Jacob Elordi is on the ideal path for any watch collector. Once mad for Cartier, particularly the jeweler’s classic Tank, the actor is moving on to one of the most revered pieces in Rolex’s catalog.
You might know it as a “President” or a “Presidential”, but whatever you call it, Elordi’s Day-Date is horological royalty. Released in 1956, it was the world’s first automatic chronometer watch to feature the date and the day spelled out in full. The elegant model was quickly adopted by “presidents everywhere,” as Rolex’s own advertisements claimed. (LBJ was a fan, as was Gerald Ford and now Trump.) Produced only in precious metals and available in 26 different languages, it’s one of the most covetable objects in the luxury world. Elordi and his new piece were first spotted by our friend @dimepiece.
Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Getty Images
A vintage Day-Date on a leather strap is still cool as hell, but when people think about this watch, it’s largely inseparable from the bracelet that gives it its moniker. Produced in a matching precious metal, it’s more refined than the chunky Oyster bracelet or even the jangly Jubilee, with beautifully polished semicircular central links that provide contrast with a set of brushed flanking links. Available in 18k gold or platinum, it’s a stunning design object even before one considers the watch head, which features a fluted bezel, a screw-down crown, and one of numerous dials. Regardless of configuration, a Day-Date always features a curved aperture at 12 o’clock that displays the day in full, plus a date window at 3 o’clock. In addition to English and Romance languages, other available languages include Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, Russian, Chinese, and…positive affirmations.
Besides numerous US presidents, the Day-Date is also favored by celebrities and athletes the world over, from Tom Cruise to Taylor Swift to John Mayer. Elordi’s own progression from a solid-gold Tank Louis Cartier—a veritable dress-watch staple—to a solid-gold Day-Date seems like a natural one, though the use case is perhaps slightly different. While the Tank Louis is the perfect dress watch, it’s less suited to everyday wear than the Day-Date, which features an automatic movement you don’t need to worry about winding and 100 meters of water resistance. Heck, come to think of it, all that the Day-Date is missing is a rotating bezel and you could conceivably cosplay as Jack Cousteau in it!
The particular Day-Date that Elordi wore appears to be a five-digit model—perhaps a ref. 18038—which was produced from the late 1970s through the late 1980s. This would mean that unlike earlier versions, it’s equipped with a sapphire crystal and a quickset date feature, giving it much of what we love about modern watches while still retaining vintage 36-mm proportions and charm. If you fancy a similar watch, it’ll set you back $15,000 minimum…. But that’s still quite a savings over a modern version, which will run you $36,500. For a man of Elordi’s means, this is a small price to pay for taking this consequential next step in his watch journey. He hasn’t put a wrong foot yet.
You don’t need a Paul Bunyan-level beard to rock a vintage Day-Date. Find your own below.
