Rolex Day-Date 18348

Day-Date → 18348

The 18348 is the diamond-bezel Day-Date of the caliber-3155 era, the double-quickset successor to the caliber-3055 diamond 18048. It is a yellow-gold President with a factory diamond-set bezel and the caliber 3155 that sets both the day and the date from the crown, made from 1988 to about 2000. It is the diamond sibling of the fluted 18238 and the bark 18248, and the reference those two are most often confused with: the 18348 is the diamond-bezel one, the 18248 the bark. The diamond bezel was a catalogue option rather than a rarity, so the 18348 is a jewellery-grade volume President that trades on metal, condition and dial, with the special-dial examples at the top.

Core facts

detail	value
reference	18348
family	Day-Date
production	1988 to about 2000
movement	caliber 3155, 31 jewels, 28,800 vph, double quickset (day and date), ~48h, COSC
case	36mm 18k yellow gold President
crystal	sapphire
bezel	factory diamond-set
bracelet	President 8385 with hidden Crownclasp, solid links; pavé centre-link upgrade documented
lume	tritium ("T SWISS MADE T") early, Luminova then Super-LumiNova near 2000
dial	champagne and silver diamond-index, string-diamond, mother-of-pearl, Roman, pavé, serti, stone
crown	Twinlock screw-down
siblings	18238 (fluted), 18248 (bark), 18349 (white gold / Tridor), 18346 (platinum)
higher gem references	18388 / 18389 (diamond-set lugs and case, pavé dials)
predecessor	18048 (caliber-3055 diamond)
successor	118348 (6-digit, caliber 3155)

Where it sits in the line

The 18348 is the diamond-bezel member of the caliber-3155 Day-Date generation. The generation splits by finish the way the caliber-3055 references did: the 18238 is the fluted volume reference, the 18248 carries the bark, and the 18348 carries the factory diamond bezel. The 18348 and the bark 18248 are routinely swapped in the market, but the digit denotes the diamond bezel, and the 18348 is the one whose stones sit around the dial rather than as a worked-gold texture. Above it sit the 18388 and 18389, which add diamond-set lugs and case and pavé dials, a step beyond the bezel-only 18348. In white gold the diamond reference is the 18349, frequently seen as a "Tridor" with a tri-colour President bracelet, and in platinum the 18346. Everything behind the bezel is 18238: the same case, caliber 3155, sapphire crystal and President bracelet. The diamonds are the only thing that separate the 18348 from the volume reference.

Production outline

The 18348 ran from 1988, when the caliber 3155 replaced the 3055 across the Day-Date line, until about 2000, when the 6-digit 118348 took over with the same movement. The diamond bezel was a factory catalogue option across the run rather than a limited series, so the 18348 was made in reasonable numbers as the gem-set yellow-gold President of its decade. Across the run the only running change of note is the lume: early examples carry tritium, marked "T SWISS MADE T" at the foot of the dial, while the latest examples switch to Luminova and then Super-LumiNova near the 2000 handover. No quartz, no case change, no movement change inside the reference; the variety lives in the dial.

Movement notes

The 18348 runs the caliber 3155, the double-quickset Day-Date movement: 31 jewels, 28,800 vph, a roughly 48-hour reserve and COSC certification, with both the day and the date set from the crown. The double quickset is the substantive advance over the caliber-3055 18048, whose movement quicksets only the date. The 3155 is the long-serving modern Day-Date caliber, shared with the fluted 18238 and the bark 18248 and carried forward unchanged into the 6-digit 118348. The bezel changes what is set into the gold, not the watch underneath. The Reference:Movements page holds the caliber lineage, and the 18238 entry covers the 3155 in detail.

Dial map

The diamond bezel is the constant on the 18348; the dial is where the variety lives. The common configuration is a champagne or silvered dial with diamond hour markers, often with baguettes at six and nine. Beyond that the reference carries the full gem-set range of the period: string-diamond dials, mother-of-pearl, white and black Roman, full pavé, and serti dials that set coloured stones, emeralds, rubies or sapphires, into a diamond chapter ring. Stone dials such as the ferrite grounds of the 1990s appear as well. The deep dial taxonomy that spans the President line sits on the 1803 entry; on the 18348, as on a diamond Day-Date generally, the dial is what sets one example apart from the next.

Case, bezel, crystal, and crown

The case is the 36mm yellow-gold Oyster shared across the caliber-3155 Day-Date, with a sapphire crystal and Cyclops, a Twinlock screw-down crown and a screw-down caseback. The defining feature is the factory diamond-set bezel, a single row of round brilliants. The stone count is not consistently documented across the reference, and because the case is gold and the bezel is straightforward to set, aftermarket diamond bezels and dials are common, the main authenticity question on the 18348. Attribution rests on the quality and proportion of the setting and on Rolex paperwork rather than on a listing's label. The diamond-set bracelet and diamond-set case upgrades that some examples carry push toward the higher 18388 and 18389 references.

Bracelets, end links, and clasps

The 18348 wears the President bracelet, reference 8385, with the concealed Crownclasp and the solid links of the 5-digit era. The gem-loaded examples add a pavé centre-link President, the upgrade documented on the strongest auction results, which sets diamonds down the length of the bracelet. As with any President, a clasp date code dates the bracelet rather than the head, and the cross-family detail sits on Reference:Bracelets.

Special branches

Serti and special dials

The 18348's variety, and most of its upside, is in the dial. Serti dials set coloured stones into a diamond chapter ring, emerald and ruby markers on champagne grounds, while coral and other stone dials, mother-of-pearl and full pavé all appear on the diamond-bezel case. On a jewellery-grade reference like this the dial, not the bezel, is what carries the result.

The gem-loaded examples

The most heavily set 18348s pair the diamond bezel with a diamond dial and a pavé centre-link President bracelet. These are the examples that reach the strongest auction results and that sit closest to the diamond-set-case 18388 and 18389 references above them in the catalogue.

Auction record

The 18348 is a liquid, jewellery-grade volume reference rather than a headline auction lot, and where it does well the gem content drives the result. Antiquorum sold a black-diamond-dial example with a pavé centre-link bracelet in New York in 2016 for USD 33,125, well over its estimate and the strongest documented result for the reference. Antiquorum has also catalogued a champagne example with an emerald-marker serti dial in Geneva, and Sotheby's a yellow-gold example dated to about 1989. For a standard yellow-gold diamond-bezel 18348 the secondary market sits roughly in the high-twenties to low-thirties of thousands of dollars, a clear step above the fluted 18238 for the gem content but trading on carats, condition and dial rather than on rarity. The special dials, serti, stone and pavé, are what reach the upper end.

date	house	configuration	result
2016	Antiquorum New York, lot 210	black diamond-index dial, diamond bezel, pavé centre-link bracelet	USD 33,125
2024	Antiquorum Geneva, lot 122	champagne diamond-Roman / emerald-marker serti dial	published lot reference
2025	Sotheby's Fine Watches, lot 105	yellow gold and diamond-set, c.1989	published lot reference

Sources