1988 Rolex Day Date Lilac Stella Ref. 18238

Yes, its Lilac

Stellar is probably the best word to describe this marvelous Rolex Day Date 18238  from 1988 featuring the uber rare, almost elusive Lilac Stella dial. To be very honest, a lot of people don’t even know this color existed, let alone having ever seen one in person.  We specialize in Day Dates and in Stella dials, even for us it is the first time we are able to offer one in since 15 years. 

To our knowledge the Lilac represents the ‘Purple’ when it comes to Stella dials and marks, together with the yellow the rarest color in the Stella line up. We start somewhere at Oxblood, then Green or Red, Orange, Blue Turquoise, Salmon, Candy Pink, Peach, Seafoam, Yellow and Lilac. We hope we didn’t forget any but this should conclude it.

The color is to die for, a vibrant yet soft pastel Purple color that is magical. The tone of all Lilac dials varies slightly, given a very unique manufacturing process, oh and when we speak of "All”, we mean the hand full of examples we have seen so far.  Stella SA, the company which was manufacturing the Stella dials for Rolex (and which was bought by Rolex later) used to mix the lacquer for each dial separately by hand which is crazy, hence some colors are very unique plus some of the dials have developed unique hues over time. 

The dial is sheer flawless which is a word we hardly ever hear in the Stella world. It is very common to see hairlines, cracks, loss of gloss, bubbling, scratches, loss of lumes etc, but the one in hand is maybe the best one we ever held, a ten of ten. No visible wear across the dial whatsoever. The surface of the dial bears the satin gloss that these flat Stella dials are known for. The black print is crisp and free of fading or faint areas. With the lume plots having aged to a almost orangy color the dial has a nice contrast. The calendar discs have also lightly aged to a off-white color.

Another point to mention here that, as you may see, the dial has baton hour markers as opposed to Diamond markers. The gem free Stella dials attract more collectors as it lets them appreciate the dial without any distraction. We believe that the number of Stella dials set with diamonds is much higher than with baton indexes – why? Common sense, the Day Date is the most exclusive watch in the Rolex line up and most special dials are

To round up the watch, the reference 18238 stands for a yellow gold Day Date with double quickset movement and fluted bezel. The case remains sharp with well defined lugs and clear numbers. Overall a very sharp, crisp and attractive watch.

The Lilac is as rare as hens teeth, as mentioned before they are hardly around and very difficult to source, especially in this condition. We are very happy and proud to have this in our inventory.