One ground on this reference is offered two ways and the other seven are not. White comes with applied markers or with a full set of Roman numerals; bright black, champagne, silver and olive green each come one way, slate takes an arrangement built for it alone, and the two set dials carry no markers at all. Reference 126303 is the 41mm Datejust in a combination of stainless steel and yellow gold, carrying a smooth bezel, and this configuration pairs a plain white dial with a full set of Roman numerals and an Oyster bracelet. It is the only place on the reference where the marker set is actually a choice.
The dial is a plain white, flat and even, with gold Roman numerals standing at the hours. This is the highest-contrast unset combination the reference offers after black: white and gold separate completely in any light, where gold on champagne separates by height and shadow and gold on silver by a narrower margin still. A Roman numeral also holds more metal in the same footprint than an applied baton does, so a full set puts a considerable amount of warm metal inside the crystal on a dial that otherwise contains none, and that is what keeps the configuration from reading as a steel watch. On the applied-marker version of the same dial there is noticeably less gold under the crystal, and the watch reads cooler as a result even though every other component is identical. The case is forty-one millimeters with a yellow gold bezel, crown and center links, and the rim is smooth rather than fluted, holding the gold as one unbroken band. The Oyster is built from three-piece links with the gold as a single continuous center line between broad flat sections of brushed steel; it is stiffer across its width than a five-piece link, so it holds a fixed curve and the watch sits squarer on the wrist rather than following it. A larger case carries more weight, and a bracelet bending less spreads that weight across less of the arm, which is why an Oyster tends to wear exactly its stated size while the Jubilee wears slightly smaller.
Hours, minutes, running seconds and a date changing in one step at midnight. The self-winding movement in the 41mm case holds roughly seventy hours of running time, from a movement built for this diameter rather than shared with the smaller cases, and it covers a weekend off the wrist with the watch still running on Monday. The date sits at three under a magnifying lens and takes a position that would otherwise carry a numeral, so the Roman set runs to ten characters rather than eleven. On a white ground the window is less disruptive than on any other dial the reference builds, since a white date disc against a white ground is nearly continuous with it and only the frame marks the interruption. At forty-one millimeters the characters are printed larger than the same set at any smaller size, and a full Roman set is a crowded thing on a small dial and an open one on a large one. Between the pale ground, the extra room and the fact that the numerals identify their own positions, this is the most straightforwardly legible watch the reference builds. The seventy hours belong to the same generation as the case and are the specification most likely to be noticed without being looked for, since the movement that came before it would not survive a weekend in a drawer.
White carries no metal preference anywhere in the range, which is true of no other ground the catalogue builds. It is built at 28mm, 31mm, 34mm, 36mm, 40mm, 41mm, 42mm and 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 varies is the marker set, and at this size the split runs by metal: the four references that are not Everose offer white both ways while the two Everose ones build only the Roman version. Within this reference white is one of eight grounds and one of six carrying no stones, since only bright black and champagne are offered set here. The family is arranged in twinned pairs, each warm metal combination built once smooth and once fluted on an identical roster, while the steel reference exists only smooth and the white gold combination only fluted. The fluted twin 126333 builds this dial identically, which leaves the rim as the whole difference between the two watches. Counting both bracelets and both marker sets, white in this metal at this size runs to eight watches, more than any other ground the reference builds, which is a fair reflection of how the ground behaves everywhere else in the catalogue as well.
This is the plainest watch the reference builds and the one a buyer arrives at by wanting nothing in particular. A white dial, gold numerals, a smooth rim and the more restrained of the two bracelets is about as conventional as a two-metal Datejust gets, and conventional at this size means legible, unfussy and difficult to date. The one decision in it is the marker set, since this is the only ground on the reference offering a choice, and taking the numerals over the batons is a decision about how much gold belongs on the dial. Anyone who wants less should take the applied-marker version, built on this same reference. Anyone who wants more warm metal across the wrist should take the Jubilee. And anyone who wants the rim to add a pattern should take the fluted twin 126333, which builds all four of those white configurations under a cut bezel.
