Rolex Day-Date Diamond Motifs | The Watch Club by SwissWatchExpo

With an illustrious history, and made exclusively in precious metals, the President Day-Date is already one of Rolex’s most exclusive models. Add a helping of diamonds and you have a timepiece that’s truly a cut above the rest.

When decorating their watches with diamonds, Rolex not only sources the highest quality gems but also decides on how to best showcase them. The Rolex Day-Date collection is home to various gem-setting patterns that fully enhance the beauty of the iconic timepiece. Let’s explore different types of Rolex Day-Date diamond motifs:

Rolex Day-Date Pavé Diamond Dials

Pavé, which means “pavement” in French, is a type of setting where diamonds cover the entire surface of the metal, creating the appearance of a solid diamond surface. When you look at a timepiece with a diamond-pavéd dial, you’ll notice multiple small diamonds firmly placed together, resulting in a continuous line – or pavement – of glitter.

Rolex President Day Date Yellow Gold Green Enamel Diamond 118348

Gem-setters at Rolex meticulously carve the precious metal to hand-shape the seat in which each diamond will be perfectly embedded. Aside from the inherent quality of the stones, several other factors contribute to the beauty of Rolex gem setting: the exact alignment of the gems’ height, orientation, and position; the uniformity, sturdiness, and dimensions of the setting; and the exquisite finishing of the metalwork.

A final polish makes the tiny metal setting shine and highlights the precious stone’s intense sparkle. This step is repeated up to almost 3,000 times on select diamond-pavéd dials.

Rolex Day-Date Baguette Diamond Dials and Bezels

While Rolex more commonly uses round-cut jewels, baguette gemstones are also used regularly, particularly in their more recent models.

The word ‘baguette,’ is a french word that refers to a long, thin loaf of French bread. The baguette diamond, which is long and rectangular in shape, has gotten this name due to the simple fact that it resembles a baguette bread.

Rolex President Day-Date Platinum Ice Blue Dial Diamond Bezel Watch 118366

This type of diamond is most commonly used as hour markers or inserted into the bezel. The stone is put and painstakingly aligned with the others using the art and craft of a jeweler, then firmly fixed in its gold or platinum setting. Once finished, up to 36 diamonds will form the perfectly uniform, radiant circle of the watch’s gem-set bezel.

Although baguette diamonds are most common, Rolex uses other types of gemstones that are baguette-cut such as rubies and sapphires.

Rolex President Day-Date 40 Black Diamond Dial 228239 / President Day-Date 40 Rose Gold Sundust Dial 228235 / President Day-Date 40 Yellow Gold Diamond 228238

Rolex President Day Date 36 Rose Gold Diamond Mens Watch 118205 /
Rolex President Day Date Rose Gold Eisenkiesel Stone Diamond Mens Watch 128345

Rolex Day-Date Round Brilliant Cut Diamond Dials and Bezels

Round brilliant cut diamonds are the most common types of diamonds seen in Rolex Day-Date watches. Due to its great number of facets, it usually produces the most sparkle.

Rolex President Day-Date 36mm Yellow Gold Diamond Mens 18388 /
Rolex President Datejust Yellow Gold White Diamond Dial 69138

These are most often used in Day-Date bezels and as hour markers where they are often lined with gold surrounds. Some Day-Date models also have round brilliant cut diamonds on the lugs.

Rolex Day-Date Roman Diamond Dials

Another variation that uses round brilliant cut diamonds is Roman diamond dials. This is most popularly seen in the current range of Rolex Day-Date 40 models.

Rolex President Day-Date White Gold Pink Opal Diamond Dial 128239 /
Rolex President Day-Date 41 Blue Diamond Dial Platinum 218206

The dial features Roman numeral one-shaped hour markers in 18-carat gold, set with 32 diamonds, and a Roman VI and IX in 18-carat gold, set with 24 diamonds. The diamonds are housed in Roman hour markers fashioned from gold to prevent tarnishing and assembled largely by hand to ensure perfection.

Rolex President Day-Date White Gold Pink Opal Diamond Dial 128239 /
Rolex President Day Date Rose Gold Eisenkiesel Stone Diamond 128345

Rolex Day-Date Myriad Diamond Dials

The Rolex President Day-Date myriad diamond dial ups the ante on luxury. It features a double row of diamonds that bisect the dial, with 7 small, brilliant-cut diamonds set in between each Roman or Arabic hour marker.

Rolex President Day Date Yellow Gold Myriad Dial Diamond Lugs 118338 /
Rolex President Day-Date White Gold Diamond 118389

Often, myriad dial Day-Dates are also accompanied by pavé diamond-set lugs and bezels, but at times only the lugs are set with diamonds, while the bezel is in traditional fluted fashion.

Rolex Day-Date String Diamond Dials

Quite a rare find these days, the Day-Date string dial was produced in the 1990s. As its name suggests, it features a thin string of 51 round brilliant cut diamonds at the center of the dial. Right outside this string are slightly larger diamonds in place as hour markers.

Rolex President Day Date Yellow Gold Diamond Lugs 18338 /
Rolex President Day-Date White Gold Diamond 118389

Often, the bezel or lugs are also diamond-set, which create a seeming halo of gems on the timepiece.

Diamond Rolex Day-Date watches deliver both luxury and performance in an iconic package. Explore our collection of Rolex Day-Date diamond watches at SwissWatchExpo.com.