Sky-Dweller is an unusual watch, now available in Rolesor, the name that Rolex give to the use of gold and steel together in the same watch. In this piece, the bezel, crown, and centre bracelet links are made in yellow gold. Other parts are in 904L steel. In another version, the combination is between white…
The Sea-Dweller by Rolex is a classic diving watch, but the question is, why buy the Sea-Dweller that costs more than its main competitor, the Rolex Submariner? The answer is that the Sea-Dweller looks larger and tougher, with the dramatic serrations on the rotating bezel, and the technical feel of the case with its helium…
In 2017, Rolex introduced a new version of the classic Cosmograph Daytona in yellow gold with a champagne-colour dial and black subdials. Rolex has its own foundry and so can personalize the colour of its gold according to the proportions of metals in the alloy. The watch is 40 mm in diameter, with screw-in caseback,…
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual Yacht-Master II is the perfect example of the Rolex way: gradual modifications to an existing model, improving functionality and appearance. The 2017 Yacht-Master II doesn’t have all that much that is new – a triangular hour marker at 12 o’clock, a rectangular hour marker at 6 o’clock, new hour and minute…
The Rolex Explorer continues the long tradition of tough timepieces that began in the 1930s, when several Himalayan expeditions used Rolex Oyster watches. They accompanied the 1953 Everest expedition as well, and it was in that year that Rolex launched the Explorer, with all the rugged characteristics that had been developed up until then. In…
The Yacht-Master by Rolex, first introduced in 1992, has always been a luxury watch as opposed to a tool watch. The bi-directional rotating bezel can be used for timing events very approximately, in other words, to the nearest minute for events lasting 15 minutes or less (if you’re interested in this sort of functionality, there…
With the new 2016 version of the Pearlmaster in pink Everose gold, you get all the Rolex hallmarks – the Oyster case with screw-down solid caseback and crown, 100 metres water resistance, the Rolex calibre 3235 self-winding movement providing 70 hours power reserve, and Superlative Chronometer certification, a precision of around -2/+2 seconds max deviation…
Several of Rolex’s new watch versions this year (2016) are hallmarked by Rolesor, their trademark combination of stainless steel and gold in case and bracelet that provides a distinctive appearance and has a touch of austerity when compared to the all-gold versions. In other words, they’re not so expensive, reflecting the general drift of things…
The Rolex Datejust 41 is a classic, and the 2016 models have been slightly revisited in design. Six versions provide a choice between the gold colour, yellow or Everose pink, the bracelet design, dial colours and hour markers. With their dual gold and steel colour scheme, they are showy watches, unmistakable: you can choose between…
The 2016 version of the Cellini Dual Time by Rolex has a brown guilloché dial, and a subdial at 6 o’clock showing the time for a second time-zone. (Of course, you can still purchase the Cellini Dual Time in its previous silver-colour and black dial versions). Though the subdial has hour and minute hands, it…
As I’m allergic to date windows that break up the symmetry of the dial, are too small to be practical, or that are included just because a third-party movement includes the date function, this watch can only make me happy. With Cellini, Rolex lets you choose whether to have a date indication on your watch…
Cellini is Rolex’s dress watch, so without the Oyster case, but with great elegance, symmetry and simplicity. The new 2016 version has a redesigned white enamel dial, with elongated hour markers that are interrupted by the minute track, so that the hour hand corresponds to the inner extremities of the batons while the minute hand…
The Rolex way is to introduce small changes every year, and the new version of the classic Rolex Cosmograph Daytona is no exception. The watch has a long history: it was first introduced in 1963. This year’s major difference with respect to the 2015 all-steel Daytona is the black Cerachrom bezel, which is tough, smart,…
A new pilot’s watch from Rolex! The Rolex Air-King has some of the characteristics of classic pilot’s watches, such as the black dial, the generous SuperLuminova on hands and numerals, high resistance to magnetic fields, and the white triangle at 12 o’clock. But, as it’s a Rolex, it also differs significantly from the usual pilot’s…
This detail from the trailer of Solace, starring Anthony Hopkins, Colin Farrell and Abbie Cornish, shows a watch that plays a significant though brief role in the plot: psychic doctor John Clancy, played by Hopkins, realizes that he is up against a serial killer with the same sort of paranormal talents when he finds, on…
This gem.-set Rolex Pearlmaster 39 iin yellow gold is a limited-edition watch, not in the catalogue of new products for 2015 but presented at Baselworld. It has 60 graded baguette stones around the bezel, and the dial is completely paved with diamonds. The Pearlmaster bracelet is also set with diamonds on the two narrow link…
At Baselworld 2015, Rolex introduced four new 39-mm watches in the Cellini Time collection. Cellini is Rolex’s dress watch, and with these new models it just got dressier, in white or Everose gold, with (for the first time for Cellini) a single or double diamond-set bezel. The versions with single diamond-set bezel has a row…
In these super-bling models by Rolex, new this year is the size, 39 mm, and the automatic calibre 3235, which is chronometer-certified by COSC and then tested in-case by Rolex. It attains a precision of +2/-2 secs per day, which is double the COSC standard (+4/-4) and has a power reserve of 70 hours, so…
This is the entry-level Rolex, and the remarkable thing is its price: £3,750 for the 39 mm version, and £3,400 for the smaller versions. This year there are new colours and five sizes. Case and dial The Oyster Perpetual is a direct descendant of the first Oyster launched in 1926, and so it has the…
The Rolex Yacht-Master was first introduced in 1992, a development of the Sumariner: it has the same sort of aesthetics, but it is not a diving watch, and so it has a bidirectional bezel, and a water resistance of 100 metres. As the name suggests, its theoretical audience is for yachtsmen rather than divers. The…