Time Stamped With Emotion: The Rolex Day Date Jigsaw 128235

It is not often you get a luxury watch as fun, compelling and outright wild as the Rolex Day Date 128235 ‘Jigsaw’ Dial. Among many watch enthusiasts, this release by Rolex in 2023 has turned heads left and right, some adoring the less serious take on luxury watch-making, while others hating the wackiness of the watch. 

We were lucky enough to have this watch in store recently, and to our surprise, we think this may be the most genius watch created by Rolex in a while. Make sure you stay to the end, to find out why that is!

 

The ‘Jigsaw’ Pattern

Unlike anything Rolex has ever made before, the Jigsaw pattern or the ‘Puzzle’ dial was made to show the different emotions of life and its different moments. The multiple colours of the jigsaw pieces and the sapphire cut hour markers in different hues represent the different emotions we feel on a day to day basis. 

To make this watch even more interesting, the Day and Date function of the watch has been replaced with seven different emotions for the day, and 31 different emoji’s for the date setting. This adds a uniqueness that no watch brand has really dared to do.

The seven days at the 12 o’ clock are replaced with, ‘Happy’, ‘Eternity’, ‘Gratitude’, ‘Peace’, ‘Faith’, ‘Love’ and ‘Hope’. The window at 3 o’clock reveals daily one of 31 exclusive emojis in place of the date. 

These inspirational words show different emotions, but fall into the positive affirmations to bring a brightness to your day. 

 

Rarity & Price

Being an off-catalogue piece, this watch is very hard to get. You would need a significant amount of spend history with Rolex to qualify or be eligible to buy this watch. With a retail price specifically for the rose gold variation being £51,700, and the secondary market price being well over the £200,000+ mark, you can see why Rolex may be reserved to give this watch to only their most VVIP clients. 

There is not much market data on this timepiece…but, the general consensus is that a watch as rare as this, will only go up while it is in production.

 

 

Our time with the watch…

The watch itself is only made in a 36mm case size, with the alternatives being the white gold and yellow gold versions made as a collectors set. In a particular order, the yellow gold demands the least amount of premium over RRP, the Rose gold follows as the second most expensive, and the white gold takes the reign as the hardest and most expensive to buy. 

This rose gold though, in our opinion is the best aesthetically. It has an orange dial that matches perfectly to the 18ct Everest gold case, and is a pleasure to look at on the wrist. The Champlevé enamelling has a slight raise on the jigsaw pieces, which are pleasantly visible to the eye and the sapphires glimmering in different lights make this watch such a joy to wear!

The 36mm watch may not be wearable for the masses, but remember, this is a classic Rolex size and was previously the norm. The trend for smaller watches is in, and we would say, do not be deterred by the case size at all. 

The watch is most definitely a head turner, as once people see the dial, and realise its not a normal day-date 36, it is almost guaranteed to spark up a conversation. 

 

So with that being said…

We believe this watch should be a part of any discerning collectors collection. If you are lucky enough to have all three, it would be a no brainer to have all of them! 

We truly believe this watch will serve as one of the most desired Rolex Day Date’s in the future. With the watch trend going back to the retro 18238 Day date 36 yellow gold watches with the onyx, lapis, wood and stone dials, this watch will surely join the trend and be a more sought after piece by true Rolex collectors. 

If you do not want to read the blog, check out our latest YouTube video below!