The watches look nearly identical; both share the same movement, dial and hands, differing only in the case and bracelet metal. The 40-millimeter white-gold Day-Date, pictured left, retails for $51,600. Its platinum version costs $68,800.
Platinum — Rolex’s “noblest of metals for the finest of watches” — is rarer than gold, with annual output of about 6 million ounces versus roughly 108 million ounces for gold, and it retains a higher-status aura, from platinum credit cards to platinum records. Platinum’s density gives Rolex watches a weight many clients associate with higher value, and its 95% composition reinforces that perception.
But the market tells a different story, now more than ever, as gold tops $5,000 an ounce while platinum trades for roughly half as much, near $2,100. Even after adjusting for white gold’s 75% purity, the bullion value inside Rolex’s white-gold Day-Date still exceeds that of the platinum model, which is tagged $17,200 higher at retail.
Rolex does not publish metal weights, but estimates based on total watch weight and shared components show that the white-gold Day-Date contains about 5.3 troy ounces of pure gold. In today’s market, that is worth roughly $26,500. The platinum model contains about seven ounces of platinum, valued near $14,700.
That means buyers of the white-gold Day-Date pay roughly $26,500 for metal and about $25,100 for the rest of the watch. To compare, the platinum version, which looks nearly identical, charges $14,700 in metal and $54,100 for the watch.