Reference:118238

A checked version of this page, approved on 24 May 2026, was based on this revision.

Day-Date → 118238

The 118238 is the modern-era 36mm Day-Date. Production runs nineteen years, 2000 through 2019, on the cal 3155 — same caliber number as the late-run 18238 but operationally distinct (or at least typically catalogued as distinct, with both running double quickset). Same 36mm President case the 1803 established. Same fluted bezel. The visible changes are subtle: broader lugs, fully polished flanks, solid centre links replacing the 18238's hollow links, and the concealed Crownclasp replacing the earlier visible clasp. The two tech rollouts the 18238 never saw both arrive mid-run on the 118238 — the blue Parachrom hairspring (from approximately 2005) and the engraved rehaut (from approximately 2006/2007, universal by 2008). The reference is the final 36mm Day-Date before the 128238 takes over in 2019 with the cal 3255 and the modern Superlative Chronometer ±2-seconds-per-day certification.

Core facts

detail	value
reference	118238
family	Day-Date
production	2000 to 2019, nineteen years
movement	caliber 3155, 31 jewels, 28,800 vph, ~48h power reserve, double quickset (day + date both independent)
case	36mm 18k yellow gold President, fluted bezel
crystal	sapphire
crown	Twinlock screw-down
bracelet	President with solid centre links + concealed Crownclasp
sister refs	118239 white gold, 118235 Everose, 118205 Everose Oyster smooth, 118206 platinum, 118138 / 118135 / 118139 leather (2013)
predecessor	18238
successor	128238 (cal 3255, 2019)

Where it sits in the line

The 118238 is the modern-era 36mm Day-Date — the volume reference of the 6-digit generation. The 18238 ran the 36mm Day-Date through the 1990s on the cal 3155 (late-run double quickset). The 118238 takes the same caliber number forward into the 6-digit case, with the bracelet-and-clasp upgrades that visually mark the generation: broader, fully-polished lugs; solid centre links replacing the hollow 18238 links; concealed Crownclasp replacing the visible folding clasp.

Caliber-wise the 118238 sits on the cal 3155 — same number as the late-run 18238, with double quickset (day and date both indexed from the crown). Some sources read the caliber number as the dividing line between 18238 and 118238 production; in practice the 18238's late-run cal 3155 already carried double quickset, so the bracelet and case dimensions are the cleaner visual diagnostic between the two references.

The 118 generation covers the full Day-Date metal range:

118238 — 18k yellow gold, fluted bezel, President bracelet. Volume reference, subject of this article.
118239 — 18k white gold, fluted bezel, President.
118235 — 18k Everose gold, fluted bezel, President. Everose launches 2005; the 118235 carries it on the President from that point.
118205 — 18k Everose gold, smooth bezel, Oyster bracelet. The casual-aesthetic outlier in the President family — Oyster bracelet instead of President.
118206 — 950 platinum, smooth domed bezel, President. Ice-blue dial is the platinum signature.
118138 — 18k yellow gold, fluted bezel, leather strap. Basel 2013 launch.
118135 — 18k Everose gold, fluted bezel, leather strap. Basel 2013.
118139 — 18k white gold, fluted bezel, leather strap. Basel 2013.

There is no 118288 or 118289 in the Day-Date catalogue. Sources that reference these are either typos or confusion with the 18288 / 18289 Tridor-era predecessors (which ended around 2000 with the 18239B). There is no Tridor in the 118 generation — the tri-tone gold President discontinued at the 18239B closeout.

There is no 118208 platinum — the platinum 36mm Day-Date is the 118206, smooth-domed bezel, ice-blue dial. Dealer listings that reference "118208" are typos or confusion with the 18238 / 18206 reference siblings.

The 118238 is not a 2009-production-end reference. Some sources record 2009 as the model-year tail; this conflates the serial-letter rollover (M / V / G prefixes through 2010, then random scrambled serials) with the actual production end of 2019. The 118238 ships through the 2010s on scrambled rehaut serials.

Production outline

2000 — Basel launch

Rolex unveils the 118 generation at Basel 2000. The 118238, 118239, and 118206 launch together — yellow gold, white gold, and platinum. The 118235 Everose follows in 2005 with the broader Everose rollout. The case and bracelet refinements relative to the 18238 are visible without measurement: lugs widen, flanks polish, centre links go solid.

Launch retail for the 118238 yellow gold sat in the broader Day-Date 36 retail band. Catalogue prices through the 2000s tracked the broader luxury-watch inflation cycle.

2005 — Parachrom Blu hairspring rollout

Rolex rolls the blue Parachrom hairspring (paramagnetic niobium-zirconium alloy) across the catalogue from 2005. Late-run 118238 examples carry it; early-run examples do not. The transition serial within the 118238 production is not pinned in the surfaced corpus — the specialist literature describes Parachrom as "available from 2005" without a 118238-specific cutoff serial.

2006-2007 — engraved rehaut

The engraved rehaut (inner crystal ring engraved with "ROLEX ROLEX ROLEX" plus the serial number) arrives on 118238 production from approximately 2006 or 2007 — sources split on the precise year, with universal coverage by 2008. The pre-rehaut 118238s carry the serial between the lugs at 6 o'clock; post-rehaut 118238s carry the serial on the inner crystal ring and the lug-side engraving is gone.

2010 — random scrambled serial rollover

Rolex switches the entire catalogue from sequential letter-prefix serials (M / V / G the final letters before the transition) to random scrambled 8-character alphanumeric serials in 2010. The 118238 production straddles the rollover — pre-2010 examples have M / V / G serials; post-2010 examples have random rehaut-engraved alphanumeric strings.

2013 — leather-strap subset

The Basel 2013 launch adds the 118138 (yellow gold), 118135 (Everose), and 118139 (white gold) — Day-Date 36 references on alligator leather with deployant clasp. Cognac, green, chocolate alligator on yellow gold; cherry, blue, bordeaux on white gold; standard pairings on Everose. The leather-strap subset is the rarest 118 cluster — collectors flag the leather-strap configurations as the dressier outlier of the modern Day-Date 36 family.

2019 — discontinuation

The 128238 takes over at Baselworld 2019 with the cal 3255 — 70-hour power reserve (vs the 3155's 48), Chronergy escapement, Superlative Chronometer ±2-seconds-per-day certification (vs the older COSC ±6). The 118238 ends production with the 128238 launch; catalogue presence cleared by the end of 2019.

Movement notes

Caliber 3155 — same number as the late-run 18238 with double quickset.

Specifications:

28.5mm × 6.0mm
31 jewels
28,800 vph / 4 Hz
Approximately 48-hour power reserve
Double quickset (day and date both advance independently via the crown)
Hacking seconds
Free-sprung Microstella balance
KIF Elastor shock absorbers
Nivarox hairspring on early production; Parachrom Blu hairspring on late production (rolled out from 2005)
COSC chronometer certified (pre-2015 standard: ±4 / +6 seconds per day; not the post-2015 Superlative Chronometer ±2)

The 118238 is the last Day-Date generation to ship without the Superlative Chronometer 2015 re-certification. The 128238 successor and the broader post-2015 Rolex catalogue carries the tighter ±2-seconds-per-day spec; 118238 examples remain at the older COSC ±4 / +6 standard.

Service: Rolex Service Centre runs USD 800 to 1,200 for full service; independent watchmakers run USD 400 to 700. Service intervals 10 years officially; 5 to 7 years per independent practice.

Case, bezel, crystal, and crown notes

36mm three-piece Oyster construction. The visible case-and-bracelet changes from the 18238 are subtle but consistent: broader fully-polished lugs (the 18238's lugs were narrower with brushed sides), more visual weight to the watch on wrist despite the same nominal dimensions, solid bracelet centre links accounting for most of the additional gram weight.

Inner caseback stamped with the reference and quarter-year Roman-numeral lot codes. Outer caseback engraved with the Rolex crown.

The fluted bezel is carved from solid 18k yellow gold. The 118239 carries white-gold fluted, 118235 Everose fluted, 118205 Everose smooth-domed paired with Oyster bracelet, 118206 platinum smooth-domed.

The crown is the Twinlock screw-down. Triplock does not arrive on the 36mm Day-Date until the 128238.

The crystal is sapphire — continues from the 18038 generation. The 118238 generation is the first to wear the engraved rehaut from approximately 2006 or 2007 (universal by 2008) — "ROLEX ROLEX ROLEX" repeated around the inner ring plus the serial number where pre-2010 production carries letter-prefix serials and post-2010 production carries random scrambled alphanumeric strings.

Bracelet, end-links, clasp

President bracelet with solid centre links — the visible 18238 → 118238 bracelet upgrade. The President's three-piece semicircular construction continues from the 1803 generation; the centre link goes from hollow (18238) to solid (118238) and the bracelet weight increases proportionally. The clasp moves from the visible folding configuration of the late-1990s 18238 to the concealed Crownclasp that hides the entire folding mechanism under the centre link — the Rolex coronet appears on the closed clasp cover.

Made by Gay Frères through 1998 when Rolex acquired the supplier; the 118238 launched in 2000 wears Rolex-internal bracelet production from launch.

Clasp date codes inside the clasp leaf — should roughly match watch-head serial year. Service-replaced bracelets carry later clasp codes; many 118238s wear post-2010 random clasp codes that don't match the watch-head serial era.

Dial variants

Production-volume dials carry stick or Roman-numeral indices on champagne, silver, white, or black grounds. The dial-variant explosion of the 1803 era doesn't continue into the 118238 generation at the same scale — Rolex narrowed the Day-Date catalogue dial offering through the modern era. Documented configurations:

Silver luminescent stick — production-volume modern dial.
White "anniversary" Roman — 50th-anniversary-Day-Date-line dial introduced approximately 2006.
Champagne stick / champagne Roman — production-volume.
Mother-of-pearl (with and without diamond hour markers).
Decorated mother-of-pearl — guilloché or floral patterns on the MOP ground.
Diamond-paved dial — factory pavé Day-Date dial, occasional production-period examples.
Stone dials — surfaced case-by-case (mother-of-pearl most common; the broader Stella revival of 2013-era is more associated with the 118138 / 118139 leather-strap launch than with the 118238 itself).
Tropical dial — black dials aging to chocolate. Less common than on the vintage 1803 generation; the modern dial-print process produces fewer factory-tropical configurations.

Tritium does not appear on 118238 dials — the catalogue is post-1998, so all 118238 dials are SuperLumiNova-based with "SWISS MADE" marking. Chromalight rolls in c.2008 across the broader Rolex line; late-run 118238 examples on Chromalight surface in the same window as the engraved-rehaut transition.

Serial-year correlation

The 118238 production straddles Rolex's 2010 serial-system rollover. Pre-2010 letter-prefix serials follow the catalogue-wide chart:

prefix K — 2001
prefix Y — 2002
prefix F — 2003-2004
prefix D — 2005-2006
prefix Z — 2006-2007
prefix M — 2007-2008
prefix V — 2008-2009
prefix G — 2010 (final letter prefix)
random scrambled — late 2010 onward

Late 118238 production runs on random rehaut-engraved serials through to 2019. The market sees pre-rehaut, rehaut-with-letter-prefix, and rehaut-with-random-serial examples in roughly equal supply for the 118238 specifically — a longer transition window than most modern Rolex references because of the 118238's nineteen-year production span.

Auction record + market bands

The 118238 trades primarily through dealer channels rather than headline auction lots. Aggregated dealer-market data, April 2026 snapshot:

Unworn yellow gold 118238 — USD 28,000 to 45,000
Used yellow gold 118238 — USD 22,000 to 32,000
Platinum 118206 with ice-blue dial — USD 55,000 to 95,000 (largest premium in the family)
Everose 118235 — USD 30,000 to 50,000
Leather-strap 118138 / 118135 / 118139 — USD 25,000 to 40,000 (rarer than President-bracelet siblings, traded as a specialist subset)
5-year price change +34.7%
1-year price change +23.8%

The 118238 is in a price-appreciation cycle post-discontinuation. The 2019 retirement set the supply floor, and the broader luxury-watch market cycle of 2020-2023 lifted prices across the modern Rolex sport-and-dress lineup. The 2025-2026 secondary market is settling above 2019 retail but below the 2021-2022 peak.

Special branches

Tiffany & Co. double-signed

Documented in the 118238 era through the late 2000s, trailing off as Rolex tightened retail-partnership cross-signature production. Tiffany 118238 examples trade at 2 to 3 times standard equivalents. Counterfeit risk high; same-batch documentation and clasp-code chronology are the authentication tools.

Diplomatic / royal-gift commissions

Modern Day-Date 36s surface as diplomatic gifts in the same channels as the vintage era — Khanjar Oman, UAE-market dials, Saudi-market commissions. The 118238 retains its position as the "President's watch" advertising-anchor reference into the modern era; named heads of state surface with 118 generation examples in published catalogue records.

Sources

Primary and specialist

The Vintage Rolex Field Manual — Colin A. White, Morning Tundra
Rolex Day-Date Volume (Mondani Editore) — Mondani Family, Guido Mondani Editore
Sotheby's editorial, "The Rolex Day-Date: A Complete Collector's Guide", Sotheby's
Day-Date — The Presidential Rolex — Pucci Papaleo Editore, Spin Edizioni, 2015-05

Editorial and market