Rolex Watches

Rolex launched the Datejust in 1945, the company's fortieth year, as the first self winding chronometer wristwatch to indicate the date in a window on the dial. The Jubilee bracelet was made for that watch and named for the anniversary, and it carries the same name today. The Cyclops lens over the date and the fluted bezel are the other two tells, though smooth and gem set bezels and the Oyster bracelet sit alongside them. The line now runs from the Lady-Datejust at 28 mm through 31, 36 and 41 mm, in steel, in gold and in the two combined, across a wide spread of dials.

Rolex introduced the Cosmograph in 1963 and named it for Daytona Beach in Florida, laying it out as a driver's instrument with three counters and a tachymetric scale on the bezel for reading average speed over a measured distance. Screw down pushers arrived on reference 6240 in 1965, sealing the chronograph into the Oyster case. The movement went from hand wound to an automatic based on the Zenith El Primero in 1988, to Rolex's own calibre 4130 in 2000 and the calibre 4131 in 2023. The case grew from 37 mm on the first series to 40 mm with that 1988 generation and has stayed there since, in steel, gold and platinum.

The Day-Date arrived in 1956 as the first wristwatch to show the day of the week spelled out in full, in an arched window at 12, with the date at 3. Rolex builds it in 18 ct gold or platinum rather than steel, and it introduced the bracelet of three rounded links that took the President name from 1957 onward. The fluted bezel is the usual choice, with smooth and gem set versions alongside it. It runs in 36 mm and 40 mm today, and the day disc is offered in a choice of languages.

The GMT-Master arrived in 1955 and was adopted by the flight crews of Pan American World Airways, reading a second zone from a 24-hour hand against a rotating 24-hour bezel. The GMT-Master II followed in 1982, its local hour hand adjusted in one-hour increments independently of the other hands and without stopping the watch, so the watch shows two zones at once and a third when the bezel is turned. It was the first Rolex fitted with a Cerachrom ceramic bezel insert, introduced in 2005, the two-colour versions made as a single piece and offered in a range of colour pairings. The line runs in Oystersteel, yellow and Everose Rolesor and solid gold, on the Oyster or Jubilee bracelet.

Rolex introduced the Submariner in 1953 as a divers' watch waterproof to 100 metres, and it has stayed close to that brief since: a rotating timing bezel with a luminous pearl at 12, broad hands and markers, and a dial meant to be read in one look. The bezel turns one way only, so a knock can make the dive read longer than it is but never shorter. Cerachrom ceramic inserts reached the Submariner Date in 2010 and the no-date model two years later, the depth rating stands at 300 metres, and the case moved to 41 mm in 2020 with revised proportions and a bracelet of sleeker lines. Both the Submariner Date, with the Cyclops lens over the date, and the plain no-date model are made, in Oystersteel, Rolesor and solid gold.

The Yacht-Master arrived in 1992, first in 18 kt yellow gold, as a nautical watch rather than a divers' watch. Its 60-minute graduated bezel turns in both directions for timing intervals, the numerals and graduations raised and polished against a matte sand-blasted ground, and the case is waterproof to 100 metres. Rolex introduced the Rolesium version, an Oystersteel case and bracelet paired with platinum, in 1999, fitted the line with the Oysterflex bracelet in 2015 and added a Yacht-Master 42 in RLX titanium in 2023. Three sizes are catalogued today, in gold alloys, in Oystersteel combined with platinum or Everose gold and in RLX titanium, on the Oyster bracelet or Oysterflex depending on the reference.

The Land-Dweller was unveiled in 2025 as a new family rather than a variant of an existing one, and Rolex describes it as a reinterpretation of the integrated bracelet watches it explored in 1969 with the Rolex Quartz and again in 1974 on a Datejust. The bracelet is the Flat Jubilee, five link like a standard Jubilee but with every link flattened and running straight out of the case, closed by a concealed folding Crownclasp. The dial carries a honeycomb motif cut with a femtosecond laser, sits under a fluted bezel, and uses luminescent open numerals alongside index hour markers. Inside is calibre 7135 running at 5 Hz on the silicon Dynapulse escapement, visible through a sapphire back, with the watch offered in White Rolesor, Everose gold and platinum.

The Sky-Dweller launched in 2012 as Rolex's annual calendar, aimed at people whose year is spent between time zones. Its patented Saros calendar tells 30-day months from 31-day ones, so the date needs one manual adjustment a year when February turns to March, and the current month is marked in red in one of twelve windows set among the hour markers. Local time is read from the central hands while the reference time sits on an off-centre 24-hour disc. The fluted Ring Command bezel is how the watch is set: turn it counterclockwise to choose date and month, local time or reference time, then adjust with the winding crown, so the case needs no correctors or extra crown positions.