Rolex Day-Date 1804 'Blue Stella'

A "Stella dial" with white printing is grail-material.

Especially on 4-digit Day-Date's these bright colours are an uncommon sight. Yet, because of the angle on these 'Pie-Pan dials' it actually works best. Also pay attention to the day and date aperture to behold how thick the vibrant blue lacquer is. Extra special about this one is the thick white text, matching the metal of the coronet and markers; last-mentioned being diamonds. Due to the fragility of the paint, one can oftentimes finds some cracks at the end of the baguette markers at the 6 and 9 o'clock position. Besides these small imperfections the dial is flawless and the surface smooth. Just like the 4-digit "Strawberry red Stella" , this blue one has the "Rail dial" lay-out in the COSC specification. The tritium plots are all intact and the creamy color matches the original white gold hand-set.

Reference 1804 is known to have a diamond-set bezel and matches perfectly with the overall "icy" look of this special Day-Date. With its 4 Million serial it was conceived in the mid 70's. It is supplied with the original 18k white-gold President bracelet -that contains only a moderate amount of stretch- ensuring years of pleasure on the wrist to come.

This fresh to the market find is one of only 3 known blue "Pie-Pan Stella" dials with diamond markers and white text. The premiere was an 1802 that sold in Phillips famous "Glamorous Day-Date" auction and it reached close to double the high estimate. Curiously enough one is, most likely later, installed in a pink-gold case with incorrect hands. All sharing the same graphics, lay-out and plot positioning. Arguably this is nicest as it is housed in a strong case with matching sparkling bezel.