Rolex
- Founded
- 1905
- Based in
- Geneva, Switzerland
- In our catalog
- 31 watches from $5,900 to $80,000
Rolex is the brand people who don't follow watches can still name, and that is not an accident. For over a century it has refined a small set of models rather than chasing new ones, and it has sold them with a consistency no other watchmaker comes close to. The result is a catalog where a Submariner from 1990 and one from today are obviously the same watch, and where steel sports models trade above list price on the open market.
History
Hans Wilsdorf and his brother-in-law Alfred Davis started the company in London in 1905 as Wilsdorf & Davis, importing Swiss movements and putting them into cases for British jewelers. Wilsdorf registered the name Rolex in 1908, chosen because it was short and read the same in any language. After the First World War, high British import duties pushed the business to Geneva, where it has been ever since.
The 1920s and 1930s produced the ideas Rolex still lives on. The Oyster case of 1926, with its screw-down crown and caseback, was one of the first properly water-resistant wristwatch cases, and Wilsdorf proved it in 1927 when swimmer Mercedes Gleitze crossed the English Channel wearing one. In 1931 came the Perpetual rotor, a self-winding system with a weight that turns freely in both directions. The Datejust followed in 1945, the Explorer, Submariner and GMT-Master in the 1950s, and the Daytona in 1963.
Since Wilsdorf's death in 1960 the company has been owned by the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, a private charitable trust. It doesn't publish figures, but it makes its own movements, cases, bracelets and even its own gold alloys in its workshops around Geneva and Biel. In 2023 it bought Bucherer, one of its largest retailers, and it now runs a certified pre-owned program through its dealers.
Signature models
- Submariner: The 1953 dive watch that set the template for nearly every diver since: black dial, rotating bezel, Mercedes hands, Oyster bracelet. Offered with and without a date.
- Datejust: The everyday Rolex, with the date under its Cyclops lens. Comes in 28, 31, 36 and 41 mm and in more dial, bezel and metal combinations than any other model.
- Cosmograph Daytona: The racing chronograph that was a slow seller in the 1960s and became the most wanted steel watch of the last thirty years.
- GMT-Master II: Built for Pan Am pilots to track a second time zone. Its two-tone bezels have nicknames of their own: Pepsi, Batman, Sprite.
- Explorer: A plain black dial with 3, 6 and 9 numerals, tied to the 1953 Everest expedition. The most understated sports model in the line.
- Day-Date: The "President", only in gold or platinum, with the weekday spelled out at 12 o'clock.
What it's known for
Rolex designs move in tiny steps. A new case shape or bracelet link is news for a year. That restraint is why older pieces hold value: nothing ever looks out of date. The brand is also known for toughness. Its in-house calibers are certified to a tighter accuracy standard than COSC (−2/+2 seconds a day, tested after casing), and the watches carry a five-year warranty.
The other thing Rolex is known for, less happily, is availability. Steel sports models like the Submariner, GMT-Master II and Daytona are allocated by dealers and can take months or years to get at retail. Precious metal models and the Oyster Perpetual, Datejust and Explorer are usually easier.
Price and positioning
Rolex sits at the top of the mainstream luxury market, above Omega and Tudor and below the old Geneva houses like Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin. List prices start around $6,000 for an Oyster Perpetual and run past $70,000 for platinum. Gray market prices for the hard-to-get steel models are often well above list, while precious metal and dress models can trade below. If you want the look for less, Tudor is the sister brand and shares much of the same thinking.
Rolex watches in our library
- Rolex Oyster Perpetual 28 ($5,900 to $6,200)
- Rolex Oyster Perpetual 36 ($6,300 to $6,650)
- Rolex Oyster Perpetual 41 ($6,500 to $6,900)
- Rolex Explorer 36 ($7,450 to $7,900)
- Rolex Explorer 40 ($7,700 to $8,100)
- Rolex Air-King ($7,900 to $8,300)
- Rolex Datejust 36 ($8,500 to $9,050)
- Rolex Submariner No Date ($9,300 to $9,650)
- Rolex Datejust 31 ($9,950 to $11,000)
- Rolex Explorer II ($10,050 to $10,500)
- Rolex Datejust 41 ($10,050 to $10,500)
- Rolex Lady-Datejust 28 ($10,050 to $10,500)
- Rolex Submariner Date ($10,650 to $10,900)
- Rolex GMT-Master II Batman ($10,900 to $11,350)
- Rolex GMT-Master II Pepsi (discontinued) ($11,050 to $11,350)
- Rolex GMT-Master II Sprite ($11,050 to $11,350)
- Rolex Yacht-Master 40 ($12,950 to $13,500)
- Rolex Lady-Datejust 28 Rolesor ($13,100 to $13,900)
- Rolex Sea-Dweller ($13,200 to $14,000)
- Rolex Land-Dweller 40 ($14,000 to $14,600)
- Rolex Deepsea ($14,500 to $15,050)
- Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Steel ($15,100 to $16,000)
- Rolex Submariner Date Two-Tone Bluesy ($16,000 to $16,600)
- Rolex Sky-Dweller ($17,000 to $18,500)
- Rolex Yacht-Master II (discontinued) ($19,500 to $20,500)
- Rolex 1908 ($23,000 to $24,000)
- Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Yellow Gold ($31,000 to $33,000)
- Rolex Day-Date 40 ($39,650 to $41,000)
- Rolex Daytona Le Mans (discontinued) ($51,000 to $53,000)
- Rolex Day-Date 40 Platinum ($61,000 to $63,000)
- Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Platinum ($77,000 to $80,000)
Vintage Rolex watches
- Rolex Datejust 1601 (pre-owned, $4,000 to $7,500)
- Rolex Air-King 5500 (pre-owned, $4,000 to $7,000)
- Rolex Explorer 1016 (pre-owned, $9,000 to $16,000)
- Rolex Submariner 5513 (pre-owned, $11,000 to $18,000)
- Rolex GMT-Master 1675 (pre-owned, $14,000 to $25,000)
- Rolex Day-Date 1803 (pre-owned, $15,000 to $28,000)