Rolex remembers it owns a shirt
By Julien Moreau, Geneva ยท
Hans Wilsdorf registered the Rolex name in 1908, which is how a dress watch launched in 2023 came to be named after a year in which most gentlemen still carried pocket watches.
The 1908 replaced the Cellini line, which Rolex had spent decades failing to make anyone care about. This version is in yellow gold, 39 mm across and 9.5 mm thick, with a white dial, small seconds at six, the calibre 7140 with 66 hours, a leather strap and an open caseback, which, for Rolex, is something close to a revolution. The bezel is half fluted, half polished, and the hands and numerals are pleasantly old-fashioned. Fifty metres, a good deal more than most dress watches.
At twenty-three to twenty-four thousand dollars, it is ten thousand cheaper than a Patek Calatrava 6119 and a few thousand cheaper than a Vacheron Patrimony, and it carries a name that more people will recognise. That is either the attraction or the problem, depending on your temperament.
The difficulty, for me, is the thickness. Nine and a half millimetres is slim for Rolex but not slim for a dress watch, and next to the Patek or the Vacheron it looks a little sturdy, like a rugby player in a dinner jacket who has been told to be on his best behaviour. The 19 mm lug width is also awkward. But it is a handsome watch, and the movement is the best dress movement Rolex has made. For a Rolex man who has just been invited to a wedding, it is the obvious choice.