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Rolex Revamps The Daytona, Launches New Dress Line, And Gets Downright Whimsical At Watches & Wonders 2023

We also bid a sad farewell to the niche, but beloved, Milgauss and Cellini collections, but there’s a whole new collection in town.

Jack Forster14 Min ReadMar 27 2023

I have been thinking lately that of all the blue chip brands that exhibit at Watches And Wonders (which is currently the largest it has ever been, at close to fifty exhibitors) that it’s Patek Philippe that consistently offers the most surprises, but sometimes, Rolex can throw a few curve balls too. Now, you never get anything too outlandish from Rolex – the company, after all, knows very well that its success is not built on mining the usual adjectives of the luxury watch industry (disruptive! revolutionary! avant-garde!) but instead in working steadily, year after year, at refining a core group of watches that historically have been characterized by their pragmatic good looks, pragmatic functionality and obsessive attention to quality (and to quality control. If you can make a million watches a year, every one accurate to ±2 seconds per day, you are not doing it by chance or by sheer good luck – it takes focus and attention to detail, and lots of it, to pull that off).

Still, over the years I have come to feel that on some level, Rolex enjoys upsetting expectations – I suppose one excellent case in point was the 50th anniversary edition of the Daytona, back in 2013. I think what a lot of enthusiasts were hoping for was something in steel and, hopefully, Paul Newman adjacent and what they got instead was a platinum watch, with a brown ceramic bezel and an ice-blue dial, which is a lot of things but which is also about as far from the no-nonsense pragmatism we generally associate with Rolex “Professional” models as you can get.

In that vein, we had this year some technical updates, of course, and some of Rolex’s usual careful technical and design tweaks to existing models, but we also got some new designs that were so whimsical that I am actually forced to use the word – and, rather more dramatically, we saw the demise of an entire line (two of them, come to think of it) and the introduction of an entirely new one.

The Cosmograph Daytona Gets An Across-The-Board Redesign – And A Display Back

It’s the 60th anniversary of the Daytona, and, unquestionably, the biggest news from Rolex at WWG 2023 (and therefore quite possibly the biggest news of the show) was the redesign of the Cosmograph Daytona. The changes in design are implemented across the entire line and are perhaps the most sweeping since Rolex began using Cerachrom ceramic bezels on the Daytona in 2016. These include updates to the design of the case and bezel, the design of the dial, the use of a new movement (the caliber 4131, which is an update to the 4130) and, much to my own personal surprise, and I bet that of a lot of other Rolex fans, a display back for the latest platinum model, which is the first instance I can recall of a display back not just on a Daytona, but on any Professional model (Rolex has in the past used display backs in the Cellini line).

Zoom InRolex Cosmograph Daytona Platinum

And, on at least one of the new models (18k gold, gold dial, black counters), you can now get the Oysterflex bracelet. The Oysterflex bracelet is one of the most comfortable bracelets I’ve ever worn (I had a chance to try it on a Yachtmaster back in 2015 and it only confirmed my inclination to believe that Rolex makes some of the best, if not the best, bracelets in the business). It’s made, per Rolex, of two flexible metal blades molded inside a black elastomer and it hugs the wrist like a mom cradling a newborn.

Zoom InRolex Cosmograp Daytona Oysterflex

Let’s start with the case and bezel. As we’ve mentioned, Rolex began using Cerachrom for the tachymeter bezels of Daytonas back in 2016 and in general, they represent a technical improvement over metal bezels as they won’t fade or discolor over time — on top of that, they’re essentially scratchproof. The numbers and scales on Daytona bezels are PVD coated with either platinum or yellow gold. The big change this year is that the case metal is also now used to form a thin border around the edge of the bezel, which offers both a new visual contrast and also buys a little insurance against impacts to the bezel edge. Rolex says that the case sides and lugs have been redesigned as well, to produce reflective highlights.

The biggest difference you’ll notice, though, is in the platinum model. As we’ve said, this is the first Daytona ever to have a display back, and the sapphire caseback lets you see the new caliber 4131. Technically, this appears to be identical in all key respects to the preceding caliber 4130. The 4131 uses the same  optimized geometry Chronergy escapement, in a very modern vertical clutch, column wheel controlled chronograph, along with the signature balance bridge, Parachrom blue niobium-alloy balance spring with overcoil (I have always liked the fact that for all the technical updates Rolex has rolled out over the years, it still sticks to the classic combination of a Phillips overcoil and freesprung adjustable mass balance) and Paraflex antishock system. The thing is, for all that these are terrific instances of Rolex engineering, we’ve never been able to see them in action and now we can — at least in the platinum model. The 4131 specifically has some aesthetic enhancements over the 4130, including a skeletonized gold rotor, and a Rolex variation on Geneva stripes which includes a thin polished groove in between each stripe.

Zoom InRolex Cosmograph Daytona Platinum Caseback

It’s a little early to play favorites and the idea of a platinum Daytona with a display back is extremely compelling but the Oysterflex bracelet is so exceedingly comfortable and matches a gold case so well that I suspect given a real world choice between the two, I’d have an extremely hard time deciding. The 2023 collection will have models in steel, Rolesor, gold and platinum, with US prices starting at $15,100 in steel, and going up to Price On Request for the pleasure of platinum and that display back.

The Rolex GMT-Master II in Yellow Gold And Rolesor On A Jubilee Bracelet

Yellow gold has been a part of the history of the GMT-Master right from the very beginning — you could get the 6542 in yellow gold or steel (the GMT Master was in fact the first Rolex professional model to be offered in gold, although there were some pre-Daytona chronographs offered in gold as well).

The new yellow gold and Rolesor models are technically identical to existing GMT Master II watches and they are, like their predecessors, some of the most ideal traveler’s watches ever made. They’re extremely easy, even intuitive, to use and set and in both yellow gold and Rolesor (Rolex’s name for its combinations of gold and steel) we’ve got extremely luxurious, old-school jet-setter travel timepieces for those traveling in the big seats up front (or heck, those traveling in the smaller seats in the back to save a few bucks. Just because your seat is Economy doesn’t mean your wrist has to be). Both watches are on matching Jubilee bracelets with Easylink extensions.

Zoom InRolex GMT-Master II Yellow Gold

What I think a lot of enthusiasts (or heck, just plain folk) would have loved is a root beer bezel on a yellow gold GMT Master II but who knows what the future will bring. There’s already a root beer in Everose, so …

By the way if you thought at first glance that the new GMT Masters had straight black bezels, look again – they’re actually divided into black and grey halves, a first for Rolex and for the GMT Master. Prices are $16,450 in Rolesor and $38,900 in yellow gold.

Zoom InRolex GMT-Master II Two Tone

The Yachtmaster 42 In RLX Titanium

In a way, it’s a bit strange that it took this long for a company who devotes itself so assiduously to technical excellence to make a watch in titanium, but Rolex has never been a company to rush into anything. In any case, they got there in the end: This year, Rolex has released the Yacht-Master 42 in RLX titanium, which is a titanium alloy first seen as a prototype on the wrist of sailor Ben Ainslie (that’s Sir Charles Benedict Ainsle, CBE, who is one of only three athletes to have won medals in five different Olympic games).

Zoom InRolex Yacht Master 42 RLX Titanium

The prototype was first spotted on Ainslie’s wrist during a practice session in Bermuda in 2021, and it was taken as a foregone conclusion by enthusiasts that at some point it would become a production model. Given the careful pace at which Rolex moves when it comes to introducing new models, the appearance of the full production Yachtmaster 42 RLX just two years later is relatively rapid. This is not the first series produced Rolex titanium watch – that honor goes to 2022’s Rolex Deepsea Challenge, but that particular watch, at 51.4mm in diameter, 28.5mm thick, and with a 14.3mm thick crystal (and a weight close to 400 grams) is more a sort of wrist-portable statement piece than daily-wear eligible wristwatch.

The Yachtmaster 42 RLX, on the other hand, might be the ideal daily wear watch, or at least, one incarnation of it. RLX titanium is a grade 5 alloy and has all the well known advantages of the metal for technical applications (strong, corrosion resistant, hypoallergenic and light) and in terms of sheer practicality, the watch – with the automatic caliber 3235, with a 70 hour power reserve, 100 meter water resistance and Easylink titanium bracelet – might just be the most purely practical Rolex in the current catalogue. Price, $14,050 at launch.

The Rolex Perpetual 1908

The new Rolex Perpetual 1908 is not just a new watch – it’s also the first watch in a new collection, which replaces the discontinued Cellini collection as Rolex’s line of more traditionally styled, elegant dress watches.

Zoom InRolex Perpetual 1908

The Cellini, by the way, is not the only discontinued collection – Rolex has also discontinued the Milgauss, which had been around since 1956.

However, the new 1908 line looks very promising. The first watch in the 1908 collection is simply called the Rolex Perpetual 1908 and there are echoes in its design of a somewhat obscure Rolex vintage model known as the Veriflat, reference 6512. It’s been said that the Veriflat, which was produced from 1954 to 1962, was Rolex’s answer to the Calatrava and in a sense that’s true – both are watches that were designed to reach for a certain kind of quintessential perfection in the design of a simple, time-only watch. For the Veriflat, Rolex developed a new movement, the caliber 1000, which was a slim, hand-wound, 3.45mm thin movement created by taking the rolex automatic caliber 1030 and removing the rotor.

The new 1908 likewise houses a new movement, although in this case, it’s an automatic – Rolex perpetual caliber 7140, with a 66 hour power reserve. An entirely new movement from Rolex may not be making headlines the way putting a metal rim around the bezel of the Daytona does, but it’s in a way much bigger news. The caliber 7140 runs at 28,800 vph, with the Chronergy escapement and it is one of the few Rolex movements to use Rolex’s Syloxi silicon balance spring instead of the company’s usual Parachrom Blue balance spring. The movement is visible through the 1908’s display back and its size makes it an excellent fit to the case.

Zoom InRolex Perpetual 1908 Caseback

Size is classic dress watch – 39mm x 9.50mm, 50 meters water resistant, in yellow or white gold. One lovely little detail are the observatory (observatoire) style hands, which are not often seen nowadays – they bear a superficial resemblance to Breguet style hands, but observatory hands typically have a circular end on the hour hand, with a triangular tip (Kari Voutilainen uses observatory hands) and the minute hand is usually straight, by contrast.

Prices at launch are $22,000 in yellow gold, and $23,200 in white gold. These are obviously intended by Rolex to be dressy, classic alternatives to the steel sports models but I can’t help but think that the Perpetual 1908 would be a smashing daily driver in steel as well – there is something immensely appealing about the thought of all that high precision, high grade watchmaking in a discreet steel case.

Wild Dials On New Oyster Perpetuals And Oyster Perpetual Day-Dates

If there is one quality you would generally not think applicable to Rolex, it’s lighthearted whimsy, and yet, here we are. Let’s start with the Day-Dates, perhaps better known to all and sundry under their nickname, the “President” watch. One of the two new Day-Date 36mm models is spectacular – if by Rolex standards, conventional – with three models, each with gem set bezels and gem-set Roman numerals and each with a mineral dial. Stone dials on Day-Date watches are a longstanding tradition at Rolex, and these three new models have dials in either green aventurine, orange carnelian, or turquoise. All three are cased in 18k gold (Everose gold for the green aventurine, yellow gold for the orange carnelian and white gold for the turquoise), with 52 brilliant-cut diamonds on the bezel. Prices are on request.

Zoom InRolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Dates

There are however, three new models of the Day-Date which are extremely unexpected. These new references – case references 128329/5/8 – are 36mm, in yellow gold, white gold, or Everose. The unexpected part is in the dial decoration and the day and date displays. Each of the watches is decorated with a jigsaw puzzle motif, against a turquoise or orange enameled background, and rather than showing the day, the day window shows inspirational keywords – specifically, Happy, Eternity, Gratitude, Peace, Faith, Love and Hope. Don’t go looking for a conventional date in the date window, either – instead of the numbers one through 31, you’ll see 31 different custom emoji. The jigsaw puzzle pieces are executed in champlevé enamel.

Zoom InRolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date Jigsaw Puzzle

Finally, we have a new series of Oyster Perpetuals in three sizes – 31mm, 36mm, and 41mm, all in Oystersteel cases. The dials are decorated with a burst of colored bubbles of various bright, pure colors – Rolex calls the motif “Celebration” – and says that they’re a bit of a shout out back to 2020, and the lacquered blue, yellow, coral, green and candy pink colors that debuted that year in the OP line. Price at launch is $5650.

Zoom InRolex Oyster Perpetual Celebration

A Resized Explorer And A Redesigned Sky-Dweller

This year there are three new models in the Sky-Dweller lineup. Two are new dial colors – one is white Rolesor (steel and white gold) with a mint green dial and the other is in Everose gold, with a blue-green dial. For those looking for a version of the Sky-Dweller that has a little bit more of an on-the-go feel, a watch that feels more no-nonsense frequent flyer than habitué of private terminals, Rolex has just released an 18k white gold Sky-Dweller with its incredibly comfortable and durable Oysterflex bracelet. The Sky-Dweller, with its display of two time zones simultaneously and annual calendar, is one of the most complicated Rolex watches and it is absolutely an impressive statement piece. At 42mm, it’s instantly eye-catching but also as hefty on the wrist as it is impressive to the eye, and on an Oysterflex bracelet, it will lose little impact, but gain a great deal in comfort.

Zoom InRolex Sky-Dweller

Finally, Rolex has launched a 40mm version of its absolutely classic Explorer, which is in some respects the purest expression of the design and technical philosophy at Rolex. Two years ago, Rolex dropped the 39mm model and relaunched a 36mm Explorer, and this year the 40mm model steps into the 39mm’s empty place. Price is $7,700 at launch.

Zoom InRolex Explorer