WAT C H E S


DON’TROLLWITH IT


74 WOR D S C HRIS HA L L


Rolex is a mature brand, but that doesn’t mean time stands still for the Swiss watchmaker


B JUNE 2 0 18


y and large, the codes of what make Rolex Rolex were laid down between 1945 and 1963. Tat


18-year period saw the debuts of nearly every watch that made the company famous: in order, the Datejust, Air-King, Explorer, Submariner, GMT- Master, Milgauss, Day-Date and Daytona were all born between those years – the majority of them in a particularly purple patch between 1953 and 1956. Of course there were other


models: the Deepsea and Sea- Dweller, the Explorer II and the Yacht-Master and, latterly, the somewhat unloved Sky-Dweller. But they are mostly evolutions of the core line-up rather than revolutionary additions. By the standards of most watch companies, Rolex’s attitude to new products is sluggish, verging


on glacially slow. In addition, Rolex rarely discontinues a model – a version, maybe, but a whole model? Almost never. Does this mean the world’s


most famous watch brand has done nothing of note for 60 years? On the contrary: everything it does is accorded the utmost importance, be it a minor aesthetic change or a tweak to a movement. Dial details – right down to the typography, or the precise order of the words – can make a tenfold difference in value between vintage Rolexes. In short: Rolex fans live for the small things. Let’s be clear, in the last


decade Rolex has led the way on unglamorous but vital improvements such as increasing servicing intervals (now five years), and improving daily accuracy – its movements are guaranteed to a standard far better than COSC


(Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres), the official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute, which is the industry benchmark for accuracy. Together with brands such as Patek Philippe and Ulysse Nardin, it has spearheaded the adoption of modern materials and production practices in movement assembly. As far as the casual observer


is concerned, however, Rolex is really the king of incremental changes. And this brings us to a conundrum: is Rolex the powerhouse brand that it is because it only makes minor alterations to its watches, or do we inflate the importance of these details because that’s all we have to go on? Certainly Rolex understands


how to manipulate the supply- and-demand environment of news; the law of diminishing returns that can hamper incessant innovation. One small


bus ine s s tr a v el ler .c om


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