December 2016

Great Audiophile Gift Ideas For The 2016 Holiday Season
Enjoy the Music.com celebrates our 11th annual gift ideas to give your audiophile!

Rolex Everose Gold Day-Date 40 With Chocolate And Baguette Diamond Dial

  There is perhaps no wrist timepiece more iconic than the Rolex Day-Date, which is also known as the President or Presidential watch due to world leaders being closely linked to this model. You can see this watch on the wrist of many respected dignitaries, CEOs, CFOs famous film and music stars, and too many more to list here. In 1956, the Rolex Day-Date made its debut. Available only in 18 carat gold or platinum at the time, it was the first wristwatch to display the date and day of the week spelt out in full within a window on the dial. With the President bracelet, originally created especially for it, the Day-Date continues to be the watch par excellence of influential people.

Rolex's Day-Date 40 is their latest model that comes with the company’s in-house designed and built caliber 3255 movement. While there has been many improvements since 1956, this latest version, entirely developed and manufactured by Rolex for a superlative level of performance, features this self-winding mechanical movement. With a goal of highly accurate timekeeping, over twice that of COSC standards, there are 14 new patents to this latest mechanical wonder. Fundamental gains in terms of precision, power reserve, resistance to shocks and magnetism are met with ease of use and extreme reliability far surpassing that from timepieces offered by other Swiss manufacturers that cost multiples more.

Rolex's 3255 incorporates the new Chronergy escapement patented by Rolex, which combines high energy efficiency with great dependability. Made of nickel‑phosphorus, it is also insensitive to magnetic interference. The oscillator, the true heart of the watch, has an optimized blue Parachrom hairspring, which is also up to 10 times more precise than a traditional hairspring in case of shocks. Thanks to a new barrel architecture and the escapement’s superior efficiency, the power reserve of calibre 3255 extends to 70 hours. This means the watch will easily continue to run from Friday evening into Monday afternoon even if not worn or wound.

A variety of strategically-placed non-magnetic and extremely low magnetic parts are within key positions within the movement. Rolex's innovative paramagnetic blue Parachrom hairspring is impervious to any normal magnetic fields, while other parts within the watch are made from non-magnetic material. While many other timepieces have problems, as magnetization causes timing errors, Rolex pays special care to ensure day in and day out magnetic fields will have zero effect to the 3255 movement.

Everose Gold
Rolex does not source their cases from outside vendors. Instead, they not only make their own cases, Rolex has its own foundry to melt the raw gold and have an exacting formula to produce Everose (a specialized rose gold). Rolex first introduced this in 2005 and since then has been used on all Rolex Oyster models in pink gold.

Chocolate And Ice: A Delicious Combination
Gem-setters finely craft the precious metal by hand and then seat a virtually perfect baguette diamond onto the chocolate starburst dial. With the art and craft of a jeweler, the stone is placed and meticulously aligned with the others, then firmly secured within its Everose gold setting. Besides the intrinsic quality of the stones, which is said to be colorless and of extremely high quality and clarity, the shape of the baguette truly reflects light to shine brightly even within a low-light environment. The result is a sparkling symphony to enhance the watch and enchant the wearer.

The President Bracelet
Even since the very first Day-Date in, this very special Rolex Everose gold bracelet and the latest hidden clasp have become a modern classic. Involving advanced high technology, aesthetic controls by the human eye guarantee impeccable beauty. Initially created in 1956, the most recent version includes ceramic tube inserts that surround the bracelet screws to ensure durability and reduce what is called bracelet stretch (over time, normal screw-type bracelets get pulled apart that causes unwanted large spacing between the lugs).

Modern Size Meeting Today's Standards
The Rolex Day-Date 40 has a waterproof to 100m (330 feet) Oyster Everose case that measures 40mm. Rolex's patented Oyster case is made from a monoblock middle case, screw-down case back and winding crown. A fluted bezel reflects the light is a nearly magical way. To ensure waterproofness, Rolex's twin-lock screw-down winding stem keeps both water and dirt from reaching inside the mechanical marvel movement. Scratch-resistant sapphire, highlighted by a cyclops lens over the date, is another classic Rolex touch.

Remember earlier when you read that Rolex's 3255 movement is twice as accurate as COSC, a Swiss rating for a timepieces accuracy. COSC (Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres) ensures that a timepiece has been tested to be within an average daily rate of -4 to +6 seconds per day. Rolex goes a step further and guarantees this movement to be within -2/+2 seconds per day after casing. My own personal experience has been +0.7 seconds per day within the Everose with chocolate dial and diamonds Day-Date 40. As a side note, sent back a recent ceramic Submariner to Rolex for re-regulated and it now operates at an accuracy of +7 seconds per month(!).

To ensure the continued accuracy of timekeeping without interference, the Day-Date 40 has a quick setting of the date of week and day of the month, which never disturbs the movement's timekeeping function by using the crown's second position. If for some reason during your world travels you need to change the time, by unscrewing and gently pulling the crown all the way outward to its third position, the movement stops. This enables you to precisely set the time to the second within your new destination.

You Are The President
When wearing the Rolex 228235 Day-Date 40 in Everose gold, the chocolate starburst dial is brilliantly highlighted with baguette diamond ($42,000). This allows the Everose hour, minute, and second hand to be easily read in virtually all light conditions. Each time you look at your Rolex with President bracelet, you'll feel like a world leader with calm confidence and unspoken leadership. You could say this timepiece has it's own 'theme music'. Because music plays an important part of my life, perhaps when arriving at events worldwide a special song will fill my head. Enjoy your time.

As always, in the end what really matters is that you enjoy your time and...

Enjoy the Music,

Steven R. Rochlin