The Mystery of the Rolex Pocket Watch Found in a Rural Lane

It doesn’t just tell time. (Photo credit: North Yorkshire Police)

British police are trying to solve the mystery of how a 1940s military pocket watch made by Rolex ended up being found last week in a country lane in Scarborough, a town on England’s North Sea coast.

The Rolex pocket watch is believed to have been issued by the armed services during World War Two.

Despite being about 80 years old, it was found in “excellent condition and [it] has clearly been well cared for,” Sergeant Elaine Malcolm said on the North Yorkshire Police website. “This little piece of history is likely to hold great sentimental value. We need to reunite it with its owner,” she said.

She added: “It's potentially been by someone's side during some of the biggest dates of the 20th Century, including the end of World War Two, the first man on the Moon and the fall of the Berlin Wall.”

In a First, Chinese National Receives Rolex Award

(Photo credit: Rolex)

Rolex honored for the first time a mainland Chinese national for its Rolex Awards for Enterprise.

In an award ceremony held in Beijing, Liu Shaochuang was honored for the technology he developed to protect endangered wild camels. Estimates show there are fewer than 1,000 wild camels in the world.

Liu was helping develop the navigation systems for China’s lunar and Mars rovers when he realized that space technology could also be used to monitor the scattered wild camel herds in the desert.

“Professor Liu embodies the enterprising spirit of the Rolex Award,” said Thomas Neff, the general manager of Rolex (Shanghai) at the ceremony.

Liu’s award will provide him with a year’s worth of airtime for 40 satellite trackers with the goal of creating two new conservation zones to save the last remaining wild herds.

Watches With Provenance Defy Estimates

(Photo credit: Sotheby’s)

The latest auction results show provenance is adding value to a point dumbfounding even auction houses.

Elton John's 18-karat gold Daytona with a leopard-print dial, a discontinued model first released at Basel Fair in 2014, fetched $176,400 last week. Sotheby's had the top estimate pegged at $60,000.

Over two and a half weeks, Sir John and his husband are offloading around 900 items they collected over the decades. So far, the sales have outperformed high estimates by over 1 million dollars.

The disparity between estimates and what collectors are willing to pay is the latest sign of the growing demand for items with provenance, including watches. Last year, Sotheby’s sale of Freddie Mercury’s belongings tripled expectations, delivering a total of $50.4 million. A plastic quartz Seiko sold for $45,000.

Rolex Dealers Also Victimized by Brand's Success

Cracking the case. (Photo credit: Fox 5 DC)

A week after a Rolex smash-and-grab took place in the LA-area, an authorized dealer in Washington, D.C., was robbed in broad daylight on Friday, when three people broke the store’s window using a sledgehammer and stole nine watches on display. The Omega boutique next door was left unharmed.

The robbery at 1155 Connecticut Ave, NW, is the latest sign Rolex dealers — not just Rolex wearers — are falling victims of the brand's popularity and perceived high value, as a larger portion of Rolex models than any other brand trade above retail.

Still, dealers are finding innovative ways to beef up security: Four men near San Francisco were arrested and charged last August for stealing 38 watches. One of the stolen Rolexes had been outfitted with a GPS chip.

Rolex to Open Watchmaking School in Texas

Watchful learning. (Photo credit: Rolex)

Rolex is launching a free watchmaking school in Dallas, Texas, and will give each student $1,800 in stipend, the latest sign of the swiss-watch industry's demand for qualified watchmakers despite record employment. No prior watchmaking knowledge or experience is required to apply, the brand said.

“We are accepting 15 students in the fall (September) and another 15 students in the spring (March). We have already received more than 40 applicants for our September 2024 cohort,” a representative at the Rolex Training Center said via email.

The new Rolex watchmaking school, its second in the U.S. after the Lititz Watch Technicum in Pennsylvania, will hold its inaugural class in Sept. 2024. “Our program is the only one in the United States to focus a full six months on Rolex watches,” Rolex said. Each course culminates with a final exam at Rolex headquarters in Geneva. To learn more or to apply, click here.

Swiss Watch Exports Maintain Upward Trend

Ticking up. (Source: FH)

The Swiss watch industry is showing resiliency despite a drop predicted for 2024, after three full years of record sales post-Covid.

The figures released by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry on Tuesday were the first of 2024: exports last month rose 3.1% when compared to January 2023. That year was already a banner year with watch exports reaching fresh records, a 7.6% bump compared to 2022.

These records are coming at a time when the industry is exporting half as many watches as it did in the early 2000s, a sign of the sector’s move upscale. January sales of watches in precious metal rose 13% year-over-year while steel watches fell 3%.

Meanwhile, more than 4,400 new jobs were created in the Swiss watch industry last year. Rolex alone is listing over 250 job openings on its career website. The brand launched a recruitment center in Bulle in December to staff a new production facility. The Swiss watch industry now totals more than 65,000 employees, a level that has not been reached since the 1970s.

The Rolex Lady-Datejust Is Celebrated in Paris

Clock couture. (Photo credit: Vogue)

Grace Kelly wore it. Hailey Bieber wears it. Sylvia Earle, Chris Evert, Jennifer Aniston, Kathryn Bigelow, Lindsey Vonn, Rihanna and even Kim Kardashian have worn it.

While initially designed for the male wrist, the Rolex Datejust was first offered for women in 1957, when women fashion were pushing for a more active lifestyle in tune with their daily lives. Grace Kelly made the Lady-Datejust her watch of choice, propelling it to the rank of watchmaking icon. And while Rolex never discloses sales figures, estimates show the Lady-Datejust is the brand’s most sold model.

The rise of the Lady-Datejust is such that an exposition in Paris is dedicated to the model. Starting this week and until March 30, the Lady-Datejust is celebrated through an exposition at the famous Bon Marché Rive Gauche, the oldest department store in the world.

Rouge and Noir for a Future Rolex GMT?

Red-and-black is the new black. (Photo credit: Rolex)

A patent filed last July by Rolex but only made public earlier this month reveals the brand is perfecting the multicolor-bezel manufacturing process, mentioning four times the red-and-black color combination.

Rolex prefers to use zirconia-based ceramic for its bezels because of the material’s toughness, it says. While zirconia-based ceramics are naturally white, the pigmentation process and certain color combinations are difficult to produce. Rolex has had to use an alumina-based ceramic for the blue-and-red bezels, which lack the same durability.

Rolex revealed it has now found a way to reliably produce red-and-black bezels as well as red-and-orange bezels (Fanta?) on a zirconia-based ceramic. The patent says the color combinations have “a very attractive appearance.”

Rolex could wait until the GMT-Master's 70th anniversary, in 2025, to release the Coke or Fanta — or unveil them during the next edition of Watches and Wonders, in just two months.

A Roman Road Will Be Excavated in Bulle, on Rolex's New Site

Time travel. (Credit: Jean-Guillaume Moitte)

Roman numerals on a Rolex dial won't be the only connection the brand has with ancient Rome. Its new manufacturing site, slated to open in Bulle in 2029, happens to sit on a 2000-year-old road built by the Romans.

A group of Swiss archeologists will inspect 400 square meters of the site for the next three months, and they said it won't delay Rolex's plans. Roman roads can reveal objects lost by pedestrians, but they’re also famous for being the clearest testament to the power of the Roman Empire, designed to unite its conquests.

This road first discovered in 2002 is one of the main Roman corridors along the flank of Le Gibloux, a Swiss mountain, according to one of the archeologists. “There is a whole network of well-structured Roman occupation in the Bulle region,” he told the local newspaper, La Liberté.

Amid Speculation, One Rolex Defies the Market

Tick-tock to the top. (Source: WatchCharts)

Chalk it up to Watches and Wonders jitters, and it certainly happens every year. Less than two months away from Rolex’s new collection unveil, one Rolex model defies the secondary market.

The value of the Rolex GMT-Master II 126710BLRO for the past two years had been following the Rolex general market trend: a steady decline. But starting five months ago, it reversed the trend while the rest of the market continued to drop.

Amid speculation the Rolex “Pepsi” will be discontinued, in steel or completely, its market value has defied not only the WatchCharts Index for the Rolex market in general, but also for the GMT-Master II model in particular, showing the trend reversal is unique to the Pepsi. The BLRO hasn’t stopped climbing since September.

Despite Lack of Sponsorship, Rolex Wins the Super Bowl

Crowned champions. (Photo credit: NFL via Twitter)

On Sunday, the biggest sports league in the world by revenue held its biggest event — in the world’s biggest Rolex market. The average 30-second ad during Super Bowl topped $7 million dollars. A record 123 million fans watched the event.

Rolex's partnerships extend to the highest level of elite sports, including equestrianism, golf, motor sport, skiing, tennis and yachting, but leave out NFL football.

Still, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, 24, swapped his Apple Watch Ultra for a Tudor, a brand owned by Rolex SA, as he entered Super Bowl LVIII in a game against the Kansas City Chiefs, a team led by Patrick Mahomes, 28, already famous for his Rolex collection: GMT-Master II, platinum ice-blue Day-Date and rainbow Daytona, to name a few.

In one of the multi-million-dollar commercials on Sunday, titled “Tom has won enough,” a steel sports Rolex was spotted on the wrist of Tom Brady, who has won the most Super Bowls of any player in NFL history.

Rolex's Newest GMT-Master II Video Feeds Rumors

Clocking frames. (From Rolex via YouTube)

A recent YouTube video posted by Rolex about the GMT-Master II has fans of the brand buzzing in the comment section and on forums.

The video posted on Jan. 30, roughly two months before the brand's slated unveil of the new collection at Watches & Wonders, is titled “Rolex GMT-Master II – Keep track of ties [sic].” The 37-second clip features most GMT-Master II in the collection. “Most” because two models already rumored to be discontinued are glaringly absent: The iconic “Pepsi” BLRO and the “Sprite” VTNR. Rolex never comments on potential releases or discontinuations.

Still, Rolex said in 2018 the BLRO was the only Rolex using an alumina-based ceramic bezel because of the challenge of producing the red color. All the other ceramic bezels are made from the more durable zirconia. The VTNR is the only watch at Rolex with a crown and date on the left. Rolex not only had to reverse the typography of the date disc, but also retool any kind of equipment that regulates time keeping for a reversed movement to earn its superlative rating, according to the brand.

Unearthed Article from 1929 Explains Rolex Ad Strategy

The test of time. (Source: Sales Management)

An article just recently discovered from the Aug. 31st, 1929, edition of Sales Management, a trade weekly for marketing executives, gives a rare glimpse into the origin story of Rolex advertising. The article was first found by Nick Gould.

Sidney T. Garland, its author, who owned an ad firm in London contracted by Rolex in the 1920s, explained how textual ads, "built around the necessity for punctuality [...] did not bring the results anticipated,” Garland wrote. “A complete change was therefore indicated; space was utilized to reproduce in half-tone as many watches as could be laid out […] and copy confined itself to the bold statement of Rolex observatory successes.”

Through trial and error, Garland found Rolex ads for the public should have “illustration” and be “redolent of achievement,” he wrote. He featured one of London's most popular actresses, Evelyn Laye, wearing her Rolex with her wrist immersed in a fish bowl. Rolex two biggest marketing ingredients — achievement and ambassadorship — had been born. I’ve posted the full article here: Page 1 and Page 2.

Rolex Patent Could Revive Milgauss Line

Attraction issues. (Source: Rolex via IPI.ch)

A patent filed by Rolex with the Swiss Institut Fédéral de la Propriété Intellectuelle reveals the brand is working to improve further the anti-magnetic properties of its watches.

Rolex engineers realized they didn’t need to redesign the Parachrom — or Syloxi — hairspring to raise the current anti-magnetic rating. They just needed to change the composition of the balance wheel with an alloy less conductive to electricity. Rolex said the findings were “surprising and unexpected.”

When Rolex engineers conducted testing with a balance wheel made of lead-free brass, the watch could withstand up to 40,000 gauss, instead of 25,000 gauss with a balance wheel made of copper-beryllium, the alloy in the current collection.

The results are “absolutely remarkable,” Rolex said in the patent. Read more about it here.

Bespoke Rolex Watches: Courts Clarify Limit of the Law

Making time. (Photo credit: Artisans de Genève)

Courts on both sides of the Atlantic seem to agree: Businesses that sell customized Rolex watches infringe on Rolex's trademark, but a business can legally personalize a watch owned by a customer.

The Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland reversed last week the lower court's decision after one of the biggest Swiss-watch customization brands, Artisans de Genève, was sued by Rolex S.A. Artisans de Genève made the news last year, when Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine revealed a personalized neon-green Daytona. The Supreme Court said Artisans de Genève is not infringing on Rolex trademark as long as it sells customization services and not customized watches.

The decision came coincidentally the same week a U.S. Court of Appeals told a Texas-based dealer he could not sell customized Rolex watches, but could customize a watch upon request after it had already been purchased, as reported in theses pages.

Rolex Is Still King of Premium

A larger portion of Rolex models than any other brand trade above retail. That's according to the latest data available by WatchCharts, Morgan Stanley.

While Rolex commands premiums for the largest percentage of models out of all nine brands tracked by WatchCharts, Patek Philippe watches command the largest premium at +39%, compared to +20% for Rolex. The vast majority of pre-owned watches from brands outside of the Big Four are available at a discount.

Still, at 68% of Rolex watches selling above MSRP on the secondary market, Rolex watches continue to be a good deal when bought at authorized dealers — though less and less as the trend has declined for the past three quarters.

The Executive Behind Rolex's Successful Partnerships

Net gains: Rod Laver and Arnaud Boetsch. (Photo credit: G. Ciaccia/ROLEX)

When Jannik Sinner was signed by Rolex, in early 2020, the 18-year-old Italian tennis player had never reached past the second tour of any Grand Slam tournament. But last Sunday, Sinner, crowned winner of the Australian Open, lifted the trophy with a Rolex Submariner on his wrist.

Rolex, which has signed top players early in their careers, including Roger Federer, has had a knack for picking talents. That is because Rolex's global director of communication and image, Arnaud Boetsch, is a former tennis pro himself.

Boetsch, an Alsatian who once ranked in the ATP top 12, is the man at Rolex responsible for building partnerships with some of the biggest events and Testimonees in Formula 1, classical music, golf and tennis, including bringing Federer back to Rolex, in 2006, after he had left for Maurice Lacroix. In recent years, Boetsch has pioneered the brand’s entry into the world of cinema.

If Rolex's image and reputation is arguably the brand's biggest asset, it was recruiting Boetsch almost two decades ago that turned out to be the real ace for Rolex.