A gray ground is the one that shows the numerals and the stones at the same time, since a warm dial swallows one or the other and this one does not swallow either of them. That makes it the most legible of the additive dials by quite some way. Legibility is not usually the reason people pick slate. Rolex retired the Datejust 278271, and the gem-set slate dials were scarce at retail right throughout its run.

An Oystersteel case of 31 mm sits under a fluted Everose gold bezel, on the five-piece Jubilee with Everose center links. Roman numerals ring the slate dial at every hour, with eleven brilliant-cut diamonds set into it alongside them. Plain baton hands cross above them both as the watch runs beneath them. The date sits at three under the Cyclops lens, and a concealed clasp closes the Jubilee.

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