Reference:218238

Day-Date → 218238

The 218238 is the Day-Date II. Production runs seven years, 2008 through 2015, on the cal 3156 — a cal 3155 scaled up with a 2.5mm wider main plate to fit the 41mm Oyster case envelope that the reference introduced. The 5mm case jump from 36mm to 41mm is the single largest dimensional change in the Day-Date line since the 6510 launched in 1956. Same fluted bezel on yellow gold. Same hidden Crownclasp on a President bracelet scaled to 41mm. The Day-Date II is also the shortest-run Day-Date reference in the modern era and the only 41mm Day-Date Rolex has ever produced — by Baselworld 2015 the Day-Date 40 (228xxx) had taken its slot at 40mm, splitting the difference between the 36mm classic and the 41mm Day-Date II.

Core facts

detail	value
reference	218238
family	Day-Date
production	2008 to 2015, seven years
run length	shortest-run modern Day-Date
movement	caliber 3156, 31 jewels, 28,800 vph, ~48h power reserve, double quickset, COSC chronometer
case	41mm 18k yellow gold Oyster — only 41mm Day-Date Rolex has ever made
crystal	sapphire
bezel	fluted on yellow gold; smooth domed on platinum 218206; factory diamond on 218348 / 218349
crown	Twinlock screw-down
bracelet	41mm Super President with concealed Crownclasp
sister refs	218239 white gold / 218235 Everose / 218206 platinum / 218348 + 218349 factory diamond bezel
dial codes documented	17 across the family (WatchBase)
predecessor	118238
successor	228238 Day-Date 40 (Baselworld 2015)
launch retail (yellow gold base)	USD 27,650 (2008)

Where it sits in the line

The 218238 is the 41mm experiment in the Day-Date line. Rolex's late-2000s response to the broader luxury-watch shift toward larger dress watches — every brand from Patek to Audemars Piguet to Vacheron pushed dress watches past the 38mm ceiling that had defined the category through the 1990s. The Day-Date II launched at Basel 2008 alongside the Datejust II as a coordinated 41mm-plus pairing. The Datejust II ran longer; the Day-Date II discontinued after seven years and Rolex split the difference with the 40mm Day-Date 40 (228xxx) from 2015.

The 218238 is the only 41mm Day-Date Rolex has ever produced. Every Day-Date before and after sits at either 36mm (1803 through 118238 era, then 128238 from 2019) or 40mm (228 series from 2015). The 5mm case jump and the seven-year run combine to make the 218238 the most divisive Day-Date in the modern catalogue — early-launch press read the proportions as overstated ("chunky", "bezel conspicuously wider than before"); the post-discontinuation collector market read the proportions as distinctive and the 218238 as a future-classic candidate.

Caliber-wise the 218238 sits on the cal 3156 — the cal 3155 architecture scaled up. Watchbase lists a 28.50mm base plate; Watch-Wiki cites a 2.5mm wider main plate than the 3155, giving a 30.97mm overall main-plate dimension — the architectural reason the movement was created. The 3156 was also the first Day-Date movement to ship with both the Parachrom Blu hairspring (rolled out across Rolex from approximately 2005 but only universal on Day-Date from the 218238) and the Paraflex anti-shock system. The successor cal 3255 on the Day-Date 40 jumps the power reserve to approximately 70 hours across 14 patents.

Sub-reference table

The 218 generation splits across four metals plus two factory-diamond-bezel siblings:

ref	material	bezel	bracelet	dial focus
218238	18k yellow gold	fluted	Super President	champagne / white / black Roman; champagne with diamond markers
218239	18k white gold	fluted	Super President	chocolate Roman; white Roman; silver diamond
218235	18k Everose	fluted	Super President	chocolate Roman; ivory Roman; black Roman; pink diamond
218206	950 platinum	smooth domed (platinum signature)	Super President	ice blue Roman / ice blue Arabic / ice blue diamond Roman; silver diamond; black Arabic; black diamond; white Roman
218348	18k yellow gold	factory diamond	Super President	champagne diamond; baguette diamond; black Arabic wave dial
218349	18k white gold	factory diamond	Super President	silver diamond/sapphire; black diamond; black Arabic concentric circle diamond

Seventeen distinct dial codes are documented across the family in the WatchBase reference database, the most exhaustive specific-dial roster surfaced for the 218 generation.

There is no 218389 Tridor in the catalogue. Rolex discontinued the Tridor (tri-tone gold President) around 2000 with the 18239B closeout; no Tridor 218xxx surfaces in WatchBase, dealer archives, or the auction record. The modern-reference numbering scheme (last digit indicating metal: 8 yellow, 9 white, 5 Everose, 6 platinum) doesn't support a 218389 slot either.

There is no 218339 white-gold-diamond reference. The diamond-bezel white-gold 218xxx is the 218349. Dealer listings mentioning "218339" are typos for 218239 or 218349.

Movement notes

Caliber 3156.

Specifications:

28.50mm base plate / 30.97mm overall (per Watch-Wiki — 2.5mm wider than cal 3155)
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
Glucydur balance with Microstella weight screws
Parachrom Blu hairspring — the first Day-Date movement to ship Parachrom from launch
Paraflex anti-shock — first Day-Date with Paraflex
COSC chronometer certified (pre-2015 standard ±4 / +6 seconds per day; the post-2015 Superlative Chronometer ±2 spec arrives on the 228xxx successor)

The 3156 retired in 2015/2016 with the Day-Date II discontinuation. The Day-Date 40 successor stepped to the cal 3255 — 14 patents, 70-hour power reserve, Chronergy escapement, Superlative Chronometer ±2-seconds-per-day certification. The cal 3156 is the bridge between the 3155 architecture (118238 era) and the cal 3255 modern era.

Case, bezel, crystal, and crown notes

Case

41mm Oyster, 21mm lug width, 49mm lug-to-lug. Thickness reports range 11.9mm to 13mm — case-only at the midcase versus over the caseback boss. Water resistance 100m. Total weight on the 18k yellow gold 218238 head plus full President bracelet approximately 220g per documented dealer listings. Platinum 218206 weighs materially more — the platinum head and bracelet drive the weight roughly 30 percent higher than gold variants.

The 218238 case wears thicker than the 36mm 118238 sibling. The contemporaneous press reads the proportions as substantial — aBlogtoWatch's launch coverage put it cleanly: "At 41mm wide it wears large given the wide lug structures and relatively wide bracelets… the under-part of the case is quite flat, and the case is relatively long, and it isn't less comfortable than the 36mm wide version, but it simply doesn't wear as snugly on the wrist." Beckertime is harsher: "the bezel itself, now conspicuously wider than before, as were the lugs. It left the piece as a whole looking a little…chunky." The Day-Date 40 successor at 228xxx corrected the chunkiness — slimmer lugs, thinner bezel, more aligned with the 36mm visual language.

Coronet engraved at the 6 o'clock rehaut alongside the scrambled serial on post-2010 examples; older late-G-serial examples carry the rehaut "ROLEX ROLEX ROLEX" laser engraving introduced in 2005. The 218238 production straddles the 2010 random-serial transition — late-G-serial examples (the watch launched in 2008, deep in the G-serial era) and random-serial post-2010 examples both surface in the secondary market.

Bezel — four variants

The 218 generation runs four factory bezel configurations:

Fluted — on yellow gold (218238), white gold (218239), and Everose (218235). The default Day-Date bezel since the 1803 era.
Smooth domed — on platinum 218206. Rolex's traditional platinum format and a strong identifier from across the room. The 218206 is the only 218 production-volume reference to wear the smooth-domed bezel.
Factory diamond — on 218348 (yellow gold) and 218349 (white gold). Round-brilliant diamonds set into the bezel ring.
The Datejust II's range of fluted-with-aftermarket-diamond, etc., does not apply to the 218238; aftermarket gem-setting on a 218238 is collector-identifiable through stone-cut and prong-style inconsistencies vs the factory.

Crystal

Sapphire continues from the 118238 generation. The 218238 wears a flat sapphire crystal, no Cyclops on platinum (the platinum convention) but Cyclops on the gold variants over the date window at 3.

Crown

Twinlock screw-down. The 218238 keeps the older Twinlock architecture; the Triplock crown does not arrive on a 41mm dress reference until later in the modern catalogue.

Bracelet

41mm Super President. Rolex scaled the three-piece President geometry up to match the 41mm head — five-link semi-circular construction in solid 18k gold, brushed center with polished bevels on later production. Some sources call the configuration the "Super President" specifically to distinguish it from the 36mm President of the 118238 generation, but the official Rolex documentation uses just "President" with 41mm fitment specification.

Hidden Crownclasp continues the 118238's concealed-folding convention. The Rolex coronet appears on the closed clasp cover; no visible mechanism on the closed bracelet.

End-link and link parts are interchangeable across 218238 / 218348 and the 228238 successor per Rolex parts catalogue listings — the President link geometry stayed constant across the late-218 and early-228 production cycle even as the case diameter shifted from 41mm to 40mm.

Dial variants

Champagne Roman is the production-volume dial in the 218238 yellow gold — the default configuration dealers stock and the dial collectors think of when picturing the reference. White Roman and black Roman round out the standard yellow gold trio.

Chocolate dial with Roman markers is the signature dial for the Everose 218235 (-0035) and white gold 218239 (-0040) — a 218xxx-era introduction that became a Day-Date marker. Chocolate paired with diamond markers on Everose pushes well past the base price.

Platinum 218206 ice blue. The ice-blue dial is platinum-exclusive across the entire Rolex catalogue — a signature Rolex reserves for solid platinum, not a 218xxx invention but cemented here. On the 218206 the ice blue appears in three forms: Roman (-0043), Arabic (-0010), and diamond Roman (-0052). The concentric-circle / "Glacier" reading on the periphery, with darker-blue Roman numerals and matched hands, is the most-photographed configuration. Platinum also offered black Arabic (-0003), black diamond (-0020), silver diamond (-0009), and white Roman (-0053).

Meteorite dial — open question. Dealer pages tagging "218239 meteorite" haven't produced a factory-catalogued example surfacing in the auction record or WatchBase index. The evidence suggests meteorite arrived with the 228239-0055 Day-Date 40 baguette configuration rather than the 218xxx generation. Marking as an open question pending a primary Rolex catalogue check.

Factory pavé in the 218 line surfaces under 218206-0052 (platinum diamond Roman) and 218235-0008 (Everose pink diamond). The factory-set ruby-and-diamond baguette champagne dial 218238 is one of the rarest configurations — pricing in the high USD 50,000 range against USD 30,000-39,000 for the standard yellow gold 218238.

Factory diamond hour markers — both the 218348 (yellow gold) and 218349 (white gold) carry factory diamond bezels with corresponding diamond-set dials. Production volume on the diamond-bezel siblings is small relative to the standard fluted-bezel references; surfaced examples trade above USD 80,000.

Auction record

The standout 218 generation auction lot is the Day-Date II Royal Khanjar reference 218206 — a platinum diamond-set example with Arabic day-and-date discs commissioned for the Sultan of Oman around 2012, caseback engraved with the Royal Khanjar crest. Sotheby's catalogued the lot in their 2025 Origins sale and in Important Watches Part I (GE2504). Bonhams has separately catalogued and sold a production-spec 218206 platinum c. 2010. Phillips coverage of the reference is thinner — Day-Date II auction interest concentrates on the special-order and commissioned platinum examples rather than gold production lots, which trade primarily through dealers and Chrono24.

Market bands, 2025-2026:

Yellow gold 218238 — USD 27,000 to 55,000 depending on dial and provenance; average asking price approximately USD 38,000 (aggregated dealer-market data).
Everose 218235 — USD 37,000 to 46,000+ depending on dial. Chocolate dial commands a premium over ivory and black.
Platinum 218206 — USD 50,000 to 90,000. The ice blue dial commands the top of the band.
Factory diamond-bezel 218348 / 218349 — routinely crosses USD 80,000.

The 218 generation has appreciated steadily post-discontinuation. The Day-Date 40 successor (228238) appreciated approximately 30 percent over the last five years per aggregated dealer-market data, and the 218238 tracked that arc on the discontinued-supply premium. The 218238 reads less as a "value" reference now than as a future-classic candidate with the discontinued-only-41mm-Day-Date framing.

Production timeline

2008 — Baselworld launch alongside Datejust II. USD 27,650 MSRP base yellow gold. USD 30,150 with 8 round + 2 baguette diamond dial.
2010 — Rolex's random scrambled serial system rolls out catalogue-wide. The 218238 production straddles the rollover. G-serial late examples and random-serial post-2010 examples both surface in the secondary market through approximately 2012.
c. 2012 — Sultan of Oman Royal Khanjar 218206 platinum commission. Caseback engraved with the Royal Khanjar crest.
2015 — Baselworld discontinuation. Day-Date 40 (228xxx) launches at 40mm and replaces both the Day-Date II 41mm and continues the 36mm 118238 line until that line's own discontinuation in 2019.

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