Datejust 31 Stainless Steel / Yellow Gold / Domed - Diamond / Champagne - Diamond / Oyster

About This Watch

The Rolex Datejust 31 Reference 278343RBR-0025 exemplifies the brand’s mastery of blending timeless elegance with refined technical precision. This iteration marries stainless steel and yellow gold in a 31mm Oyster case, a size that balances modern wearability with the enduring presence of a classic Datejust. The champagne dial, finished with a sunburst pattern, exudes quiet sophistication, its depth heightened by the gem-set indexes that catch light with subtle brilliance. Stick hands, crisp and legible, complement the dial’s understated opulence, while the domed sapphire crystal adds a layer of contemporary sophistication to the watch’s silhouette. As the flagship model of the Datejust collection—a lineage established in 1945 to mark the introduction of the date complication—this piece carries the weight of Rolex’s heritage in horology. The in-house automatic movement 2236, certified as a chronometer, ensures unwavering accuracy and reliability, its craftsmanship a testament to the brand’s relentless pursuit of perfection. The caseback, sealed with an Oyster construction, underscores the watch’s resilience, a hallmark of Rolex’s engineering since the 1920s. This watch is for the discerning individual who values subtlety over ostentation, seeking a timepiece that transcends trends yet remains eternally relevant. It suits formal occasions with its polished refinement, yet its modest proportions make it equally at home in everyday life, a quiet assertion of status and taste.

In Context

At 31 mm it is small by current standards, in the range most wristwatches occupied before cases began growing through the 1990s. The case back is closed, so the movement stays out of sight, and the sapphire crystal will resist everything short of deliberate abuse. 100 m is genuine swimming resistance — more than the shape of this watch suggests it would need.

The movement winds itself from the motion of your wrist. 55 hours of reserve is enough to set it down on Friday evening and find it still running on Monday. At 28,800 vph the seconds hand advances 8 times a second.

278343RBR-0025 is one of 24 executions of the 278343RBR base reference. Underneath they are the same watch; what separates this one is a champagne sunburst dial and a yellow gold, stainless steel case.

Rolex

White · Yellow Gold, Stainless Steel

278343RBR-0001 · 31 mm

Rolex

White · Yellow Gold, Stainless Steel

278343RBR-0002 · 31 mm

Rolex

Silver · Yellow Gold, Stainless Steel

278343RBR-0003 · 31 mm

Rolex

Silver · Yellow Gold, Stainless Steel

278343RBR-0004 · 31 mm

Rolex

Champagne · Yellow Gold, Stainless Steel

278343RBR-0013 · 31 mm

Rolex

Champagne · Yellow Gold, Stainless Steel

278343RBR-0014 · 31 mm

Rolex

Green · Yellow Gold, Stainless Steel

278343RBR-0015 · 31 mm

Rolex

Green · Yellow Gold, Stainless Steel

278343RBR-0016 · 31 mm

+ 15 more variants in this family.

The 2236 is the Rolex movement inside more watches in this library than any other: 907, in the 28 mm Lady-Datejust and the 31 mm Datejust 31. It was the first Rolex caliber with a silicon hairspring. Introduced in 2014 in the Pearlmaster 34, it is a 20 mm automatic with a date, 31 jewels, a 55-hour reserve and a beat of 28,800 vph, certified by the COSC and then tested again by Rolex after casing to the Superlative Chronometer tolerance of two seconds a day. Its distinction is the Syloxi hairspring: silicon, immune to magnetism, etched to a patented geometry that keeps the spring concentric in every position, and paired with Paraflex shock absorbers. The larger Rolex calibers kept the Parachrom alloy spring; Syloxi did not reach a men's movement until the 7140 of 2023. The [2236 piece](/blog/the-rolex-2236-the-most-common-movement-in-this-library) sets out that history. In the library it powers 488 [Datejust 31](/brands/rolex/datejust-31) references, the seven-digit 2782xx generation of 2020, 399 [Lady-Datejusts](/brands/rolex/lady-datejust) of the 2791xx generation of 2015, 15 [Pearlmasters](/brands/rolex/pearlmaster) and 5 [Yacht-Master 37s](/brands/rolex/yacht-master). The [2235](/calibers/rolex-2235) is the 48-hour movement it replaced, the [2232](/calibers/rolex-2232) its no-date sibling for the Oyster Perpetual, and the [3235](/calibers/rolex-3235) its counterpart in the 36 mm and 41 mm cases.

906 other watches in the library run the Rolex 2236.

Rolex

Lady-Datejust 28 Rolesor Everose Diamond / Oyster / MOP

279381RBR-0014 · 28 mm

Rolex

Lady-Datejust 28 Rolesor Rose Diamond / Jubilee / MOP

279381rbr-0013 · 28 mm

Rolex

Lady-Datejust 28 Rolesor Yellow Domed / Oyster / MOP

279163-0014 · 28 mm

Rolex

Datejust 31 Stainless Steel / Yellow Gold / Diamond / Black MOP / Oyster

278383RBR-0023 · 31 mm