The President, in champagne
By Julien Moreau, Geneva ยท
A client of ours, a Lebanese industrialist of impeccable manners, once explained to me that he owned a drawer of Day-Dates because it saved him the trouble of choosing what to wear. I thought it was a joke for a long time. It wasn't.
The Day-Date arrived in 1956 as the first wristwatch to spell out the day of the week in full at twelve, and on its President bracelet it became the watch of heads of state, film producers and men who sign contracts with heavy pens. The 228238 is the modern 40 mm version in yellow gold, 11.6 mm thick, with a champagne dial and the fluted bezel, the 3255 with 70 hours, a closed back and 100 m. On the wrist it is substantial and pleasingly heavy, and it is meant to be.
You are not buying discretion, and you should not pretend otherwise. Thirty-nine and a half to forty-one thousand dollars of gold on a bracelet says something before you do. Champagne is the most traditional dial and, I think, the right one, but some will find it too much.
For a man who wants the definitive gold Rolex and is entirely comfortable with what it says, this is it. For a man who prefers to be underestimated, it is not, and he should buy a Calatrava instead.