#Rolex faceless watch update#

Often passed by in favour of the Submariner, the GMT-Master or any other of its flashier cousins, the Air-King is a wonderful watch. In this way there is every reason to believe the Rolex crown will remain firmly in place for another hundred years, and beyond. On the other hand, the thrill of owning a Rolex is also in the chase – if you’re lucky enough to be able to buy one, chances are you’ll remember exactly when and where you were when you did so. None of this, contrary to one suggestion, is down to Rolex restricting supply. A more common grumble is that Rolex’s are so hard to buy right now – demand is outstripping supply, at least for some models, while the aftershocks of the pandemic on supply chains is still being felt.

#Rolex faceless watch update#

Instead of visible whistles and bells, the company concentrates on research and engineering, continually update the technology inside its watches on the quiet. The counter-argument is that you don’t go messing with perfection.

A 2019 Submariner resembles one from 50 years ago. There is no Rolex tourbillon, or sign of the zodiac complication. The downside, some argue, is that Rolex varies its designs even less than other companies: and that’s saying something for the watch world, where a 'revolutionary breakthrough' amounts to a new case size or deploying a slightly different type of gold. He bet on the wristwatch very early and each of his major innovations (putting a timepiece on the wrist, making it accurate, making it waterproof and making it automatic) helped create the modern wristwatch as we know it.

According to Christie's, Rolexes gain value faster and more steadily than any other brand. All this contributes something to their collectability and value – if you're going to buy a watch to invest in, buy a Rolex. Rolexes lend themselves to being dressed up and down more than other luxury watch brands and the company has mastered the art of the design tweak: collectors wax lyrical over a different coloured bezel here, or a bigger crown there. In addition to the famous James Bond Submariner, an early version of the GMT was worn by US flying ace Chuck Yeager as well as several astronauts. The Milgauss was introduced in the Fifties as an anti-magnetic watch for people who worked in power plants, medical facilities and early nuclear research labs, where strong electromagnetic fields were present.Ĭollectors are particularly passionate about Rolex sports models, which have long been associated with explorers, adventures and athletes. The GMT-Master, for example, was created for Pan-Am's pilots, then experiencing a new phenomenon called jet-lag - they wanted a watch that showed two time zones simultaneously. We love the fact that so many of the classic Rolex models were made not just to look good, but for specific, adventurous purposes. Ask 100 people to name a luxury watch and most of them will say Rolex.īut this reputation is not mere marketing – Rolex is Rolex because it makes peerless products. It is frequently ranked first in surveys of super-brands in the UK and is resident in Forbes' list of the world's most powerful brands.

Its enormous brand equity is partly because Rolex gives so little away, a key to its mystique. Rolex’s founder, Hans Wilsdorf, was onto something when he made his company logo a crown – it has remained the king of watch brands for more than a century.