance, saw the introduction of a new onyx dial option in the Day-Date family, as well as the use of the uncommon falcon’s eye stone in the Yacht-Master collection. But the hardstone dial I want to focus on today was quietly added to the Rolex Day-Date line-up a year earlier, in 2021. It’s a beautiful dark quartz mineral called “eisenkiesel” that has a rich black-brown color and that is further enhanced by an intricate web of scarlet-tinted veins. The pattern formed by the veins is completely unique between each and every dial Rolex produces. Interesting, right?
Well, for some reason or another, this new-gen Day-Date didn't actually end up capturing a ton of attention when it was released – at least not as much as you might expect out of a new Rolex.
Eisenkiesel dials are currently only available on the Everose Day-Date in both 36mm and 40mm sizes, and with your choice of a diamond-set bezel or a fluted bezel. The 36mm option has diamond-set markers and Roman numerals on the dial, while the 40mm versions use 10 individual baguette-cut diamonds for the hours. You also have the ability to pair a diamond-set Everose President bracelet with the 36mm model.
Everose, of course, is Rolex’s proprietary rose gold alloy that was introduced in 2005. It has higher than usual copper and platinum percentages, which elevates the pinkish hue of the metal and matches perfectly with the moody tone of the eisenkiesel dial. The coloration reminds me of the burgundy lacquer “Stella” Day-Dates, and maybe even a bit of the mahogany dial options that were available from Rolex around the same period.
Eisenkiesel is also known as "ferruginous" quartz, which doesn’t sound nearly as appealing as the name Rolex opted to use. Eisenkiesel translates from German to literally mean “iron quartz,” referencing the numerous iron compounds found in the mineral and that form the recognizable vein pattern. It's mined in a variety of countries all over the world, including Brazil, Germany, Morocco, Namibia, Southern Africa, Russia, and Spain; Rolex does not specify where it sources the material for its dials.
The eisenkiesel dial is another example of how Rolex likes to experiment with different ways of making the Day-Date even more unique and exclusive for the company's top clients. Just go back and take a look at the huge aesthetic diversity presented in our 2015 Glamorous Day-Date auction. The new eisenkiesel Day-Date is part of a long history of hardstone dials at Rolex, a heritage that looks even better with age.
Phillips Perpetual has sourced a single example of the eisenkiesel-dial Rolex Day-Date that is in stock online and at our London boutique in Berkeley Square. It’s the 40mm ref. 228235, featuring the classic combination of a fluted bezel with baguette diamond hour markers; it has a production date of 2021, the year the model was announced. The watch is in practically unworn condition, is complete with the full suite of accessories including the original box and papers, and carries a price of £62,500.
You can learn more about the specific watch here, or by reaching out to the Perpetual team at perpetual@phillips.com with any questions or for more information.
Phillips Perpetual
PHILLIPS PERPETUAL offers a boutique experience to clients for both the sale and purchase of fine and rare watches, open in London’s Berkeley Square and the Gstaad Palace, in Switzerland.
About Logan Baker
Logan has spent the past decade reporting on every aspect of the watch world. He's currently based in New York but frequently travels to Geneva. He joined Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo at the start of 2023 as the department's Senior Editorial Manager.
Visit Phillips Perpetual /
30 Berkeley Square, London, United Kingdom, W1J 6EX (map)
Monday through Friday, 10:00 AM – 17:30 PM
Contact & Consignment Enquiries /
00 44 207 901 7916
perpetual@phillips.com
@phillipsperpetual
Discover More from Phillips Perpetual >
Recommended Reading
The Beauty of Natural Hardstone Dials
A Selection of Glamorous Rolex Day-Date Models
Jack Nicklaus On The Rolex Day-Date He Wore Throughout His Career