Rolex Black Tapestry Dial Day-Date Reference 18038 w/ Van Cleef & Arpels Signed Bracelet Unpolished

The Rolex Day-Date was introduced in 1956 and was the first watch to display the date, as well as the fully-spelled-out day of the week. The watch has a rare black tapestry dial. The watch appears to have been retailed at Van Cleef & Arpels as the bracelet is signed with the Van Cleef & Arpels inventory code, but we checked with Van Cleef through our local store in Palm Beach and they were not sure.

We believe the 18K-gold case and bracelet are unpolished, but it appears the case back has been lightly polished (possibly to remove a case back engraving). It measures 36mm in diameter (43mm lug-to-lug).  This particular example dates to circa 1985 with a 8.8M serial.

The watch does not come with box and papers. We do not know the service history, but it is running well. It recently passed a water resistance test of 3 bar.

PRICE: ON HOLD (Item: SBUXYT2734)