Rolex · Day-Date 40
Rolex Day-Date 40 228238: specifications and what to check
Solid gold case and solid gold President bracelet, joined by a clasp designed to be invisible. The weight of precious metal is the product, and the concealed clasp is where wear concentrates.
Reference 228238 · specifications read from the manufacturer on 2026-09-22 · listed as current
Specifications
As published by Rolex. A field the manufacturer does not state is left out rather than filled in.
- Case
- Oyster, 40 mm, yellow gold. Monobloc middle case, screw-down case back and winding crown
- Diameter
- 40 mm
- Water resistance
- Waterproof to 100 metres / 330 feet
- Crystal
- Scratch-resistant sapphire, Cyclops lens over the date
- Bezel
- Fluted
- Dial
- Green
- Case back
- Screw-down
- Crown
- Screw-down, Twinlock double waterproofness system
- Bracelet
- President, semi-circular three-piece links, 18 ct yellow gold
- Clasp
- Concealed folding Crownclasp
Movement
- Calibre
- Calibre 3255, Manufacture Rolex
- Type
- Perpetual, mechanical, self-winding; bidirectional self-winding via Perpetual rotor
- Power reserve
- Approximately 70 hours
- Certification
- Superlative Chronometer (official chronometer certification + Rolex certification after casing)
- Notes
- Precision −2/+2 sec/day after casing. Instantaneous day and date shown in apertures, with secure rapid-setting, and stop-seconds.
What to check before you buy
- Open and close the concealed Crownclasp several times. It hides inside the bracelet, it carries the full weight of a solid gold band, and a clasp that no longer snaps shut firmly is both a security risk and an expensive gold component.
- Check the day aperture changes cleanly and completely at midnight rather than crawling. An instantaneous day and date should snap, and a sluggish change indicates the mechanism needs attention.
- Examine the President bracelet's semi-circular links for stretch. Solid gold is soft, the links are substantial, and a stretched gold bracelet represents a great deal of worn material.
- Look at the fluted gold bezel for flattened peaks, the same wear pattern as on any gold flute, and remember that on a full gold watch the bezel cannot be replaced from a steel donor.
- Weigh the watch. A solid gold case on a solid gold President is heavy by design, and unexpected lightness in a supposedly gold bracelet is the most basic authenticity check available.
The clasp you are not supposed to see
Rolex calls it a concealed folding Crownclasp: the closure disappears into the President bracelet so the band reads as continuous gold around the wrist.
That design decision has a direct consequence for a used example. The clasp is hidden, so it is rarely inspected and frequently worn, while carrying the weight of a solid gold bracelet every time the watch is put on and taken off.
Open and close it repeatedly. It should snap positively shut and stay shut under a firm pull. A clasp that closes loosely or springs open is both a genuine risk of losing a very valuable watch and a costly gold part to put right.
This is the first thing to check on this reference, and it is the thing most often skipped.
Solid gold, everywhere
Case and bracelet are both 18 ct yellow gold. That is the product, and it changes three things about inspection.
Weight. A gold case on a gold President is heavy in a way photographs cannot convey. Basic, but the fastest sanity check there is.
Stretch. Gold is soft. The President's semi-circular links wear at the pins, and a stretched gold bracelet means material has actually gone. Hold it horizontally and watch how much it droops.
Irreplaceability. On a two-metal watch like the White Rolesor Datejust some parts are steel. Here nothing can be substituted from a cheaper donor, so every damaged component is a gold component.
A day that should snap
The calibre 3255 drives an instantaneous day and date in apertures with secure rapid-setting. Instantaneous is the operative word: at midnight both displays should change in a single motion.
If you can hold the watch across midnight, do. A day wheel that begins crawling into position half an hour early, or finishes late, is telling you the mechanism is tired — and on this reference the day display is the whole point of the watch.
The same hundred metres as everything else
Despite the dress-watch character, this keeps the Oyster case, the screw-down back and the Twinlock crown at 100 metres. It is far more robust than it looks, which is a fair and useful thing to tell a buyer who assumes a gold watch is fragile.
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Sources
Not affiliated with Rolex. Specifications are read from the manufacturer's own published documentation on the date shown and may change; the manufacturer's current documentation governs.