The steel reference builds white one way and every two-metal reference at this size builds it two. At 36mm a white dial comes with applied markers on nine references and with Roman numerals on twenty, and the ones offering both are the gold-bearing cases; here only the numerals are made. Reference 126200 is the 36mm Datejust in stainless steel, carrying a domed bezel, and this configuration pairs a plain white dial with a full set of Roman numerals and an Oyster bracelet. It is the plainest watch in the plainest reference the model builds at this size, and that is a description rather than a complaint.
The case is thirty-six millimeters in steel throughout, with a domed bezel rather than a fluted or set one. Steel is the only case at this size built with a single rim: the two warm combinations each come domed, fluted and set with diamonds, the white gold combination fluted and set, and this reference domed and nothing else. A domed bezel is a smooth curve with no cut in it, so it holds one broad reflection and reads as a continuation of the case rather than as a separate component. That is the reason the domed rim is the one steel gets: a fluted bezel exists to catch light and break it, which is a gesture that makes more sense in gold than in the same metal as the rest of the watch. The dial is a plain white, flat and even, with polished Roman numerals standing at the hours. On a steel watch there is no second metal to set them apart, so the dial separates from the case by value and the numerals separate from the dial by reflection alone. The Oyster is built from three-piece links with broad brushed sections at the outside of every link, and on this configuration the brushed steel of the bracelet and the polished characters on the dial are the two extremes the watch works between. That narrow range is the whole visual argument of a steel Datejust: with no second metal available, every distinction on the watch has to be made by finish, and the difference between a brushed surface and a polished one is the only contrast the design has to work with.
Hours, minutes, running seconds and a date changing in one step at midnight rather than easing into the following day. The self-winding movement in the 36mm case holds roughly seventy hours of running time, the same reserve the 41mm cases carry and considerably more than the smaller ones. The date sits at three under a magnifying lens and takes a position that would otherwise hold a numeral, so the Roman set runs to ten characters. On a white ground the window is nearly continuous with the dial around it and only the frame marks the break. Roman numerals identify their own positions rather than merely marking them, so the dial can be read from the characters without reference to the hands, and on a white ground with polished characters the contrast is high enough that this works in any light. At thirty-six millimeters the set is smaller than at 41mm and larger than at 31mm, which puts it in the middle of the three sizes the model builds and gives the characters enough room without opening the dial out. The seventy hours belong to the current generation of this case and are the specification most likely to be noticed without being looked for, since the movement before it would not survive a weekend in a drawer.
The steel reference is the narrowest at this size. It carries seven grounds against nine on each Everose combination, ten on each yellow one and fourteen on each white gold one, and it sets none of them; every gem-set dial at 36mm sits on a case with gold in it, and the same holds for every other size the model builds. The nine references at this size divide one per metal and bezel with nothing repeated, and steel is the only one of the four metals built with a single rim. White itself carries no metal preference anywhere in the range, appearing at eight case sizes from 28mm to 44mm on cases in steel, in all three two-metal combinations and in solid gold in every tone, which is more reach than any other ground the catalogue offers. What changes is the marker set, and at this size the split runs by metal: applied markers exist only on the gold-bearing cases and this reference builds the numerals alone. Counting both bracelets, a white dial in steel at this size therefore exists in two watches, which is the smallest field any ground occupies on any reference in the family. None of the seven grounds this reference builds carries stones, and each is offered on either bracelet, which keeps the reference simpler than most in the collection.
This is the least decorated watch the model builds at this size, and for a large number of buyers it is the point of the model rather than the entry to it. One metal, one rim, one dial color, no stones and a marker set that carries the hours by name. Nothing about it will look different in ten years than it does now, which is the practical argument for a steel Datejust with a white dial and the reason the configuration has survived essentially unchanged for decades. It is also the version most often bought as a first serious watch, and the one least likely to be regretted. Anyone who wants applied markers on this ground will have to move to a two-metal reference, since the steel one does not build them. Anyone who wants a fluted or set rim will have to do the same. And anyone who wants more warmth at the wrist should take the Jubilee, which is the only other decision this reference leaves open once the dial has been chosen.
