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…
The DateJust 28 by Rolex replaces the previous 26 mm model, and shares some aesthetic developments with the men’s Day-Date 40. It is available in a wide range, all in precious metals, 950 platinum, yellow gold or Everose gold. The incredible degree of vertical integration achieved by Rolex – which casts its metals in its…
Company profile: Rolex reflects the vision of one man. Hans Otto Wilhelm Wilsdorf was born in Kulmbach, Bavaria, on 22 March 1881; by the age of 12 he had become an orphan. His first job was an apprenticeship in a pearl export company with a worldwide sales network: Wilsdorf himself acknowledged that what he learnt…
As per its usual style, with the Day-Date 40 Rolex is doing what it always does and making it better. There are some changes in the dial and bracelet, some important changes in the movement, but it is still the classic day-date pattern originally introduced in 1956, in the waterproof Oyster case, with self–winding movement…
Rolex don’t make grand complication watches. They don’t make perpetual calendars, or minute repeaters, or tourbillon watches. They are not the oldest watch brand. Why, then, is Rolex so famous, probably the only mechanical watch brand that could be named by just about everyone? Its reputation has been studied by the Reputation Institute that compiles…
“You know, former SAS types with easy smiles and expensive watches…” she says, looking at his wrist where a watch is concealed under a French cuff. “Rolex?” James Bond replies, “Omega.” “Beautiful,” she says. This is a fragment of the dialogue between James Bond and Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale. Particularly significant because it reflects…
The answer to this sort of “crimewatch” question is fairly obvious, at least to judge from the latest selection of reports on watch thefts around the world. On a Saturday afternoon in mid November 2014, thieves broke into a jewellery store in St Paul, Minnesota, and stole about $300,000 worth of Rolex watches, using hammers…
Green is the colour of jade and amethyst and so it often appears on jewellery watches. But there are a few men’s watches made in this colour, and they immediately become very distinctive items purely because probably about 90% of all watches sold are predominantly silvery. So let’s take a look at these ten green…
In the vast range of watches, one of the things that you can choose is how many hands it has. From the serene simplicity of just a single hand to the complications with ten or more, here is a quick journey with a selection of watches in order of number of hands. This also reflects…
You can’t talk about Tudor without talking about Rolex. Tudor was formed by Rolex specifically to make cheaper watches, and therefore cover the market segment below. It’s an area where a lot of battles are being fought, with new brands appearing right down at the entry level (such as SevenFriday), brands that are quietly expanding…
A gold Rolex that belonged to President Eisenhower will be auctioned in September 2014, with an estimated value of $1 million. Part of the Raleigh DeGeer Amyx collection, it will be auctioned by RR Auction in Boston. The watch, an Oyster Perpetual Datejust on a Jubilee bracelet, was the 150,000th piece manufactured by Rolex, and…