Rolex Day-Date 40 Everose Gold Olive Green Dial 228235 2023

Reference 228235 puts the Day-Date 40 in Everose gold under an olive green sunray dial with Roman numerals, and green is the most difficult colour there is to put on a sunray finish.

A sunray dial is brushed outward from the centre, so every radius meets the light at a different angle and the colour you see depends entirely on where you are standing. Most colours survive that treatment. Blue stays blue; silver stays silver. Green does not. Under indoor light an olive sunray collapses towards black and reads as a dark dial with a warm cast; carry the same watch outside and it opens into a proper green, drab at the centre and brighter towards the rim. You effectively own two watches, and neither of them is the one in the photographs.

The Roman numerals are doing more work than decoration here. Applied in Everose and faceted, they throw a second set of reflections across the green from a different plane, so the dial never settles into a flat tone. The fluted bezel does the same thing at the perimeter. The result is a watch with movement in it while it is sitting perfectly still.

Calibre 3255, self-winding, approximately 70 hours of power reserve, waterproof to 100 metres. A 40 mm case in 18 ct Everose gold, the day spelled out in full at twelve and the date at three, on the Everose President bracelet with its concealed Crownclasp.

Mint, 2023, offered as a full set. A second hand example of a dial that no photograph has ever quite told the truth about.

Every watch is authenticated by an independent watchmaker before it changes hands, never by us. Viewing by appointment at our Collins Street boutique in Melbourne, insured delivery Australia-wide. We buy Rolex outright and source specific references on request.