Rolex Day-Date 36 118138
Day-Date -> 118138
The 118138 is the leather-strap Day-Date 36, the dressiest and lightest of the 6-digit Presidents. It takes the yellow-gold fluted-bezel case of the 118238 and fits it to an alligator strap with a gold deployant clasp in place of the President bracelet. Rolex introduced the strap-mounted Day-Dates at Baselworld 2013, in a run of warm dial colours chosen to suit the format, cognac and "Rolex Green" among them. Caliber 3155, 36mm, made to about 2019.
Core facts
| detail | value |
|---|---|
| reference | 118138 |
| family | Day-Date (Day-Date 36, 6-digit) |
| production | 2013 to about 2019 |
| movement | caliber 3155, 31 jewels, 28,800 vph, ~48h, double quickset, Parachrom hairspring, COSC |
| case | 36mm 18k yellow gold |
| crystal | sapphire |
| bezel | fluted |
| strap | alligator leather strap with an 18k gold Crownclasp deployant |
| dial | champagne, silver, black, white Roman, green, cognac, mother-of-pearl, diamond-set |
| crown | Twinlock screw-down |
| siblings | 118238 (President bracelet), 118208 (smooth, President/Oyster); 118139 (white-gold strap), 118135 (Everose strap) |
| successor | no plain fluted-bezel equivalent; the caliber-3255 strap Day-Date 36 references (128158RBR, 128159RBR, 128155RBR, from 2021) are fully gem-set |
Where it sits in the line
The 118138 is the strap member of the 6-digit Day-Date 36. The 118238 is the same yellow-gold fluted case on the President bracelet, and the 118138 swaps that bracelet for an alligator strap and a gold deployant clasp. That one change is the whole reference. Without the gold President on the other side of the lugs the watch wears lighter and reads dressier, closer to a thin gold dress watch than to the Presidents that define the line. In white gold the strap version is the 118139, in Everose the 118135. Rolex added the strap-mounted Day-Dates at Baselworld 2013, well into the 6-digit run, alongside the bracelet references 118238, 118208 and 118235.
Production outline
The 118138 dates to 2013, when Rolex extended the 6-digit Day-Date 36 with leather-strap references and a set of warm, strap-friendly dials. The 118xxx case generation began in 2000, but the strap variant is a 2013 addition, which puts every 118138 in the 2010s. It ran to about 2019. The caliber-3255 Day-Date 36 that followed in 2019 kept the bracelet references, and when a strap Day-Date 36 returned at Watches and Wonders 2021 it came only in fully gem-set form: the 128158RBR in yellow gold, the 128159RBR in white gold and the 128155RBR in Everose, each diamond-set on case, bezel and dial. No plain fluted-bezel strap Day-Date 36 replaced the 118138. No Rolex production figure has surfaced.
Movement notes
The 118138 runs the caliber 3155, the double-quickset Day-Date movement, with 31 jewels, 28,800 vph, a roughly 48-hour reserve, COSC certification and the Parachrom hairspring of the period. Both the day and the date set from the crown. It is the same movement the bracelet-mounted 118238 carries, and the 118238 entry covers the caliber in detail; on the 118138 the strap and the dial do all the differentiating.
Dial map
The 2013 strap launch came with a set of dial colours chosen to read well on leather, several of them paired with a matching strap. It is a softer register for a watch normally seen on a heavy gold bracelet. The cognac, a warm copper-brown sunburst, and the "Rolex Green" sunburst are the signature pair, the two faces most associated with the strap Day-Date. Alongside them the 118138 was offered in champagne, silver, black and white Roman, in mother-of-pearl, and in diamond-set and gem-set versions. On a strap the dial carries the watch, which is why the reference gets collected dial-first. The deeper dial taxonomy spanning the President line is on the 1803 entry.
Case, bezel, crystal, and crown
The case is the 36mm yellow-gold Oyster of the 6-digit Day-Date, with the broader lugs of that generation, a sapphire crystal and Cyclops, a Twinlock screw-down crown, and the fluted bezel that is the Day-Date signature. It is the same case the President-bracelet 118238 uses, and the only structural difference sits at the lugs, which take a strap instead of an end link and bracelet.
Strap and clasp
The 118138 wears an alligator leather strap with an 18k gold Crownclasp deployant, the concealed folding buckle that flips open under a crown medallion. A strap is consumable in a way a gold bracelet is not, so replacing a worn one is routine and a colour change costs nothing but the strap. The President-bracelet hardware the strap references do without is covered on Reference:Bracelets.
Market
The 118138 is a liquid modern reference that trades through the dealer and certified-pre-owned market. No headline auction lots have surfaced, and the major houses handle it as immediate-sale inventory. A standard yellow-gold strap 118138 with a champagne, silver, black or Roman dial sits roughly in the low-to-mid five figures in dollars, below the President-bracelet 118238 by close to the value of the gold bracelet it does without, which makes it the most accessible way into a gold Day-Date. Green dials on a matching green strap carry a premium over the plainer colours, as do the diamond, meteorite and gem-set dials. The value moves with the dial.
Related references
- Day-Date 118235 — 2005–2019
- Day-Date 218206 — 2008–2015
- Day-Date 218238 — 2008–2015
- Day-Date 118208 — 2000–2019
- Day-Date 118238 — 2000–2019
- Day-Date 18208 — 1988–2000
See also the Day-Date family index, movement reference, bracelet & clasp guide, and serial numbers by year.
Sources
- The Vintage Rolex Field Manual — Colin A. White, Morning Tundra
- Sotheby's, "Rolex President Day-Date Reference 118138, 18k yellow gold with green stick dial on crocodile strap — Sotheby's", Sotheby's, 2016
- Sotheby's, "Rolex President Day-Date Reference 118138, 18k yellow gold, crocodile strap — Sotheby's", Sotheby's, 2017
- Petite Genève editorial, "Rolex Day-Date 36 Ref. 118138", Petite Genève Petrovic, 2018
- WatchBase, "Rolex caliber 3155 (registry page)", WatchBase
- SwissWatchExpo editorial, "Generations of the Rolex President Day-Date", SwissWatchExpo, 2024
- Monochrome editorial, "In-Depth: The History of the Rolex Day-Date, The Presidential Watch", Monochrome Watches
- Italian Watch Spotter editorial, "The History of the Rolex Day-Date", Italian Watch Spotter
- Sotheby's editorial, "The Rolex Day-Date: A Complete Collector's Guide", Sotheby's
- Fratello editorial, "Exploring Evergreens: The Rolex Day-Date 18238", Fratello Watches
- Loupe This, "Rolex Day-Date 118138, cognac/copper dial, leather strap", Loupe This
- Bob's Watches, "Rolex Day-Date 118138, white Roman dial on green leather strap", Bob's Watches