After 100 Years, Rolex Experiments With a New Kind of Watch Case

Rolex lightens up. (Photo credit: Rolex)

According to a patent published Wednesday, Rolex may be rethinking how it has built watches for the past century with a radically different case construction. Instead of machining the case from a solid block of metal, Rolex proposes a composite architecture built around a rigid “skeleton” filled with inserts made from another material. Rolex says the goal is to create a watch that is lightweight, durable and visually appealing.

The patent, which was first discovered by Nick Gould, is the latest sign Rolex is investing in composite case technology, potentially for future ultra-light watches or high-performance models. The comparison with Richard Mille, which has helped legitimize ultra-light, high-tech composite watches in haute horlogerie, is difficult to avoid.

“In summary, the invention makes it possible to combine two major objectives ... that had not previously been achieved,” the patent read. “It allows for the creation of a component that is both lightweight and mechanically robust, while also being aesthetically attractive.”

The patent is interesting because Rolex appears to be exploring materials rarely associated with the brand’s typical case construction. The skeleton — the frame supporting the crystal, caseback, bezel, crown and bracelet — could be made from titanium, titanium aluminide, ceramic or other metals and composites, while the inserts may use high-performance thermoplastics.

This is not the first time a watch brand has used composite materials. But most composite watches still rely on traditional case construction inside, whereas Rolex appears to be rethinking how the entire watch case is built. The patent goes beyond using composites for the exterior shell, with a new architecture built around a rigid frame and fused inserts, closer to aerospace engineering than watchmaking.

What Rolex’s New Video Reveals About Its Next 100 Years

The new face of adventure. (Photo credit: Rolex)

Just one day after its release, Rolex’s new video celebrating 100 years of the Oyster is already among the most viewed on the brand’s 14-year-old YouTube channel. With 33 million views in 24 hours, it places third in Rolex’s massive content library, which nears 1,000 uploads. At 23 minutes, it is also one of the brand’s longest videos, a format now favored by YouTube’s algorithm as more viewers consume content on TV screens, where audiences are less likely to skip advertisements.

In the final minute of the video, which beautifully recounts the history of the Oyster and its century-long legacy of adventure and exploration, the voiceover looks to the future, saying there “always will be new boundaries to break, worlds to discover, history to be made. And Rolex will be there, standing alongside the next generation of pioneers.”

But the rapid-fire montage tied to those remarks has little to do with pioneers, pilots, divers or polar explorers breaking boundaries or discovering new worlds. Instead, it shows tennis players, golfers, skiers, actors, musicians, equestrians and yachtsmen — celebrity athletes basking in victory. Rolex’s “next generation of pioneers” is making history at Wimbledon, in Augusta, at the Oscars and in concert halls worldwide.

In the next 100 years, it is hard to imagine Rolex not leaning further into sports and exclusivity, as it now counts a record 153 Testimonees and sponsors more elite sporting events than ever. Since 2025, it has also included actors for the first time. The only explorer shown in the final montage is filmmaker James Cameron during his Mariana Trench expedition 14 years ago. Since then, Rolex has stopped supporting exploration for discovery’s sake, focusing instead on exploration tied to protecting the planet, an important and laudable goal for its next century.

Still, those planet protectors, from Alain Hubert to David Doubilet, Sylvia Earle or Dawa Yangzum Sherpa, account for less than 10% of Rolex’s overall roster of Testimonees. If the brand wishes environmental exploration to define its next century, it may eventually need to give such figures a more central role than that presently occupied by Roger Federer, Zendaya or the PGA Championship.

The Rolex Pepsi Boom Is Already Cooling

Popping the bubble. (Data: WatchCharts)

The market consensus seems to be that the Pepsi is not gone for long. Or at least that buyers’ willingness to pay meteoric prices has quickly reached a ceiling after the model’s discontinuation less than a month ago. That’s according to the latest data from WatchCharts, which show Pepsi prices are now trending down.

Rumors of its discontinuation began circulating at the start of the year, driving secondary prices higher, as reported in these pages. The stainless steel 126710BLRO, by far the most popular of the trio, saw the biggest gain, while the two white gold variants appreciated as well. Older Pepsi references also benefited from the discontinuation rumors, WatchCharts said.

Now, prices of the Pepsi references have started to decline, a sign the market may have overestimated the model’s desirability following the discontinuation. The resurrection of the Yacht-Master II just two years after it was removed from the catalog has also eased fears that the Pepsi will be gone for long. WatchCharts said the number of listings steadily shrank from early February through the mid-April announcement, as buyers feared missing out and dealers stocked up on pieces ahead of Watches and Wonders, removing even more inventory from the market. New Pepsi listings hit an all-time high in the seven days following the discontinuation announcement, as sellers rushed to capitalize on the news. But the sudden surge in supply is now having the opposite effect, pushing Pepsi prices lower.

In Rolex’s Growing CPO Market, Premiums Are Coming Down

Rolex CPO premiums at key retailers. (Data: WatchCharts)

Rolex’s Certified Pre-Owned program is bigger than ever, topping 10,000 watches in inventory for the first time since launching in 2022. While some existing RCPO locations were closed by multi-store retailers, the number of boutiques offering CPO continues to grow.

According to data released this week by WatchCharts, CPO premiums have been trending lower over the past year. Those premiums are now near, or at, 15-month lows, a sign that retailers are adapting to the economics of the competitive pre-owned business, where margins are generally thinner, making inventory turnover more important.

“In the long term, we expect average premiums to come down if RCPO is to grow in scale and ubiquity,” WatchCharts says. The RCPO market now represents just 2.7% of Rolex’s estimated retail value, a sign of how much room there is still for growth.

The CPO premium is an estimate for how much more expensive a watch is when listed by a Rolex CPO retailer compared to a traditional secondary dealer. The hierarchy of premiums among key retailers has remained largely unchanged, with Bucherer and Watches of Switzerland having the highest premiums, followed by Tourneau and The 1916 Company.

Rolex’s Curious 'Haplos' Trademark Filing

(Photo credit: Rolex)

It’s not unusual for Rolex to register dozens of soundalike trademarks, names like “Datejuster,” “Master-Datejust” or “Coast-Dweller,” not with the intent to produce new models, but to protect its nomenclature from imitations. These filings are a form of brand defense, shielding names closely tied to the Rolex identity.

But the brand’s decision last week to register “Haplos,” a name that is not a riff on anything in the current lineup, is worth writing about. When researching the Greek-sounding word, I mostly ended up on biblical Greek websites, where translations range from “simply” and “in short” to “singleness” or “sincerity.” It is also the title of a 1982 Filipino horror movie, though that connection seems unlikely.

“Haplos” sounds easily brandable across languages, something Hans Wilsdorf himself would likely have approved of. When it comes to naming new technologies, Rolex tends to favor portmanteaus rather than poetic standalone Greek words: Dynapulse, Cerachrom, Chromalight, and Everose, to name a few. And with a catalog already full of dormant names like the Milgauss, Tru-Beat or even the recently trademarked “Padellone,” it seems unlikely the brand is preparing yet another entirely new watch line.

Which brings us back to the strange design filing for a desk clock first reported in these pages. Rolex has made desk clocks before, but they were typically desktop interpretations of existing watches, like the Submariner desk clock, the Air-King or even a Datejust seen on the Resolute Desk last fall. The new desk clock looks nothing like an existing Rolex, appearing to be a skeletonized watch module resting on a triangular incline, almost architectural in form. Come to think of it, the structure itself does evoke something vaguely Greek.

Rolex’s LIV Golf Problem

A delicate touch. (Photo credit: Rolex)

In January, just ahead of the new LIV Golf season, LIV published a press release announcing a partnership with Rolex, mentioning the 2026 schedule “beginning with the opener in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from February 4–7.” The press release included a quote from Arnaud Boetsch, Rolex Director of Communication and Image. But LIV Golf has yet to display Rolex as a partner on its website, and Rolex does not list LIV among its golf partnerships, even after a total revamp of Rolex.com just before Watches and Wonders.

The development comes as LIV Golf, which reportedly loses hundreds of millions of dollars a year, now faces the possibility of closure. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which has financed the league since its 2022 launch, is nearing the end of its support as it faces tighter finances after years of weak returns, heavy spending and now the war in the Middle East.

LIV Golf is a direct competitor to the PGA Tour, with which Rolex has spent decades building relationships — perhaps one reason for LIV absence from Rolex.com both in its “Rolex and Golf” section and in the biographies of the nine Testimonees who joined the league. Phil Mickelson’s profile, for example, highlights his 45 PGA Tour victories but makes no reference to his current league, four years after joining it. The same is true for Jon Rahm, who moved to LIV in late 2023.

Rolex has spent nearly six decades building golf into its largest sports empire, sponsoring more players than in any other sport, and it’s unclear whether the brand is pulling away from the Saudi-backed league as doubts grow over its future. The league has been controversial from the start, with critics describing it as a Saudi “sportswashing” project in the wake of the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

When Mickelson joined LIV Golf in 2022, he lost major sponsors — including KPMG, Amstel Light and Workday — after comments he made describing the Saudis as “scary motherfuckers to get involved with” and mentioned the kingdom’s “horrible record on human rights.” Rolex, however, decided to keep him as a Testimonee.

Rolex's Professional Line in a K-Shaped Economy

Rolex’s newest Daytona. (Photo credit: Rolex)

One of the hardest Rolex watches to buy, the Daytona, saw a new reference released at Watches and Wonders this year. For a model mostly in steel, it carries a price tag of $57,800 before tax. And because it is off-catalogue, the client will need to spend significantly more with an official retailer to be eligible to buy it.

Despite global tensions and economic uncertainty, Rolex is leaning into exclusivity, catering more and more to a K-shaped economy where those at the top continue to do well — and increasingly so. It is also canceling decades-old contracts with local retailers and building flagships in major cities, where high rollers can compete on spending history.

Meanwhile, the brand continues to market its watches through a professional lens. In the press release for the $57,800 Daytona, we learn it is “designed to meet the needs of professional racing drivers.” The Yacht-Master II, which now tops $20,000 for the steel version, is “specifically for regatta starting sequences.” Rarely in business has a brand so rooted in professional products moved so deeply into exclusivity.

I received an email last week from someone who reminds me of the old Rolex ad: “If taming oil well fires were your job, you'd wear a Rolex.” Tom currently works in the oil and gas industry on the coast of Louisiana and is also an emergency response firefighter. “We use our watches in the field and on oil rigs, in heavy weather or in areas with electrical classifications that do not permit non-explosion-proof devices,” Tom told me. “I use my Submariner every day, not just as a keepsake to celebrate a milestone, but as a reliable tool.”

From explorers and pilots to those “who guide the destiny of the world,” Rolex rests on a history that other businesses could only dream of. Today, Rolex's strategy is to take its catalogue of iconic designs and dial up the exclusivity through luxury upgrades. As a business model, Rolex is not wrong to lean into the K-shaped economy. But if it wants that story of professional use to continue, it must ensure that those who use its watches in the field, like Tom, remain part of it.

As Rolex Builds Flagships, Bucherer Gains More Ground

(Photo credit: Luc Jacquemin)

Rolex will open a new major store in Paris, the latest in a string of flagships from Asia to Europe. It will be its fifth Rolex-exclusive boutique in the French capital, but the first run by Bucherer, the latest sign the brand is turning to its own retailer to operate new flagships.

Rolex may not be giving preferential treatment to Bucherer in its allocations, as some feared when the brand announced it would acquire the Lucerne-based retailer in 2023. But it is building more flagships run by Bucherer while canceling the licenses of independent dealers located too close to these stores.

Wempe in Paris could be at risk of losing its Rolex license, as it did on Bond Street in London and on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, where its multi-brand stores sit too close to newly built Rolex flagships. Galeries Lafayette Royal Quartz on Rue Royale, another Rolex retailer, could also be at risk.

Until now in Paris, Rolex’s exclusive boutiques have been run by Dubail on the Champs-Élysées and Place Vendôme, while those on Rue Pierre Charron and Rue de Sèvres are operated by Arije and the Lassaussois family. The new boutique, just approved by City Hall last month, will be a two-story location on the corner of Rue Royale and Rue Saint-Honoré, near the Tuileries Gardens.

Rolex Revises Warranty Cards as Counterfeits Persist

(Photo credit: Rolex)

As Rolex models continue to take the top spots among the most faked watches seized while entering the United States, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the brand is updating the design of its 2026 warranty cards. The new cards are now reaching official retailers.

New Rolex pieces will come with a card that moves away from the glossy, glass-like finish of the 2020-era version toward a wood-grain aesthetic that is more difficult to copy. Fine lines are now embedded in the date field, designed to prevent tampering and make it harder for preowned sellers to erase and rewrite warranty dates. The accompanying white hang tag has been replaced by a green version with a similar wood effect, alongside an updated chronometer “Green Seal” tag.

As with incremental changes, the updated design also gives retailers a quick visual cue to approximate the piece production era.

Rolex to Unveil Skeleton Desk Clock on a Sloped Base

(Photo credit: Rolex)

Rolex usually waits until after the start of Watches and Wonders to publish its design applications with the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property. The designs are filed ahead of time, and publication is deferred so it doesn’t reveal upcoming releases.

But the publication of a new design, which didn’t appear at Watches and Wonders, suggests the brand is preparing to unveil a new desk clock. An application titled “pendulette” describes a base with a clock module set on an inclined ramp. The filing is attributed to Vincent De Peyer, a Rolex designer credited with the violin Day-Date and, more recently, the new Yacht-Master II.

(Photo credit: Rolex)

In the published design, the drawings show a small clock mounted on a long, inclined support, with part of the movement visible behind a simple dial. The clock head appears designed to slide along the structure, allowing it to rest at different angles, while a small component on its side appears to grip the base and hold it in place. Rolex shows two different positions in its filings.

On the brand’s official website, the only desk clock currently shown is the Submariner model introduced in 2025, which features a hemispherical case designed to be oriented at different angles on its base.

A New Issue of Rolex’s In-House Magazine Is Shipping to Retailers

(Photo credit: Jocke via Rolex Forums)

The 14th issue of The Rolex Magazine will soon arrive at an official retailer near you, introducing the new watches in its 2026 lineup, with a special feature on the 100th anniversary of the Oyster.

The magazine also covers Rolex’s updated Superlative Chronometer certification and, as in previous editions, features content beyond watchmaking, including a profile of Leonardo DiCaprio and a look at the Perpetual Arts Initiative, which marks 50 years. For the first time, it highlights the brand’s new site in Bulle, part of Rolex's ongoing expansion, which was first announced in 2024. The issue will be available free at retailers.

With the Release of Its Most Complex Movement, Rolex Shows Where It Competes

(Photo credit: Rolex)

When Rolex pulls back the curtain on its new releases each spring at Watches and Wonders, the dial tends to get most of the attention.

After all, it is the most visible change, from the Datejust’s ombré finishes to the Daytona’s enamel dial, the light-green aventurine dial of the Day-Date, and the colorful Oyster Perpetual. But just a year after introducing its Dynapulse escapement, a revolutionary innovation that moves away from the traditional Swiss lever system, Rolex has unveiled its most complex caliber yet, a reminder that the brand remains, at its core, a watchmaker.

“We could have rested on our laurels,” a Rolex representative told me, referring to the release of the brand’s newest caliber, Caliber 4162, now powering the new Yacht-Master II. It introduces a function unique to Rolex: a programmable countdown with mechanical memory that can be synchronized on the fly. In another first, the countdown minutes and seconds hands rotate counterclockwise, making it immediately clear that time is ticking down to zero. The countdown is now set using the lower pusher rather than the rotatable bezel and Ring Command system found on the prior model.

In an industry that often leans on nostalgia, Rolex’s recent releases are the latest sign it is still a leading innovator in mechanical movements, competing at the highest level in engineering.

Rolex Moves Away From the Classic Black Dial in 2026

(Photo credit: Rolex)

As Watches and Wonders closes, Rolex told Coronet it has more surprises to reveal, not just one, but a steady cadence of celebrations through the year to mark the 100th anniversary of the Oyster. It's unclear whether we will see more "100 YEARS" Oyster Perpetual dials, but the use of color appears a safe bet.

It seems Rolex has largely avoided black dials this year; even its 100-year OP is slate. The transition from the mechanical watch as a reliable, lifelong companion with neutral tones designed to outlast fashion cycles could be behind us. The Swiss watch industry may still talk about heritage and heirloom, transmission across generations, but today’s mechanical watches are meant to be collected and rotated like an accessory matching a mood or proper attire.

Ten colors, applied one at a time to build the dial’s final composition. (Photo credit: Rolex)

I asked Rolex whether its strategy of colorful dials is meant to encourage plurality of ownership, with each watch carrying its own identity. With fewer neutral or timeless colors, the new releases seem to cater to collectors over single-watch wearers. Rolex pushed back against the idea it is catering to collectors, saying instead that the dial has become a means of artistic expression and a showcase for its expertise, with the Oyster Perpetual serving as the ideal “playground” for that.

"We have real expertise in dial making, and this is a way to express and showcase it through materials, but also through artistic expression and color. The Oyster Perpetual range is the perfect playground for that," a Rolex representative in Geneva told me. "In that sense, we are continuing something that is meant to be fun and joyful within the same range. This allows us to reach a wide audience. Different colors speak to different customers, all on a steel watch that remains relatively accessible. It becomes a playground for expression.”

In a Smaller Watch Era, Rolex Releases a 44mm Collection

The new Yacht-Master II. (Photo credit: Les Rhabilleurs)

It’s been nearly two decades since Rolex introduced a collection at 44mm, with the Deepsea in 2008 and the Yacht-Master II in 2007. Those were the aughts, a decade that encouraged “wrist presence.” An exception came in 2022 with the 50mm Deepsea Challenge, an outlier rated for the Mariana Trench.

Still, it is puzzling to see Rolex release a 44mm collection in 2026, when the consensus is a return to more restrained proportions. Rolex watches have set trends in design and color, raising the question of whether larger sizes could follow. After all, smartwatches have gone against the grain for years, steadily increasing in size. While they hardly compare to luxury watches, they do compete for wrist attention. As a company that ships more units than the entire Swiss watch industry combined, Apple helps set size expectations, having moved from 38mm and 42mm cases in 2015 to 42mm and 46mm for its Series 11 today.

I asked Rolex whether the choice for 44mm was to expand the range in its catalogue, even though a 42mm Yacht-Master II might have increased sales, as it is closer to what most wrists can pull off. A representative in Geneva acknowledged that “diversifier l'offre et le choix” in the catalogue was part of the strategy, but said Rolex felt it was a size “appropriate for this tool watch which has a real function.”

“It is still the watch of the skippers, of the races, of the maxis,” she told me. “The skippers also tend to have more of an athletic build. So, a 44mm watch, we thought, would be appropriate for this kind of function and wearer.”

Adrian Barker, a YouTuber, says the watch is more wearable than expected on his 6.5-inch, or 16.5 cm, wrist. (Credit: Adrian Barker)

With Rolex’s New Releases, Its New Problem Is the Picture

The new OP 36 with a Jubilee dial. (Photo credit: Rolex)

When Rolex developed a new gold alloy for the Day-Date, the brand struggled to describe it. "We couldn't define what shade it had," a Rolex representative in Geneva told me. "Obviously, there is play of light. But some people saw it as more pink, some as more yellow, and others as more gray," she said. The brand settled on "Jubilee Gold." In its press kit for Watches and Wonders this week, it did not assign it a single color, but three.

In a day and age of computer-generated images, which present new releases in perfect conditions, Rolex is increasingly having the opposite problem. Today's images fail more and more to capture the nuances of Rolex's creations. "It's true this year even more so, I would say," the representative told me.

If last year’s release centered on the Land-Dweller and its revolutionary Calibre 7135, this year is about la maîtrise cadranière, or mastery of the dial. The part of the watch that offers Rolex the most creative freedom is also the one that photographs do the least justice.

"For example, there are many people who didn't necessarily like the new Jubilee dial in photos," the brand’s representative said. “And when they saw it in real life, they saw how well the colors stand out because the watches are about emotion. And they saw how much perfection there was in the execution of this dial, which they didn't realize in photos," she said.

The OP's Jubilee dial is not the only dial where computer-generated images have reached a limitation at Rolex. Photos of the new Daytona with a white dial and white sub-registers have difficulty capturing the chronograph's "slightly vitreous aspect of enamel," she said. "The same with the light green aventurine of the Day-Date dial with its subtle colors which play with the light." Even the new Yacht-Master II features a never-before-seen white lacquer coating on the dial, a first for the collection, designed to reduce reflections.

On the dial of its gold OP in 28 and 34, Rolex decided to cut the stone differently, using an ogive cut that eschews the typical play of light and keeps a matte effect to better match the color of the dial, a detail that is hard to pick up in photos. Rolex paired those OPs with a fully brushed gold case and bracelet. It was only after seeing the brushed-gold OPs in person that Tony Traina, a watch journalist, said it was his “favorite execution” from Rolex.

The full-gold OPs in 28 and 34. (Photo credit: Les Rhabilleurs)

On the Eve of Watches and Wonders, Rolex Missed Its Moment

Reach for the cork. (Photo courtesy of SailGP)

It was a little over a year ago that Roger Federer posted a photo of himself eating fondue while wearing an unreleased Rolex, the Land-Dweller. Many assumed it was a manufactured leak meant to generate buzz ahead of Watches and Wonders 2025. Coronet reported it was not. If it had been, the playbook would likely have been repeated this year with one of Rolex’s 155 Testimonees. Instead, a more organic moment presented itself this week and was missed by Rolex.

On Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, Tom Slingsby, one of the most accomplished sailors of his generation and a Rolex Testimonee, steered the Bonds Flying Roos to a commanding victory at the Rio Sail Grand Prix, despite everything his rivals and the conditions threw at him. His team moved to the top of the championship standings after the fourth event of the 2026 season. Winning all four races in a SailGP event is rare; doing so on the shifty, gusty waters of Guanabara Bay is exceptional. The result came just hours before Rolex was set to introduce a new regatta timer, the Yacht-Master II, at 6 p.m. U.S. Eastern time on Monday.

Rolex has been trying to promote SailGP since leaving Formula 1, deepening its ties with a series often described as the “F1 of sailing.” It now sponsors a sport it presents as “climate-positive,” featuring catamarans capable of reaching 100 km/h. Still, sailing remains underrepresented in its ambassador ranks, with seven Testimonees compared with 32 in tennis and 55 in golf. One of those sailors had just delivered a four-race sweep hours before the unveiling of the new Yacht-Master II. On the podium, as Slingsby and his team sprayed champagne, his wrists, in front of the world, remained bare.