(Watch photo credit: Rolex)
Rolex traditionally unveils new models in the spring, but “off-season” releases are not without precedent. The Deepsea Challenge in titanium appeared in Nov. 2022. Last year, the brand announced a new Day-Date during the Oscars, only months after introducing a special violin-dial edition on New Year’s Day.
Off-season releases tend to reignite discussion around Rolex, particularly as other brands have become willing to spread out launches beyond Watches and Wonders.
Coronet believes the Oyster Perpetual could be a good candidate this fall. It is an entry-level model with outsized demand that often trades above retail depending on the dial color. Adding two dial colors before the holidays would raise the collection’s visibility and give retailers a timely update in their busiest quarter. Yet, it would not alter Rolex’s overall strategy of restraint during the “off-season.”
The Oyster Perpetual lineup tells an interesting story. The 31mm and 36mm versions each offer nine color options, while the 41mm has only six. (Even the 28mm version offers more color options than the 41mm.) Extending existing shades to Rolex’s largest OP would cost the brand little but could reignite discussion and expand choice in its most popular size.
The trade-off is that more dial variations mean less availability for each one. Because all 41mm Oyster Perpetuals share the same case and movement, new dials would not increase output but only shift the mix. That could make existing shades such as pistachio or beige harder to obtain, driving secondary-market prices even higher.