(Photo credit: Cyril Zingaro) The watch market will continue to sag mainly due to China, where demand has plummeted in recent months, and in Europe, where consumer morale is low with war raging on its borders, watch executives at Geneva's Watches and Wonders said last week. “2024 will be a challenge. A phase in which all manufacturers were doing well is coming to an end,” Rolex CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour said in an interview for the Swiss newspaper NZZ before the opening of the fair. In declining sales, multi-brand dealers might continue to push hard-to-sell pieces as a condition to own a new R ..read more

(Photo credit: Rolex) The brand is introducing a mother-of-pearl option for Daytonas with diamond-cut bezels. Mother of pearl is considered “the noblest, oldest part of the shell, and difficult to work with,” Rolex told me. The new Daytona with a diamond-cut bezel made its entry into the catalog at Watches and Wonders this year. Such Daytonas were considered off-catalog pieces in the past but have grown in popularity, especially among men. When asked whether mother-of-pearl dials are considered the new meteorite at Rolex, a representative said it would make sense to think that way. “This is n ..read more

(Photo credit: Rolex) The brand has replaced the meteorite dial on the Daytona with a mother of pearl, “the noblest, oldest part of the shell, and difficult to work with,” a Rolex representative told me. The new Daytona with a diamond-cut bezel made its entry into the catalog at Watches and Wonders this year. Daytonas with diamond-cut bezels were considered off-catalog pieces in the past. When asked whether mother of pearl is the new meteorite, the Rolex rep agreed. “This is not a clearly stated desire. But as an external observer, for me, it makes sense. The goal was to offer another dial wh ..read more

(Photo credit: Rolex) Rolex's big surprise at Watches and Wonders this year was not necessarily the new GMT-Master II in black and grey — but that the brand didn't discontinue the Pepsi, the Batman or the Sprite. Rolex added a color option for the steel GMT, offering more color options than ever in the GMT line. That it hasn't removed any GMTs from the catalog begs the question: Will there be fewer GMTs produced of each color if the line shares the same case and movement? “I imagine that would make sense to think that way given we are already producing at a near maximum level,” a Rolex repres ..read more

(Photo credit: L: Rolex; R: Jason Heaton) The GMT-Master exhibition inside Rolex's booth at Watches and Wonders this year is showing pieces never seen before by the public, the latest sign the brand has amassed a collection well suited for a museum. (When asked about plans to build one, Rolex responded, “We do not comment on potential future projects.”) Apollo 13 astronaut Jack Swigert's GMT-Master is among the watches on display for the first time. The first documented Rolex in space left circulation after Swigert gifted the watch to René-Paul Jeanneret, a Rolex executive, in exchange for a ..read more

Fueling further speculation ahead of Rolex’s forthcoming new watch releases, which are set to be announced Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Geneva at Watches and Wonders — Rolex dropped a 30-second teaser video on its website and social media platforms this morning. The video is titled “When the Iconic Meets the Unexpected.” Here’s the link to the video on YouTube ..read more

(Photo credit: Luis Iparraguirre) In Peru last week, a single watch reported by a local podcaster was enough to turn a suspicion into a scandal and push a third of a government to resign. Out of the 14 watches spotted on the wrist of Peru president Dina Boluarte only one was a Rolex, a 36mm Datejust in Everose Rolesor. Still, that was enough to turn the podcast episode into an accusation of corruption and a scandal now named “Rolexgate” in Peru. On Friday, armed police officers broke down the front door of the president's house, but the search yielded no Rolex timepieces though other luxury b ..read more

(Photo credit: Osaka University) Dr. Pierre-Yves Donzé, a professor at the Graduate School of Economics at Osaka University, is the author of a new 300-page book on the business history of Rolex, billing itself as the first to be written “from independent historical research.” The book, titled “La Fabrique de l’excellence,” was published last week in French after two years of research. An English edition is in the works, the author said. Dr. Donzé, a French native speaker who grew up in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, said he had informed Rolex CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour of his plans to write o ..read more

(Photo credit: Rolex) Rolex will launch its biggest communication campaign of the year in less than two weeks, when it unveils the 2024 collection on all its platforms. Rolex won't be using TikTok though the viral video app has now passed 150 million U.S. monthly users equalling nearly half of America’s population. With $120 billion in global sales, it is also on track to overtake Meta as the world’s largest social media company by sales. When contacted about posting on TikTok, Rolex said it didn't wish to comment on future strategies. (It took the brand six years after creating an account on ..read more

(Image source: Rolex via USPTO) The designer at Rolex responsible for the palm motif dial and the violin dial, has designed a Milanese mesh bracelet for Rolex. That's according to patents filed by the brand in multiple countries. The clasp looks to be magnetic. While there is no guarantee Rolex will use a patented design, the fact the brand has commissioned the design of a Milanese mesh bracelet — a strap originally popular in the mid-19th century and now coming back en vogue, including on James Bond’s wrist — is the latest sign of Rolex's willingness to break with tradition and include retro ..read more