Preowned Day-Date Help

[Roccodean]

I have my eye on a preowned yellow gold 36mm day-date. I want to stay around $15,000. So, it seems my options are the 18038 and 18238.
I just started looking and I know in general preowned prices skyrocketed during Covid and have been decreasing. And I see based on previous posts these models were under 15k about 5 years ago. So my question is for this particular model, do you expect the prices to go down more ? I am in no rush.

[huncho]

prices on these already fell quite a bit but no one knows what the future holds. personally i feel like they were heavily undervalued when they were around 12k given that it's a full gold rolex that looks identical to the modern ones going for 30k+. with all the price increases since then and factoring in inflation, it makes sense that they're around 14-15 now for the lower end ones

my advice would be to take the time to find a good unpolished one and go from there. the market for those watches is a minefield and a good majority of them are beat up and can probably be found for under 15 already, so if they'll ever go back into the 12-13 range like 5+ years ago then most likely those are gonna be in rough shape

[Roccodean]

Originally Posted by huncho

prices on these already fell quite a bit but no one knows what the future holds. personally i feel like they were heavily undervalued when they were around 12k given that it's a full gold rolex that looks identical to the modern ones going for 30k+. with all the price increases since then and factoring in inflation, it makes sense that they're around 14-15 now for the lower end ones

my advice would be to take the time to find a good unpolished one and go from there. the market for those watches is a minefield and a good majority of them are beat up and can probably be found for under 15 already, so if they'll ever go back into the 12-13 range like 5+ years ago then most likely those are gonna be in rough shape

Thanks.

[ronricks]

Originally Posted by Roccodean

I have my eye on a preowned yellow gold 36mm day-date. I want to stay around $15,000. So, it seems my options are the 18038 and 18238.
I just started looking and I know in general preowned prices skyrocketed during Covid and have been decreasing. And I see based on previous posts these models were under 15k about 5 years ago. So my question is for this particular model, do you expect the prices to go down more ? I am in no rush.

Bracelet is all that really matters on these. Find one with little to no stretch. Case can be polished, bezels can be recut, there literally 100’s of dials for these so dial swaps are easy/common. A full service will run around $1200 so factor that in as well. To me 5 digit day dates are great values right now. Good luck in your search.

[Roccodean]

Originally Posted by ronricks

Bracelet is all that really matters on these. Find one with little to no stretch. Case can be polished, bezels can be recut, there literally 100’s of dials for these so dial swaps are easy/common. A full service will run around $1200 so factor that in as well. To me 5 digit day dates are great values right now. Good luck in your search.

Thanks. You seem very knowledgeable. If they are in similar conditions do you think the 18238 is worth the extra 2,000$ or so?

[ronricks]

Originally Posted by Roccodean

Thanks. You seem very knowledgeable. If they are in similar conditions do you think the 18238 is worth the extra 2,000$ or so?

To me no. But others may disagree. 18238 has double quickset and gold case tube instead of steel. That’s really the only difference and to me not worth $2k especially if the watch gets a lot of wrist time. 18038 case is about .5 mm thicker and ‘wears’ a little larger than 18238. I’ve never had an issue setting the single quickset movement in a timely manner.

[ROlesorusLEX]

Originally Posted by ronricks

To me no. But others may disagree. 18238 has double quickset and gold case tube instead of steel. That’s really the only difference and to me not worth $2k especially if the watch gets a lot of wrist time. 18038 case is about .5 mm thicker and ‘wears’ a little larger than 18238. I’ve never had an issue setting the single quickset movement in a timely manner.

Can you point out what is a gold case tube? Is this the tube into which the crown screws?

Sent from my NE2215 using Tapatalk

[ronricks]

Originally Posted by ROlesorusLEX

Can you point out what is a gold case tube? Is this the tube into which the crown screws?

Sent from my NE2215 using Tapatalk

Correct.

[jgottsman11]

take your time and find a mint unpolished one. plenty out there if you're patient

[Roccodean]

Originally Posted by jgottsman11

take your time and find a mint unpolished one. plenty out there if you're patient

Thanks. Besides on here and chrono24, anywhere else to keep eye on ?

[johnliley]

yes dig around they are everywhere. I have the 18038 and like that its a little thicker. I also changed the dial out as the previous owner had his AD add aftermarket diamonds. I kept that dial and found another on ebay with luminova and changed the hands and am quite happy. The bracelet is either going to be good or not so good. The one owner I purchased mine from was a lefty and wore his quite tight on his left wrist. So there were about three or four links worn right through and then polished by somebody so they looked scooped out. Keep that in mind the links are actually hollow on these older bracelets. That being said quite easy to replace. My watch had not been polished so the patination of the orig bracelet and the 3 or 4 links I replaced are pretty close. I live in the high desert so things patina differently than places with humidity. Hope that helps.

JL