Do people actually order their local language?

[Incroyable12]

Rolex makes calendars in 26 different languages for the Day-Date however the vast majority are in English.

Sometimes you see French, Italian, Spanish, and German. Occasionally a Portuguese one pops up. The Arab and Chinese ones command a huge premium on the secondhand market.

Has anyone here ever specified a different language when ordering a Day-Date?

[foxytimes]

As all of my DDs are 5-digit references I never ordered a DD til now however I could imagine changing a day wheel for several reasons - e.g.

personal: I want a specific language because I bought the watch in that country or because I lived there. or
exotic: I want a specific language because I like an outlandish day wheel like Arab, Moroccan, Chinese, Japanese, Ethiopian, Latin, Russian, Farsi, Indonesian, Hebrew, Basque, Catalan,... or
esthetic: I want a specific language with shorter words for the days of the week as short words appear larger in the day wheel window (e.g. a lot of 5- or 6-letter words) like French, Swedish, Portuguese, Spanish, ...(English is not so bad in that regard ;)

The English (spoken and understood around the world) probably satisfies personal or esthetic reasons pretty good. That's why it's the most frequent language.

Afaik all 26 languages are still available at an AD. In different colors (may doesn't apply for all). Idk if there is an exchange policy now (You have to trade in your old day wheel).

Paying a premium for an exotic day wheel doesn't make sense to me unless the watch was born this way (e.g. with papers from Addis Abeba).

Imho it's fascinating how a different day wheel on a DD changes the overall character of the watch.

[SoylentGreenChi]

When I requested a French language version, my AD told me that Rolex won’t ship non English versions to the US, so I’ll look into getting one when I am in Québec this summer or France next fall.

Related side note: my spouse inquired about getting a German language Lange perpetual calendar at the Lange boutique, and was told Lange makes them only in English; the terrific folks at the boutique said they can ask and maybe ALS will do one.

I love English, but it is not my first choice for all things, and watch dials are one of those things! :)

[fskywalker]

I had purchased used Rolex and Tudor Day Dates / Date Days with english, as well as spanish (native language), have never ordered a different language from an AD. Imagine through RSC should be easy to request a different language

[Rolexken]

And the humble Seiko 5 has a dual language day wheel…..

[Incroyable12]

The rarity of some of these foreign language Day-Dates seems to suggest that many people don't order them.

When was the last time anyone saw a Latin or Ethiopian Day-Date in the wild or even in pictures?

[11b1p]

There was a really nice thread with examples of the different languages a couple of years ago.

https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=716938

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by 11b1p

There was a really nice thread with examples of the different languages a couple of years ago.

https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=716938

Nice find

[PepsiBezel]

Interesting… I guess the language choices are a product of an era (i.e., “Persian”) and where Rolex must have had or envisioned some market at that time.

If they were to add to the 26, my bets would be on Hindi and Korean.

[dshin525]

I would love to get a day date in Korean.

[watchmaker]

Unfortunately the 3255 only comes in 8 languages.

English, French, German, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Danish.

I have no doubt more will be added as time goes on. But the full selection that the 3155 has is not (yet) available.

[Incroyable12]

Originally Posted by HarryFlashman

Interesting… I guess the language choices are a product of an era (i.e., “Persian”) and where Rolex must have had or envisioned some market at that time.

If they were to add to the 26, my bets would be on Hindi and Korean.

The Shah of Iran had a special Rolex Day-Date made especially for him in platinum, the reference 1831. The irony is that the date discs were in English.

https://le-monde-edmond.com/rolex-18...-of-day-dates/

[PepsiBezel]

Originally Posted by Incroyable12

The Shah of Iran had a special Rolex Day-Date made especially for him in platinum, the reference 1831. The irony is that the date discs were in English.

https://le-monde-edmond.com/rolex-18...-of-day-dates/

Cool… I had “Persian” in quotes because if Rolex were announcing that option in the 2020s they’d call it Farsi.

[Krash]

Do people actually order their local language?

I think the question should be, do people actually order something different than their language?

[SaintMickey]

Originally Posted by Incroyable12

Rolex makes calendars in 26 different languages for the Day-Date however the vast majority are in English.

Sometimes you see French, Italian, Spanish, and German. Occasionally a Portuguese one pops up. The Arab and Chinese ones command a huge premium on the secondhand market.

Has anyone here ever specified a different language when ordering a Day-Date?

Why wouldn't they. I would.

[77T]

If they could order a DD, they’d be pretty special at their AD.

Only the .02%’ers would do it - I think the other 99.98%’ers buy their DD in the mother tongue.


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[Incroyable12]

Put it another way--in the past did anyone ever order a different language from English?

Given all the used Day-Dates that have come onto the market, very few of them seem to have anything other than English.