At this size the flutes are only ever cut into gold. Three of the six references carry a fluted rim and all three are two-metal watches with a gold bezel; the steel one is built with a smooth rim and nothing else, so a fluted 41mm Datejust is a gold-bezel watch by definition rather than by choice. Reference 126331 is the 41mm Datejust in a combination of stainless steel and Everose gold, carrying a fluted bezel, and this configuration pairs a bright black dial with a full set of Roman numerals and an Oyster bracelet. It is the darkest dial the reference builds under the brightest rim it offers.
Fluting is a machining operation rather than an applied decoration: the rim is cut into a repeating series of angled facets, so a single band of gold becomes a ring of alternating highlights and shadows that changes continuously as the wrist moves. A smooth bezel in the same metal holds one broad reflection and reads as a solid band. The difference matters most against a dial that is itself reflective, and bright black lacquer is exactly that. The ground is glossy rather than brushed or sunray, closer to a mirror than to a surface, and it returns the room rather than diffusing the light falling on it. So the watch has two reflective systems working at different scales, a coarse one at the rim in warm metal and a fine flat one under the crystal in black. Gold Roman numerals stand on the dial at the hours, and against black lacquer they are the highest contrast the reference can produce. The Oyster is built from three-piece links with the gold running as one continuous center line between broad flat sections of brushed steel, and those brushed sections are the only matte surface anywhere on the watch. Their job here is relief: with a cut rim and a mirrored dial, the bracelet is the one place the eye can rest, which is why it suits this dial better than the Jubilee does. A three-piece link is also stiffer across its width than a five-piece one, so the bracelet holds a fixed curve and the watch sits squarer on the wrist rather than following it.
Hours, minutes, running seconds and a date advancing in a single step at midnight rather than easing over into the day that follows. 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 that reserve covers a weekend off the wrist with room to spare. The date sits at three under a magnifying lens and takes the position a numeral would otherwise occupy, so the Roman set runs to ten characters rather than eleven; ten still name their own positions, so nothing about the layout depends on the missing one. Legibility on this dial is a question of light rather than of design. Gold on black is the strongest contrast pairing the reference offers and the numerals read easily in most conditions, but lacquer returns its source rather than scattering it, so in direct sun the surface flares and the characters wash out until the wrist turns. The fluted rim contributes to that, since it is throwing its own highlights back across the crystal at the same time. In ordinary indoor light none of this applies and the dial is among the easiest in the family to read. The seventy hours are the other specification worth knowing about this generation, since the case that preceded it held substantially less and the difference is felt on a Monday rather than read off a page.
On this reference the marker set is decided by whether the ground was made for the metal. Chocolate and sundust were developed alongside the Everose alloy and take applied markers; bright black, mint green and white are borrowed from the wider range and take Roman numerals; slate takes an arrangement of its own with a baton at nine. The four references at this size that are not Everose invert that, offering the three borrowed grounds with applied markers instead, so a black dial with numerals at 41mm identifies an Everose case on its own. Across the range bright black is not built in the small cases at all: it starts at 31mm and runs through 36mm, 40mm, 41mm and 42mm on twenty-nine references, with Roman numerals only at 31mm, applied markers only at 40mm and 42mm, and a split by metal at the two sizes in between. Within this reference it is one of eight grounds and one of six with no stones, since only chocolate and sundust are offered set. The smooth twin 126301 carries the identical eight, which leaves the rim as the whole of the difference between the two references. Counting both bracelets, that puts a black lacquer dial with numerals in this metal into four watches at this size and no more.
This suits a buyer who wants the decoration on the outside of the watch and the seriousness on the inside. A cut gold rim is the most ornamental element the 41mm family builds, since no reference at this size carries a bezel set with diamonds, and putting it around a plain black dial with numerals keeps the ornament where it can be seen without letting it into the face. Anyone who wants the rim quieter should take the smooth twin 126301, which builds this exact dial. Anyone who wants more of the gold in view should take the Jubilee version of this configuration, where the metal is broken into three strips across the wrist rather than running as a single line. And anyone who wants the same combination without the reflections should take the slate, which is a sunray ground and never returns the light source the way lacquer does.
