Rolex anniversaries 2023 – Daytona, Submariner & Explorer

Text: Filip Ericsson

A good number of anniversaries within the watch industry are crystallising during 2023. Rolex is no exception and celebrates a full three of them. The racing chronograph Daytona turns 60 while the diver's watch Submariner as well as the instrument watch Explorer celebrate 70. Eqotime recounts the history and ponders how Rolex may come to celebrate its famous anniversary models.  

I usually say that Rolex is the watches' equivalent of Mercedes. They build everything from pure work vehicles to iconic luxury and supersports cars. Always expensive, but attainable for very many ordinary mortals if they strive and prioritise. So, like Rolex. They build everything from hard-wearing instruments for professionals to hideously expensive jewellery watches for the rich and famous.  

Rolex was founded in 1905 and already in 1926 the seed was sown that would pave the way for an outstanding future of legendary instrument watches – the introduction of the Rolex Oyster. It was the world's first waterproof watch, according to Rolex themselves. 

In 1933 they made a big thing of the fact that the participants in the world's first expedition to fly over Mount Everest wore Oyster watches. Twenty years later, in 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay finally reached the top of the same mountain, and along on the journey were indeed Oysters. Whether they wore them during the successful summit attempt is however a matter of divided opinion.  

The three anniversary models of the day are all descendants of these instrument watches from the first half of the 20th century and strongly radiate the aura that the company once created around them, whose myth and magic they seem to have given eternal life. 

Explorer 70 years 

The same year as the Everest feat, the Rolex Explorer (ref. 6150/6350) was released. It was based on the Oyster Perpetual but was endowed with a more no-nonsense dial in black and with stronger illumination properties. The Explorer was just as shock resistant and waterproof as its Oyster brother and thereby ready for all sorts of exertions that the adventurers of the time could come up with. 

At the same time it was still elegant enough to work just as well with the suit at the office as on the top of a mountain. It is hardly a coincidence that the main character in the cult series Mad Men, Donald Draper, wears precisely an Explorer. 

The Rolex Explorer got company from the more outgoing Explorer II in 1971, where mainly a larger case and a second time zone with a 24-hour scale on the bezel of the latter set them apart. Both models have since existed in parallel in the Rolex programme right up until today. 

Today we focus on the simpler original Explorer which design-wise has changed remarkably little over its 70 years. Technically it has of course been renewed a number of times over the decades, where modernised movements and improved water resistance have constituted the main advances. 

Perhaps the most important reference number among Explorer enthusiasts is 1016 which came in 1960 and which came to be manufactured for a full 30 years, up until 1989. Now Rolex's own "Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified" was introduced, a more ambitious precision guarantee than the "ordinary" chronometer certificate.  

This was achieved with a new movement (Caliber 1560) while a series of smaller updates were carried out during the coming decades before the model was relieved at the end of the 1980s. 

With the 1989 update (ref. 14270) the Explorer got sapphire crystal and a more luxuriously executed dial with more lavish indicators and a more glossy surface. A new movement in the form of the Caliber 3000 completed the whole thing. In 2001 yet another updated movement was introduced in the form of the Caliber 3130, which just as always came to spread to the whole Rolex programme. 

In 2010 the Explorer was renewed once again (ref. 214270) when the case was enlarged from the classic 36mm to 39mm, a revolution measured in Explorer terms one can probably claim. Many purists kicked back, a genuine Explorer should be 36mm according to many, while others held that a modern men's watch probably works better with larger measurements. Everyone gets to decide their own standpoint.  

The latest generational change happened as late as 2021 (ref. 124270) which once again raised Rolex-savvy eyebrows. The Explorer namely then returned to its original 36mm and could moreover be had with a case in steel and gold, for the first time since the 1960s. 

That watches are shrinking is something of a trend in the watch industry today. It was as if the market had had enough of the eternal case swelling, and the undersigned is one of those who cheers every time it happens. 

That a new watch model shrinks from an already modest 39mm to 1950s-ish 36mm is however almost a sensation. Initially I pinched my own arm but then the pieces started falling into place. 

One thought could be that Rolex has a number of sports watches in the programme that all measure between 40 and 42mm, and that the Explorer sort of disappeared in the crowd. Perhaps they thought that the good range allows them to push the boat out with the Explorer and make something really orthodox of it. That is to say, pare the case down to the original's 36mm. 

Otherwise the new Explorer is as ascetic and unassuming as always. Here all forms of refinements such as a date and a glass back are of course missing. The Explorer is immensely modest and discreet in its expression, the total opposite of the gangsta rapper's diamond-sprinkled bling-piece on the red carpet. It is stripped down like an interrogation room in East Berlin, bone dry like a Mercedes 200 Diesel. But at the same time well made and perfect in its details like a Fabergé egg.  

This is really not a luxury item but only a really good, well-made watch. It is light and inconspicuous on the arm, but still bestows great presence. The quality of the case and the steel bracelet is massive without it shining you in the eyes.  

The movement is Rolex's new Caliber 3230 which debuted in 2020, of course certified according to the brand's Superlative Chronometer norm, now with phenomenal antimagnetic properties and 70 hours of power reserve. To find an equally exact movement that moreover possesses the same reliability and lifespan is perhaps not possible.  

The list price for an Explorer in steel is at the time of writing 82 300 kronor, a considerable sum for such a basic watch while at the same time it is unclear whether it can even be bought at an authorised dealer today. The hysteria around Rolex's sports watches does not yet seem to have abated appreciably despite an approaching recession around the world.  

How then should Rolex celebrate its beloved, discreet anniversary model? With an Explorer in gold of course! A platinum variant would perhaps not be wrong either. I bet my Vostok Amphibia that it will be one of those. 

Submariner 70 years 

Perhaps it is the world's most famous watch model, Rolex's diver's watch, the so coveted and eternally young Submariner. It was not the very first (Blancpain was before) but at least one of the first modern diver's watches when it premiered during 1953. After that the Submariner has sort of remained the very definition of a diver's watch. "Iconic" is a confoundedly worn-out expression but in the Submariner's case it appears almost justified.  

The boom for recreational diving got going of course sometime during the early 50s and it was the French diving enthusiast and also Rolex board member René-Paul Jeanneret who put forward the idea of a diver's watch in the brand's palette.  

He got the board to realise that Rolex, by entering this new segment, would expand its customer base, an assumption that would prove to be more correct than anyone probably could have guessed.  

The first Submariner watch (ref. 6204) had a shape compatible with the fashion that came to dominate diver's watches during the 50s and 60s, with the classically shaped Oyster case, a black dial with clear, easy-to-read indicators plus a thin, rotating bezel in black-painted aluminium.  

The measurements were modest at 37mm in case diameter and a clearly thinner profile than today's Submariner. The water resistance was promised at 100 metres which according to Rolex made it the first wristwatch to manage that depth. Remember that the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, which was out on the market a few months before the Submariner, was meant to manage the equivalent of 91 metres (fifty fathoms).  

Inside the Submariner ticked the Rolex Caliber A260, an automatic unit with built-in shock protection. Something that visually characterises these early Submariners is incidentally the thin, "pencil-shaped" hands instead of the famous, so-called "Mercedes hands" of later times.  

Following the development of the Submariner is complicated to say the least since an uncountable number of smaller changes were made over the years, while at the same time different references were manufactured in parallel, with different case measurements and different water resistances (100m/200m). A full run-through has to be read elsewhere (it requires a whole book) but with a broad brush we shall try to pin down at least the most important changes that happened during the model's history. 

Seven different reference numbers came and went during the 1950s alone. It was a matter of small changes in the shape of the dial, bezel and crown while a new movement (Caliber 1030) came in 1956 and increased water resistance to 200 metres was introduced the same year (ref. 6538).   

This reference is well known among enthusiasts in that it is the Submariner variant that Sean Connery wore in the first Bond film from 1962. And it was not only in fiction that officers in the British armed forces wore Submariners; they were namely used by the attack divers in the Special Boat Service during the 50s and 60s.  

At the end of the 50s the Submariner got tritium-treated hands/indicators for better (and more healthy) luminescence (ref. 5508) plus protection for the crown (5512). Now the case also grew to 40mm. At the beginning of the 60s the Submariner became chronometer certified (Caliber 1560) while a non-chronometer version was marketed in parallel. 

In 1969 came the date function with its today so talked about "cyclops" eye which gave the watch a characteristic appearance as well as a magnifying glass effect over the date. The same year the Submariner also came out in gold, and now the model's inexorable journey from professional instrument to luxury goods for dry-swimming pavement folk began. 

In 1979 came the next bigger renewal (ref. 16800) when the Submariner was endowed with sapphire crystal and Rolex's patented Triplock construction for the crown. It meant a system with three O-ring gaskets to create three separate sealing zones inside the watch, which resulted in increased water resistance from 200 metres to 300 metres.  

In 1981 the Submariner got a new movement again (Caliber 3035) with Superlative Chronometer status, the bezel became rotating in one direction (previously both directions) while a more glossy dial with indicators in white gold was added. By this point the model had thus been transformed into the luxury watch that it is today.  

In 1984 came the steel/gold version (Rolesor) and in 1988 it was once again time for a new movement (Caliber 3135). These references (ref. 16610 etc.) came to be marketed for a full two decades with only small changes along the way.  

In 2009 it was thus high time for a new Submariner and it offered two main novelties: a ceramic bezel and a reworked case with a for the time fashionable, more masculine character (Maxi Case in Rolex circles). The dial too gave a beefier impression with fatter indicators and thicker hands. Still it measured however, in this context, a relatively modest 40mm. 

In 2020 it was time for the next update and it is that Submariner that is marketed today (124060 no date and 126610 date in steel). It was one of the bigger innovations in the model's history with a completely newly shaped case that has now been enlarged to 41mm but with a slightly thinner height measurement and skinnier lugs. The more graceful pen strokes undeniably give a sleeker impression than before, despite the larger diameter. 

Furthermore the new Submariner was endowed with the completely new 3230/3235 movement, the same unit that sits in the Explorer described above. A date version (3235) can however, unlike the Explorer, be had with the Submariner, as it (almost) always has been.  

The Submariner is available just as before in different variants in steel/gold, yellow gold and white gold, with a black, blue or green bezel depending on the model. The least expensive, the No Date in steel, commands 103 900 kronor according to Rolex's website. The prices have thus risen markedly in recent years and the Submariner is likely to be even harder to acquire than an Explorer. The Submariner hysteria still prevails.  

The model's 50th anniversary was celebrated (unofficially) with the "Kermit", a Submariner with a green bezel. It was incidentally followed up by the "Hulk" in 2008 which was endowed with the Maxi case and with both bezel and dial in green, an extremely sought-after model today.  

How Rolex is going to celebrate its diving 70-year-old is today unknown. Perhaps we will see a new Hulk, or why not a Submariner in platinum? A refreshing thought could otherwise be a retro Sub with a 37mm case and a lovely thin bezel in aluminium! 

Cosmograph Daytona 60 years 

Rolex has produced chronographs since the 1930s, though with movements bought in from outside for the first 70 years or so. In 1955 a sporty chronograph based on the classic Oyster case came out in the form of the Rolex Oyster Chronograph ref. 6234 and inside ticked one of the finest chronograph movements in history: the Caliber 72 from Valjoux.  

The Oyster chronograph was wound manually and had a tachymeter/telemeter scale on the dial inside the crystal like most chronographs. In 1961 an updated variant came (ref. 6238) while a Series II of it turned up the year after. This one is called by connoisseurs the Rolex "Pre-Daytona" Chronograph since its design resembled its so famous successor: the Rolex Cosmograph ref. 6239. 

It was unveiled in 1963 and in practice constitutes the first Daytona watch. That needs pointing out since it would take until 1965 before the name "Daytona" found its way onto the dial. In hindsight however even the Cosmograph watches from before 1965 have been nicknamed Daytona, also by Rolex themselves. 

Despite the name "Cosmograph", ref. 6239 was from the start developed for racing drivers' needs. The Daytona designation came about to draw attention to the brand's sponsorship of the Nascar races at Daytona Beach in Florida. Rolex had been official timekeeper for the race since 1962 and during 1964 they began handing out Cosmograph watches to the winners of the races.  

The Rolex Cosmograph measured 37mm, could be had in steel or gold and housed the same Valjoux 72 movement as before. The biggest novelty was that the tachymeter scale had now been moved out onto the bezel in the style of the Omega Speedmaster, a rarity among chronographs. The bezel was in steel and the dial in so-called panda execution.  

An updated Cosmograph (ref. 6241) came in 1966 (ref. 6240 constituted a prototype) with an improved movement in the form of the Valjoux 722. This variant is characterised by a steel bezel with a casing of black plastic. After that followed a number of smaller updates mainly to the movement, dial and bezel which rendered in further new reference numbers.  

For example the Daytona got screwed chronograph pushers for better water resistance in 1971 (ref. 6263) which increased the water resistance to 50 metres.  

In 1988 the biggest update in the model's history happened (ref. 16520) when the case grew from the original 37mm to 40mm, sapphire crystal was added and an automatic movement was introduced for the first time (Caliber 4030). It was a unit new to Rolex based on Zenith's brilliant El Primero (Caliber 400) which was however heavily modified, mainly for longer service intervals and the movement's lifespan.  

The 16520 was marketed right up until 2000 when the 116520 took over, where the big novelty was a completely new, Rolex-developed movement – the brand's first own chronograph movement. In 2016 the current version was unveiled which was endowed with a ceramic bezel. Just as before it measures 40mm across the case and is marketed in a good number of references in steel, steel/gold, yellow gold, rose gold, white gold and platinum, with different options around bracelets and dial execution.  

The base price for a Daytona in steel with a steel bracelet lies today at 168 500 kronor, but as with all steel sports watches from Rolex it is only of academic interest for most people. It is hardly going to be possible to order at authorised dealers, let alone buy over the counter, neither in Sweden nor abroad. Such is the demand. 

When the Daytona celebrated 50 years in 2013 a variant in platinum was released, a model that is still marketed. The question is what one should dare to wish for the 70th anniversary? Surely a back to basics Daytona at 37mm and a matte-lacquered steel bezel plus an upright panda dial in "Paul Newman" style would be in order!