The colour that means platinum
By Julien Moreau, Geneva ·
Ice blue is Rolex's private code for platinum. The brand reserves that dial colour for its platinum watches, and so a Day-Date with an ice blue dial tells a small, well-informed audience exactly what it is and tells everyone else nothing at all.
The 228236 is the 40 mm Day-Date in platinum, 11.6 mm thick, with the 3255 and 70 hours, 100 m, a closed back and the President bracelet. Platinum looks like steel or white gold at first glance, which is precisely the appeal, but it is heavier, and you will feel it at the end of a long dinner.
Sixty-one to sixty-three thousand dollars, a good twenty thousand more than gold. You pay for weight and discretion, and for the pleasure of knowing what nobody else knows. I find that pleasure slightly absurd and entirely understandable. If you want to be recognised, buy the gold. If you want to be recognised by three people, pour les initiés as they say in the boutiques here, buy this.