Rolex

BluNotte
9069

• Show profile
• Show other posts

Day date 40 diamond Indexes,Ice Blue dial&much confusion( which causes the BluNotte sleepless nights)

Hi there Rolex Fellows,

Trust everyone is having a great mid-week.

Just would like to ask some clarifications from the experts here, I am really totally a newbie at this so pardon me if what I ask is rather silly for most of you.

The piece I am asking in particular is about the Rolex Day Date (abbreviated to DD henceforth) 40 in Platinum with its numerous dial variations/ combinations (or what would you all call it here?) for the base color Ice blue? ( at times I seem to come across it named as Glacial blue, is this even the official naming from Rolex or was this a term coined by fans?) I am not talking about if you choose any other colors, let us just focus on the ice blue one here.

Now, on top of this I notice that there is of course the variation between diamond indexes and non-diamond indexes ( roman numerals or bars). For the diamond set dial version, why is it that I see on the net that there are some with the seconds hand in white whilst some are in blue?
This is question number one, are these due to the difference in the year of production? Initially I had thought that the blue center seconds hand version belonged to only the latest version that was launched in 2022, but then I noticed that older versions had this too on some that I came across.
Whilst on this about the seconds hand, can I clarify with someone that the center seconds hand on a DD 40 is made of white gold that has been colored(or coated or what process do they submit the hand to in order for it to become blue?) blue, and not blued steel hands? Or is it? Another total newbie question (I am so used to blued steel hands on other brands like Lange)

And my second question would be, at the 6 o'clock position where the wording " Swiss Made" is written between the indexes of 28 and 32 minutes, some just had " Swiss Made" whilst some are " Swiss Coronet (that what you call the Rolex Crown symbol right? ) Made", are these differences too also due to year of production?

In conclusion then, what I really want to know then is, how does one differentiate between the latest 228396TBR (2022 ) and (pre-2022) 228396TBR were it to both have the ice blue, diamond set dial, diamond set bezel?
It does not seem to be because of the blue seconds / white seconds hand and the Swiss Made / Swiss coronet Made is it?

Or does this also have to do with the various different patterns even if one were to choose Ice blue? Quadrants ,circles and/or plain satin( what is the finish name for the current one that is used in the picture on Rolex's website for the DD 40?) and any/all other patterns ( anyone care to provide a exhaustive list of patterns available? would highly appreciate this.)

Please enlighten me on this very perplexing matter!

I appreciate any insight on this very much!

Cheers

Stephen