I had a feeling that the stone dial would be among the new products this year. But never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that Rolex would make an emoji watch.

Let me stop here and explain. Rolex released several Day-Date watches for this year’s watch show, but what made the whole trade show buzz was that the Day-Date shows neither the date nor the day of the week.

The Day-Date 36 watch
In its place is a disc that includes seven inspirational words, which are the date inside the curved aperture usually located at 12 o’clock: “Joy”, “Eternity”, “Gratitude”, “Peace”, “Faith”, “Love” and “Hope”. The date window at 3 o’clock, traditionally known as the display date (which feels like saying the sky is blue and the sun is hot, but I have a good reason for that) that now displays one of 31 emoji. These include a kissy face, a four-leaf clover, a figure-eight ball, a heart, a peace symbol, and the Rolex crown (petitioning Apple on behalf of the watch world to make it the official emoji).

Available in white and yellow gold, this watch has a turquoise dial base or Everose with an orange base. Both dials include a multi-colored puzzle pattern that is almost as surprising and random as the emoji. There are 10 iridescent baguette-cut sapphire indices that match the puzzle. All of this is, of course, mounted on a presidential strap.

Day-Date 36
If you’re like me, you probably need to let the shock subside before you form a clear opinion about this replica luxury watches. So let’s talk about the stone dial and take a minute to breathe, reorganize, and realign our brains.

I was lucky enough to try on the carnelian dial in yellow gold today. I had one of those moments where I imagined Malaika 2.0 living the good life and owning this watch.

I would wear it on a warm spring evening, sitting by the pool at the Hotel Colombe D’or in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, sipping champagne and enjoying the enchanting scent of jasmine and fig trees. Another fantasy was to wear it on the yacht I rented to take me from Ibiza to Formentera. The dial and diamonds would catch the sunlight and glow orange against the aquamarine water after a successful and elegant dive off the boat. Hell, maybe I just wore it while walking around New York City in a t-shirt and jeans, but it felt like my carnelian dial Day-Date mattered.

Rolex Day-Date 36 Carnelian Dial
The new Day-Date is equipped with the 3255 movement, which includes the patented Chronergy escapement. This escapement is made of nickel-phosphorus and is resistant to strong magnetic fields. The movement is equipped with a blue Parachrom hairspring, made by Rolex from a paramagnetic alloy, which is extremely stable in the face of temperature variations and is highly resistant to shocks. The oscillator is mounted on a patented high-performance Paraflex shock absorber designed by Rolex, which increases the resistance of the movement. The oscillating weight is now fitted with an optimized ball bearing.

Okay, take a deep breath. We’ve gotten pretty technical. I think we’re ready to go back to emoji luxury replica watches.

It’s quirky and borders on crazy, so much so that when I look at it I can’t tell if I’m picturing the watch in my head because of the cross-continental time difference. Usually, that feeling is reserved for brands like Richard Mille (as loyal Hodinkee readers will know, which recently released its own emoji watch).

Rolex Day-Date 36
I tried everything I could to keep this watch from being a bad joke about the “Live and Laugh Love” logo on your wrist. Honestly, it does have more depth to it than the typical suburban millennial mom who rubs crystals and keeps a gratitude journal. Sure, it’s quirky, but it’s a sign of the times.

If Rolex releases a Day-Date with an emoji, then we’ve officially entered a new frontier in the world of watchmaking. Ben Kramer joked about a collector who called the watch a production line for the brand. From now on, we’ll look at Rolex’s releases as pre-emoji or post-emoji.