This year marks the centenary of the Rolex Oyster, effectively the ur-model that defined the brand as a cultural entity in its own right, and the development of which arguably future-proofed the very idea of the wristwatch when it was launched in 1926. Why? Because it resolved, in a beautiful yet perfectly utilitarian form, two bugbears that had previously held back the widespread adoption of a wrist-borne timepiece: namely, a lack of accuracy when compared to pocket watches (owing to the reduced dimensions of the movement) and the risk – now that it was no longer safely tucked away in a pocket or purse – of dust or water entering the case to despoil its precious cargo.
Rolex had already achieved first-mover status in the former in 1910 when it received the earliest Swiss Certificate for Chronometric Precision for a wristwatch movement. Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf's determination to seal the ‘inner workings' (leading to the dust- and waterproof ‘Oyster' case) delivered on the latter a scant 16 years later. Heightened security – by reducing the occasions when the winding crown was deployed, thus impacting on the otherwise hermetic qualities of the case – was achieved in 1931, when Rolex introduced the Perpetual rotor, a centre-mounted, free-spinning weight that, through the wearer's movements alone, delivered the energy required to power the movement. Together, these innovations established the ideal that would help propel the wristwatch to global ubiquity. Accuracy; resilience; autonomy: thanks to Wilsdorf 's vision, the stage was set for a revolution in the history of personal timekeepers.
The subsequent journey of the Oyster is described in detail in two books published by us in partnership with Rolex, written by watch authority and historian Nicholas Foulkes. In 1953 came the Submariner, a military-grade dive watch that went on to spawn the Sea-Dweller, Deepsea and Deepsea Challenge models, the last safe to plunge to 11,000m (as illustrated by Titanic director James Cameron during his epic voyage to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in 2012). Preceding it was the Datejust, launched in 1945 to mark the company's 40th anniversary and the first automatic, waterproof chronometer watch to feature the date displayed in a window at 3 o'clock. At the time, Wilsdorf considered the Datejust the ‘pinnacle of watchmaking science', and it remains Rolex's most popular and populous model.
Today, the foundational nature of Wilsdorf 's innovations is bedrocked in Rolex's Professional range – which includes the GMT-Master II, Yacht-Master, Explorer, Air-King and Cosmograph Daytona models – all of which bear the precursor ‘Oyster Perpetual' on their dials. But it is to the seminal Oyster Perpetual line that the brand returns to celebrate the centenary of its most emblematic creation. Leading the parade of anniversary models is the Oyster Perpetual 36, replete with a lacquered ‘Jubilee' dial spelling out the brand's name in a dazzling pattern rendered in ten contrasting colours. As well as nodding to the recent uptick in the use of bold colours across the Oyster Perpetual family, it cites an earlier, interlocking monotone Jubilee pattern introduced at the end of the 1970s, appearing again in 1985 on the Datejust in time to mark 40 years of the model. The new iteration therefore acts as a striking tribute to a turning point in the history of watchmaking.
With this year's new Oyster Perpetual 41, Rolex returns to the essence of the watch, intertwining technical expertise with classical detailing, a tantalising mix of what we have seen in the last century – and what we can look forward to in the next. Alongside its classical elements – including a clean, date-free display, elegant baton markers and a smooth bezel – there are subtle new design details. Measuring 41mm in diameter, the watch cuts a clean silhouette, its purity emphasised by the choice of materials. Interestingly, there is a subtle shift in the combination of metals we have come to expect in the Oyster bracelet, first introduced in the 1930s. We usually see a bracelet composed of Oystersteel and yellow gold, but here, its solid Oystersteel composition (Rolex's highly resistant stainless steel alloy) lends the watch a sleek new minimalism. The material play instead moves to the bezel and crown, now clad in yellow gold to create the familiar contrast. Throughout, there are discreet nods to the anniversary, with ‘100' appearing in relief on the crown and, on the dial, ‘100 years' taking the place of the usual ‘Swiss Made'.