ROLEX Oyster Perpetual Datejust Onyx Diamond Dial 1996

Fully serviced 09/07/2026
Timegrapher -1s/d 282° 0.1ms

The Datejust has long stood as Rolex's definition of a complete watch, and Reference 16238 is its most emphatic expression — the same architecture rendered entirely in solid 18K yellow gold. Produced from 1988 alongside the arrival of a new generation of movements, it remained in the catalogue for well over a decade. This 1996 example is distinguished by a factory onyx dial, cut from black stone and set with two diamonds.

The Oyster case measures 36mm across and 44mm from lug to lug, its polished flanks carrying the light marks of wear. A fluted gold bezel supplies the only ornament, and a flat sapphire crystal sits above it. The screw-down Twinlock crown is signed with the coronet, and the case asks for nothing further.

The dial is a slab of onyx rather than a painted surface, and it reads that way — a depth of black that absorbs light instead of returning it. Two brilliant-cut diamonds rest in white gold settings at six and nine o'clock, and the gold printing and slender baton hands are the only other elements permitted. A Cyclops lens magnifies the date at three.

At its heart beats the automatic Caliber 3135, running at 28,800 vibrations per hour on 31 jewels with a Breguet overcoil, Microstella regulation and some 48 hours of reserve — the chronometer-certified movement behind the line printed on the dial. Fully serviced in September 2026, it is now running to within a second a day.

Completing the watch is a black leather strap, carefully matched to let the gold and the stone carry the watch on their own. Not original to the watch, it is fitted to the 20mm lug width and accommodates a wrist of up to 18cm.

Refined, uncompromising, and unmistakably vintage, this Datejust shows what the reference becomes when its dial is reduced to a single black stone.

- wrist size in our picture is 17cm circumference -