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Today is the very first day of the watch industry’s biggest week, Watches & Wonders. And undoubtedly the biggest attraction at the fair, year after year, is Rolex. The brand’s elaborate, multi-story booth is situated right at the show’s main entrance, which means the cappuccino-addled attendees storm straight through it from the moment the doors open to snap photos of all the new watches set up in the glass display cases. This year was no different—and there was undoubtedly one watch that everyone was competing to get the first IRL shot of. Here’s a quick rundown of that mythical grail, along with the rest of Rolex’s most exciting new drops for 2024.
Last year’s hit GMT-Master II gets casual
One of my favorite pieces out of last year’s W&W was an all-gold version of the GMT-Master II with a black-and-gray bezel. Rolex apparently adored it just as much, because they’re bringing the color combination back on a chiller stainless steel case. Everything with Rolex feels planned out years in advance. We’re playing chess and they’re playing Herman Hesse’s Glass Bead Game. Introducing the black-and-gray bezel last year on a gold case gave it that luxury feeling. Now it comes down onto a steel watch that maintains that special feeling. It’s about time we gave this combo a proper nickname.
The dressed-down GMT is something of an anomaly for Rolex, which mostly put out watches aimed at the richest collectors you know this year.
The Cosmograph Daytona gets very fancy
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While Rolex is best known for its toolsy sport watches, the brand has proven in recent years that it can have a lot of fun, too. The brand’s first Rainbow Daytona from 2012 helped collectors—and the industry—fall in love with outrageously colorful gem-setting, and even oddballs like the “Puzzle Dial” Day-Date won over high-profile collectors after its debut last year. This year, Rolex is putting out several more Daytonas that are a better fit for the podium than the actual racetrack.
Rolex is releasing two new versions of the Daytona with stone dials, which cleverly use contrasting black and white mother-of-pearl to recreate the incredibly popular ”Panda” and “Reverse Panda” dial configurations. The bezel is set with 36 diamonds and there are eight more used as hour indices.
The 1908 shoots to the top of my wish list
Last year, Rolex debuted a brand new family of watches called the 1908. They are serviceable, fine-looking dress watches that, until today, came in white or yellow gold with either a black or white dial. Roger Federer wore one to the Met Gala! Frankly, it wasn’t the type of design I was necessarily looking for from the Crown, which is best known for its stable of historic and category-defining sport watches like the Submariner, GMT, Explorer, and Daytona.
Well, it took Rolex all of one year and a major new color to turn me into a 1908 convert. The new version of the watch comes with a fierce, icy blue dial that helps the tuxedo-ready dress watch loosen its bowtie. And while last year’s dials were smooth, this year it carries a rice-grain pattern that seems to vibrate. The case is made out of platinum, the only material Rolex typically pairs with this color dial. This is the new Rolex: putting emojis in its date window, turning out stone-dial Daytonas, and remaking its dress watch in glacier blue.
Your favorite specialty sport watches, now in gold
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For 2024, Rolex casts the Deepsea and two versions of the Sky-Dweller in gold. Let’s start with the Deepsea: The watch was launched in 2008 as the even sportier brother to the Sea-Dweller. The Deepsea was designed to let divers go deeper than ever before with a Rolex on their wrists, and over the decades it’s only pushed into that idea further. A special edition was released in 2014 to commemorate the 10,908-meters-deep dive James Cameron took to the Mariana Trench. So, it’s a surprise to see the watch for the first time ever in full yellow gold—more likely to get 10,000 likes on Instagram than go 10,000 meters underwater.
The Sky-Dweller also got an all-gold makeover for 2024. One variation comes in rose gold with a black dial while the other is yellow gold with a white dial. Unlike the Deepsea, the Sky-Dweller is no stranger to golden interpretations. It is the opposite of Bane: this watch was born in opulence. Similar to the GMT, the Sky-Dweller is a travel-time watch for the PJ set.
Hooray, more fun Day-Dates
While there isn’t an emoji date wheel in sight, Rolex is delivering more fun takes on its classic Day-Date. My favorite of the bunch comes with an arctic blue dial, a shade that Rolex used for the first time on a Sky-Dweller last year, and comes with a bezel frosted in diamonds. Another follows in the tireprints of the Daytona and makes use of precious stones for its dial; the mother-of-pearl dial on one version mimics the appearance of puffy clouds. Rolex describes this mother-of-pearl as pearlized—talk about gilding the lily—and says in a press release that it’s “extracted from the oldest and noblest part of the oyster shell.”
The last two new Day-Dates are more under the radar. The first features a lacquered white face while the other makes a touch more noise with a black ombré dial that intensifies around the edges.
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2024-04-09 07:28:30Z
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