We all have that moment. The moment when we first see an incredible item that ignites a passion that will last for the rest of our lives. For some it is a wonderful piece of art, for others, it is an amazing feat of engineering in the form of a supercar. The thing that did it for me was getting to hold a Rolex Day-Date 36mm.

Now we have to go way back. Way way back to the old country. Back to a little village called Uddingston in Scotland. This was where my Genisis moment took place. A man called Robert Kelly handed me his watch and allowed me to look at it for a while. This would be a reoccurring event for the young boy over future years. A bit of back story on Bob as I think he made as much of an impression on me as the watch did. Bob was a larger than life personality. A self-made man and more importantly an everyman. He was a business owner and my mother’s boss. He drove a 500SEL Mercedes and had 3 gold items on him at all times. A gold packet of Benson and Hedges cigarettes, a solid gold Dunhill lighter and his Rolex Day-Date.

Now a 36mm Rolex is no small watch to a child. I still struggle to understand if my childhood memory of the watch is the reason that I think modern Day Dates look like fakes. Or maybe I’m one of those terrible watch purists who think that 36mm is the only true size for a Datejust or a Day-Date. I just know that on my slender wrists the 36mm wears like an absolute dream. But this is coming from someone who feels very comfortable in his 28mm Cartier Santos (which was the gents size when it was released) Something about the 36mm is just so right. Considered to be a lady’s size by today’s standards but still manly enough for myself, Tony Soprano and sadly the micro handed 45th President of the United States of America.

In my current role within the watch industry and my personal life within the watch community, I get to try on pretty much every watch you can imagine. Tourbillons, minute repeaters and rattrapantes. Not one of them makes as much of an impression on me as the Day-Date. Even fellow watchmakers who have seen everything under the Sun get a bit star-struck when they hold a Day-Date. Could it be all that gold or is it just the perfect storm of gold, quality and style. In my youth it was the Rolex to have. Now long since overshadowed by stainless steel models that are currently worth their weight in gold. The classic Rolex Day-Date 36mm offers about as much value as you can get in the used Rolex range but will their time in the sun ever return?