Against all odds, Rolex came with a whole collection!

Text: Britta Rossander

As is known, a Chinese virus tripped up the whole watch industry this spring and for that matter many other industries too. Basel's and Geneva's fairs were cancelled. Geneva Watch Days was moved and several brands announced that they would not present any novelties in 2020. So judge our surprise when the rumour took off in late summer that Rolex had something going on. They had after all been firm that they would not show anything. Eqotime’s Britta Rossander has taken a deep dive down among the novelties from Rolex.

D-day was set for the first of September but travelling to Geneva was impossible for me because of Corona. My fantastic contacts at Rolex solved that and carried out the first video presentation for a journalist they have ever done. A team with face masks had rigged up what was needed in a conference room so that the presentation could be carried out – and it went perfectly.

A completely new collection

What I thought would be one reference – maybe a couple of variants turned out to be a whole collection with 16 references: four Oyster Perpetual Submariner (1 Oyster Perpetual and 3 Oyster Perpetual Date), four Datejust 31 mm, two Oyster Perpetual 41 mm, five Oyster Perpetual 36 mm and one Sky-Dweller.

Throughout you can say that all the models are upgrades of existing models (as it usually is). At Rolex there is after all a constant and quite cautious adaptation of the models to a more ”upp to date” form and content, without changing the original design. A more comfortable fit, a more ”sleek” silhouette, size, a more elegant transition between case and bracelet for those with metal bracelets is some of what has been looked over. To this comes of course updated movements.

A detail I am particularly fond of is the little Rolex crown between the words Swiss and Made below 6 o'clock. I think it is two years since they introduced it, but do correct me if I am wrong. Fine it is regardless.

Submariner

Most eye-catching are the Oyster Perpetual Submariner-models, Ref. 124060 (without date) and Submariner Date Ref. 126610 (with date). They replace the existing models and have been given a case of 41mm which is up 1 mm plus rebuilt bracelets. Surely popular with those who like big watches. But maybe not that much bigger in practice since the lugs have become narrower and the case therefore seems more slimmed down than the slightly boxy predecessor.

They have new movements, calibre 3230 for the Submariner and calibre 3235 for the Submariner Date, both with 70 hours of power reserve compared with the earlier 48. During recent years Rolex has gradually updated the calibres in all their watches and it was last done on the Submariner eight years ago. Datejust, Yacht-Master and Sea-Dweller already have 3235, now it was high time for the Submariner to get it in the case. When the first Submariner came in 1953 it was water resistant to 100 m, in 1969 it got a date and became tight to 200 m, in 1979 that was developed to 300 m which still applies.

The new Submariner in Oystersteel has a black dial and a rotating bezel in matching Cerachrom. A really potent classic without frills.

The version in Rolesor (a combination of Oystersteel and yellow gold) of the Submariner Date has a royal blue dial with a matching bezel. The markings on the ring are in gold, likewise the crown, and it has a very ”Swedish” look.

Two ”white” versions of the Submariner Date exist, one in Oystersteel and the other in white gold, both with black dials where the one for white gold is lacquered. What makes it possible to tell them apart from a distance is the colour of the bezel, for steel it is a trendy forest green and for white gold it is bright blue. That colour together with the black dial is very stylish.

Sky-Dweller

The gold nugget in the collection is Ref. 326238 a golden Sky-Dweller, with a rubber strap in Oysterflex, something we have previously only seen on pure sports models. This combination phases out earlier Sky-Dwellers with leather straps. Yellow gold with a black dial has Ref. 326238 and there is also Everose gold with a brown dial Ref. 326235 or a white dial Ref. 326235. The case of 42 mm is untouched and the model, which was released in 2012, is still Rolex's most complicated watch so far with calibre 9001 (two time zones, date, month and annual calendar).

Oyster Perpetual

I also got to see the new Oyster Perpetual-models with cases of both 41 mm and 36 mm. They have been given a new more elegant design, the previous one was from 2014. 

Ref. 124300 in Oystersteel with a dial in silver or a black sunray treated surface, are handsome. My absolute favourite is the one with a silver dial – more ”classy” than that it can hardly get. You have to go back to the 1960s to find a silver coloured sunray dial on an Oyster Perpetual and it is a huge plus that they have taken it up again. In the case sits calibre 3230, with 70 hours of reserve reserve and this version replaces the watches with 39 mm from 2015.

Oyster Perpetual Ref. 126000 36 mm – a lively bunch of watches with dials partly in Dolly Style-inspired colous such as candyfloss pink and light turquoise but also forest green, canary yellow, coral red – all are equipped with calibre 3230.

Rolex has after all a history of daring to use strong colours both for dials and stones. This series is deliciously invigorating and imagine how handsome it would be if the retailers get access to all the colours and can display them together. 

Datejust

Oyster Perpetual Datejust 31 mm in Rolesor (Oystersteel and white gold). Best in that series is of course the one with an aubergine coloured sunray dial and 46 brilliant cut diamonds. On the Roman numerals for 6 o'clock sit another 11 glittering stones. The three other versions are with a green dial and baton shaped indices, a white lacquered dial with Roman numerals and a dark grey dial with baton indices. Hands, index markers and Roman numerals are in white gold. The calibre is 2236 with 55 hours of power reserve and they are water resistant to 100 m. The links have a so-called comfort extension of 5 mm.

Availability

Interesting is that Rolex pointed out that they like so many others have had to carry out a temporary shutdown of production because of Corona. This has limited the capacity and therefore demand can become greater than what they have time to make and availability can for certain models (read Submariner…) become limited. They are careful to add that their new watches are sold exclusively by official Rolex retailers who receive regular deliveries. Then it is these who themselves handle the allocation and sale of watches to their customers.