Rolex made a few types of wood dials over the years (5 that I know of), and here's my attempt to showcase them all. Thanks to Clay (miamiclay), David (crowncollection) and Bas (searchart) for all their helpful info in
this thread.
The first wood dials appeared in the early 1970's on Day-Date 1800 series models. According to
Amsterdam Watch Co, "wood dials in the 1803 reference Day-dates are extremely rare...In addition, these wood dials were unlacquered and very prone to cracking."
Usually, dials for 1800 Day-Dates are "pie pan" dials with a step down around the minute track; that's not the case with these. While the wood type isn't known for sure, it's sometimes listed as
sequoia:
The straight-grain-maybe-sequoia dial was the only wood option on the 180x Day-Date, and the only wood dial Rolex ever made that wasn't burlwood.
The burlwood dials began with the 18000 series of Day-Dates. Burlwood isn't a specific type of wood/tree; it refers to wood from burls (knots near the trunk) of any tree. The pattern of each burlwood dial is unique. Rolex used 4 kinds of burlwood:
Birch:
African mahogany:
Walnut:
Madrona (a.k.a. "madrone"):
Madrona may have replaced mahogany in the 1980's. Mahogany, birch, and walnut are all known to be mentioned in official Rolex catalogs but
this ad only mentions madrona, birch, and walnut. According to Bas, those three are all still available from RSC, so Rolex likely ran out of mahogany at some point.
I've seen a couple
Rolexes listed with supposed "oak dials" but I think it's likely those are actually walnut or mahogany. If you ever see a "briar root" dial, it's probably just
a birch dial that's mis-labeled.
Vilicich Watch asserts that this pressed wood dial is original but I think it's likely aftermarket:
Some collectors are under the impression that wood dials ended in the 1980's, but this catalog pic proves that the final wood dial, walnut, lasted into the early 2000's:
If I've gotten any of this wrong or forgotten any kinds of wood dials, please let me know.
