By TEEEMPUS · Published
Rolex spells out the day of the week in an arc at the top of the Day-Date's dial, and that window is the hard part to borrow. Reference 228238-0003 sets it on a champagne dial with baton markers, with the date at 3 under Rolex's Cyclops lens, inside a fluted bezel, in a 40 mm case of 18-karat yellow gold on the President bracelet. Inside is Rolex's self-winding calibre 3255, with about 70 hours of power reserve, and it's water resistant to 100 metres.
Rolex's US site listed it at $50,400 in a copy of the page archived on 6 September 2026. The live page won't load for us, so that's the newest US price we could read.
A gold watch with the day spelled out at 12 is rare outside Rolex and Tudor. Most gold watches with a day and a date put the day at 3, next to the date. So this list of watches like the Rolex Day-Date has three, not the usual seven: the three we found on sale in the US with the day at 12 and a gold or champagne dial, from $140 to $6,325. The nearest miss was Pagani Design's PD-1783, which has the case, the bezel and the bracelet but comes in gold only with a black, white or green dial. Nothing between $1,000 and $5,000 made it, because we couldn't find a gold-coloured watch in that range with the day at 12 and a fluted bezel.
None of the three is a solid gold watch. The two homages are steel in a gold colour, and the Tudor is steel with a solid gold bezel. All three are 40 mm across, like the Rolex, and each comes with what it gets wrong. Prices are regular US list prices, not sale prices, checked on 1 November 2026. The Tudor's comes from a US retailer, and its section says which. The photos are to scale, so if a watch looks smaller here, it is. The one exception is the Peugeot: there's no straight-on photo of it, so its size is approximate.
Two of the three are marked as homages, the watch world's word for a watch that follows a famous design on purpose, under its own name. If you came looking for a Rolex Day-Date homage, it's those two. Where we couldn't confirm that Amazon lists the exact watch, its Amazon button runs a search instead.
This is the watch every pick is measured against, the Day-Date 40 in yellow gold with a champagne dial, reference 228238-0003:
Nothing below has all of it. The two homages copy the outline in gold-coloured steel: the fluted bezel, the day at 12, the magnified date and the three-link bracelet. Of the two, only the Cadisen has the batons; the Peugeot has Roman numerals. The Tudor has the champagne dial, the batons, the day at 12 and real gold on its bezel, but the rest of it is steel, its bezel is notched, and it has no magnifier. Only the Cadisen and the Tudor are automatic and water resistant to the Rolex's 100 metres.
| Watch | US list price | Case | Bezel | Dial | Movement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peugeot Bedford 1029G (homage) | $140 | 40 mm, gold-tone steel | Fluted, gold-plated | Gold, Roman numerals | Quartz |
| Cadisen C8215 Full Gold (homage) | $180 | 40 mm, gold-tone steel | Fluted, gold-tone | Gold, batons | Automatic (Miyota 8285) |
| Tudor Royal 40, steel and gold | $6,325 | 40 mm, steel and gold | Notched, solid gold | Champagne, batons | Automatic (MT5633) |
| Rolex Day-Date 40, for comparison | $50,400 | 40 mm, 18 kt yellow gold | Fluted, gold | Champagne, batons | Automatic (3255) |
This is the least you can spend on the Day-Date's outline. The Peugeot has a 40 mm gold-tone case, a fluted bezel that Peugeot says is plated in 14-karat gold, and a gold dial with the day spelled out in an arc at 12 and the date at 3 under a magnifier. It comes on a gold-tone three-link bracelet that Peugeot calls presidential, with a fluted crown.
What you give up is the batons and the movement. It has Roman numerals and a black railway minute track where the Rolex has batons, and it runs on quartz: the dial says Japan movement, and Peugeot doesn't name the calibre. The dial also says 3 ATM, which is 30 metres of water resistance against the Rolex's 100, though Peugeot's own spec list gives no figure. Peugeot doesn't publish the crystal, the thickness or the lug-to-lug length, and the caseback in its photo says stainless steel, so the gold is a colour on steel. The only photo of the front is taken at an angle, so its size here is approximate. It lists at $140, less than a hundredth of the Rolex's price, and Peugeot's store showed it on sale for $91 on 1 November 2026, along with most of the shop.
Of the Rolex Day-Date alternatives we found, this is the closest, and the one to start with. Cadisen sells the C8215 in several colours, and in Full Gold it follows the Rolex closely: a gold sunburst dial with applied baton markers, the day spelled out in an arc at 12, the date at 3 under a magnifier, a fluted bezel and a three-link bracelet with a hidden push-button clasp, all in gold-coloured stainless steel. The case is 40 mm across and 12 mm thick, under an anti-reflective sapphire crystal, and it's water resistant to 100 metres, like the Rolex. Inside is a Miyota 8285, a Japanese automatic that also winds by hand.
What you give up: Cadisen's name is printed around the inner edge of the dial, and the gold is a colour on steel, applied in a way Cadisen doesn't describe. It doesn't publish the power reserve or the lug-to-lug length either. It lists at $180, less than a hundredth of the Rolex's price, and Cadisen's store showed it on sale for $150 on 1 November 2026. That store is Cadisen's own and prices in US dollars, but it isn't a US-only shop. If you'd rather have Roman numerals, Cadisen's C8185 is the same watch with them.
This is the best-built watch here, and it comes from Rolex's sister brand. The Royal 40 in steel and gold has a champagne dial with applied baton markers, the day spelled out in an arc at 12 and the date at 3, and its notched bezel is solid yellow gold. Tudor's calibre MT5633 is self-winding and certified as a chronometer by COSC, regulated to between −2 and +4 seconds a day, with about 70 hours of power reserve, as Rolex quotes for the Day-Date. The 40 mm case is 11.4 mm thick, polished and satin-finished, under a sapphire crystal, and it's water resistant to 100 metres. It's the same Royal 40 that our Datejust guide picks in steel with a black dial.
What you give up is the gold everywhere else. Only the bezel is solid gold: the crown is steel with a gold cap 0.1 mm thick, the bracelet's centre links are steel with a gold cap 0.2 mm thick, and the rest is steel. The bezel is notched rather than fluted, the five-link bracelet is integrated into the case, and there's no magnifier over the date. Tudor doesn't publish the lug-to-lug length. Tudor's own site wouldn't load for us, so the price comes from Bucherer, an authorized Tudor retailer in the US, which lists it at $6,325, an eighth of the Rolex's price. Tudor's own page gave $6,325 as its US price in a copy archived on 31 July 2026.
