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, and the lighter watch became the most accessible way into a gold Day-Date. 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	none confirmed — a caliber-3255 strap Day-Date 36 is not documented

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; the 118138 swaps that bracelet for an alligator strap and a gold deployant clasp. The bracelet is the whole difference: a strap Day-Date wears lighter and costs less, because it leaves out the heavy gold President. In white gold the strap reference is the 118139, and in Everose the 118135. Rolex added the strap-mounted Day-Dates to the line 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 itself began in 2000, but the strap variant is a 2013 addition, so an 118138 is a watch of the 2010s. It ran to about 2019. The caliber-3255 Day-Date 36 that followed in 2019 kept the bracelet references; a strap successor is not documented, so the 118138 is the last yellow-gold strap Day-Date of its kind. No Rolex production figure has surfaced.

Movement notes

The 118138 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, and the Parachrom hairspring of the period. It is the same movement as the bracelet-mounted 118238; the strap and the dial are what set the 118138 apart. The Reference:Movements page holds the caliber lineage, and the 118238 entry covers the 3155 in detail.

Dial map

The 2013 strap launch came with a set of dial colours chosen to read well on leather. 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. The strap lets the dial set the watch's character, and the colourful dials are why the reference is collected. The deep dial taxonomy that spans the President line sits 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 the generation, a sapphire crystal and Cyclops, a Twinlock screw-down crown and a fluted bezel. It is the same case the President-bracelet 118238 uses; the only structural difference is at the lugs, which carry a strap instead of an end-link and bracelet. Earlier sources sometimes describe the strap references as smooth-bezel watches, but the 118138 is fluted, the Day-Date signature, in line with its bracelet sibling.

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. The strap is the reason the reference exists: it makes the watch lighter and less formal than the gold-bracelet Presidents, and an owner can change it for a fresh one. The cross-family bracelet detail sits on Reference:Bracelets; the strap Day-Date sits apart from the President-bracelet references covered there.

Special branches

The 2013 colourful straps

Rolex launched the strap Day-Date 36 at Baselworld 2013 with a deliberately warm, colourful set of dials and matching straps, a softer register for a watch usually seen on a heavy gold bracelet. The green and cognac dials are the signature of that launch, and a green-dialled 118138 on a green strap carries a premium over the plainer colours.

The value entry into a gold Day-Date

A strap 118138 is the most affordable way into a gold Day-Date, because it leaves out the heavy gold President bracelet that makes up much of a bracelet model's price and weight. That positioning, a lighter, dressier, lower-cost gold Day-Date, is the point of the reference and the reason the strap version exists alongside the bracelet ones.

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 on the strength of the missing gold bracelet, the most accessible gold Day-Date in the catalogue. The green dial and the diamond, meteorite and gem-set dials carry premiums above the standard band; the value moves with the dial.

Sources