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Hands-On: Rolex Yacht-Master 42 Watch Reference 226627 In RLX Titanium

The visceral experience of wearing the Yacht-Master 42 titanium is very odd for any long-time Rolex fan. Rolex more or less helped create the 20th-century notion that you can often measure the value of a watch by feeling how solid and weighty it is. Rolex watches have never been designed for lightness, so most of them are quite hefty, and beloved for that reason. It is common for someone to admire a precious metal Rolex simply by feeling its mass in the open palm of your hand.

The Rolex Yacht-Master 42 was introduced in 2019 with tones very similar to this titanium model, but rather in 18k white gold and on a black Rolex Oysterflex strap. A yellow gold version was eventually added, and it seemed as though Rolex’s largest Yacht-Master was destined to be a precious-metal-only product. The 2023 226627 Yacht-Master 42 changes that paradigm by adding in a full grade 5 titanium case and matching bracelet to the product family. This is what people should consider the first “wearable” Rolex watch produced from titanium.

Even though Rolex uses the same grade 5 titanium as other brands, it focuses a lot on surface finishing and polishing for this timepiece. Rolex uses a sort of deep-grain engraving, which is somewhat different from the same effect on steel. Titanium as a color is also a bit darker than the comparatively bright 904L steel that most other (non-precious metal) Rolex sport watches are made out of. Titanium does scratch, and I asked Rolex about the service plan for the Yacht-Master 42 in RLX titanium. To make a long story short, Rolex will offer the same “case refresh” service for its titanium watches as it does for its steel and gold watches, though in reality, Rolex will have to use some special processes to polish titanium so that it looks fresh and new again. “RLX titanium” is really just Rolex’s way of indicating that it polishes and finishes titanium metal differently from other brands (according to Rolex).

Other than being in titanium with the matching bracelet, there isn’t too much new here. The Yacht-Master 42 case is 42mm-wide and has similar proportions as other watches in the larger Oyster Perpetual watch. The case is water resistant to 100 meters, and around the dial is a uni-directional rotating bezel with a matte-black ceramic insert that matches the matte-dark-gray tone of the Yacht-Master 42 dial.

Inside the watch is the Rolex in-house-made caliber 3235 automatic movement that operates at 4Hz with about 70 hours of power reserve. The movement offers the time with date and on the sapphire crystal is a Rolex “cyclops” magnifier lens. Titanium is considered by many engineers to be the perfect material for wristwatch cases. While I don’t think it is possible to ever determine “bests” in regard to an emotional product, it is true that you can easily enjoy the Yacht-Master 42 in titanium from purely a tool watch perspective. The lighter weight and large size give this 42mm-wide Rolex an interesting and desirable personality. It also makes us wonder whether or not there will be more titanium Rolex watches in the future. Possibly some, but I don’t think that Rolex, primarily a maker of conspicuous jewelry-style watches, will heavily focus on a material that will not hold a high polish as nicely as steel, gold, or platinum watches.

For watch lovers and Rolex collectors, there really is a lot of novelty to wearing a Rolex watch in titanium simply because most people haven’t ever done so before. The sister brand Tudor has had the Pelagos, which, for a while, was really the more sober equivalent of this Rolex Yacht-Master 42 226627. It is also much less expensive, but it doesn’t have the iconic Oyster Perpetual case shape and the famous Submariner-style dial that this Yacht-Master does.

While the Yacht-Master 42 in RLX titanium raises a lot of interesting philosophical questions about what Rolex should and shouldn’t be doing, the product will be a commercial success given the current latent demand for high-end titanium sport watches and anything even remotely interesting from Rolex. Rolex has made it clear that production of the titanium Yacht-Master 42 is going to be limited in scope, in large part because there are so many pieces of titanium in the case, and especially the bracelet, that all need to bear precisely matching polishes and finishes. I don’t imagine that this watch is easy for Rolex to make, but we do know that Rolex could increase production of titanium watches if it ever wanted to. Price for the very interesting and comfortable reference 226627 Rolex Yacht-Master 42 in RLX titanium is $14,050 USD . Learn more at the Rolex watches website here .

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Why the Rolex Yacht-Master 42 Is the Perfect Poster Boy for a New Age

The watch industry is always changing, always evolving, always reacting to the conditions of the world. But some things seem eternal. Through good times and bad, one brand has, since its foundation in 1905, seemed immune to weakness. A history of constant innovation and textbook PR has resulted in a Rolex watch becoming one of the most desirable products in the world, and the brand name that is easily one of the most recognizable.

To establish the kind of reputation Rolex has, you have to do things differently. You also have to be ahead of the curve. Rolex has done that with aplomb in the past, and by carefully controlling the supply of steel watches, while moving the brand forward in a slightly different direction through the release of some headline-grabbing pieces at this year’s Baselworld (including the new Rolex Yacht-Master 42), Rolex is continuing to map its own destiny.

It didn’t begin with the renaissance of Tudor, but that event in 2007 now looks in retrospect to be the beginning of a transformation that elevated Rolex from a brand to some kind of looming deity. Simply put, Tudor is the new Rolex, and Rolex is a new thing entirely. When I speak to brand managers the world over (many of whom are trembling and sleep-deprived as the struggle to conceive strategies to lever attention away from the Crown) they all say the same thing in one way or another.

Rolex is no longer a brand; Rolex is a phenomenon. Trying to go toe-to-toe with Rolex is like boxing with your reflection, or shooting at smoke. It’s a fight you can’t win. It isn’t about the fact your opponent is stronger than you, it’s about the fact that your opponent is fighting on a different plane of existence entirely.

For three years I managed the sales accounts of a well-known German brand across 17 countries. Despite the vastly differing cultures, tastes, and consumer motivations, the presence and adulation of Rolex were ever-present. The power of the Crown is never more felt than when trying to negotiate space in a retail environment for the product of another brand.

For example, I once asked a retailer if I could commandeer thirty centimeters of unused counter space in his store. His face screwed up instantly as if suddenly overtaken by a crippling bout of indigestion. “Well,” he said through gritted teeth, “I’ll have to check with Rolex.”

Duly, he made the call. The answer came back as predicted.

“No,” he said, unable to make eye-contact with me. “Rolex wants that space now.”

I had offered him a full collection of watches with an extended payment terms so he could get the models into his store and test the water before making a significant financial investment. In contrast, Rolex had offered him one GMT Master II “Batman” (on the professional bracelet, not the Jubilee). The choice, for him, was simple. The “Batman” was already sold. It was money in the bank. And his relationship with Rolex – the lifeblood of his livelihood – was intact.

Trying to build a brand next to Rolex is like growing a tree in the shadow of a mountain. It’s not impossible, but there isn’t much light left to go around.

That kind of power is hard to contend with. Rolex has cultivated it over generations. One way in which they’ve managed this is to have been a tireless inventor. The brand’s watches have always been innovative and eminently practical. With every stone turned over in search of incremental gains, Rolex even changed the type of steel it uses in the production of its watches because it could.

Rolex uses 904L, while most of the industry uses 316L stainless steel. Most notable is 904L’s higher molybdenum content, which reduces the chance that the steel will pit or corrode. Although this kind of benefit is the sort of thing you might imagine other brands trying to cash in on, it isn’t that simple. 904L stainless steel is notoriously difficult to work with. Not only do you need special tools to cut it, you also need to be patient as it has an annoying tendency to overheat while being machined. This means manufacturers using 904L must be patient to avoid it blowing up (almost literally) in their faces.

Despite its foibles, Rolex’s first use of 904L steel was in a 1988 Sea-Dweller, and its collection-wide adoption of it in 2003 has been one of the brand’s calling cards. It makes perfect sense for a rugged sports watch brand that is hell-bent on improving the performance of its products. But the thing is, Rolex is changing. Rolex, for all its insistence that it is still a brand built around endeavor and adventure, is transitioning into something else, and its special steel (Oystersteel as they’ve started calling it since 2018) is no longer as central to the brand’s image as it once was.

Around the time of the Tudor rebrand (2007), you could still buy a Rolex no-date Submariner for around four and a half grand. Today the price is double that. Even adjusting for inflation won’t make you feel much better about not loading up on Submariners when you had the chance to get them for a relative song.

But crazier than the current retail prices is the current availability. In 2007, you could walk into a store and buy a green dial, green bezel Rolex Submariner “Hulk” out of the cabinet. If you had the money, you could get the watch. Waiting lists, enforced scarcity, and secondary market prices double the ticket just didn’t exist like they do today. Now, finding a retailer that has a professional model in stock is harder than finding a hen with teeth.

Tudor, meanwhile, has remained very fairly priced. With all the benefits of Rolex’s know-how and freedom to reinvent the brand, Tudor has carved its own niche with its own audience. It is, almost without a doubt, the Rolex of its generation.

Its savvy marketing campaign, excellent build quality, and never-overstated connection to the industry’s Big Brother has made it a hit with the customers discovering the industry for the first time. The Pelagos and Black Bay watches of today will likely be future classics in the way the Submariners and the Datejusts of old are today.

But since Rolex became an industry super-power, removed from the regular concerns of watch companies, it needed a new champion, a poster boy for a new age, a darling that is at once everything Rolex was and everything it is going to be…

The Rolex Yacht-Master 42

The stage could not have been more perfectly set for the release of the Rolex Yacht-Master 42 ref. 226659 at this year’s Baselworld. With its white gold case, simple black dial, matte black Cerachrom bezel, and black Oysterflex rubber strap, it is the epitome of stealth luxury. It also happens to be just about the most hypnotic black/black diver on a rubber band that anyone could imagine.

Why is the Yacht-Master 42 so perfect for this new age? Well, its a barrel load of contradictions packed into a 42mm case. But those contradictions are what make Rolex the brand it is these days. They are what makes it so hard to copy what the brand does. Because, on paper, it just doesn’t add up.

For all intents and purposes, the Yacht-Master 42 is a sports watch. And yet it’s not. Not really – its white gold case puts paid to that idea before the conversation even begins. It is instead, perhaps the most luxurious, desirable, deliciously devil-may-care thing the brand has ever produced.

Within the 18k white gold case of the Yacht-Master 42 is the Rolex Caliber 3235. The recipient of 14 patents, it includes the new Chronergy escapement, which is highly efficient and dependable. It contains all the hallmarks of a Rolex Perpetual movement suited to an active lifestyle, such as the Blue Parachrom hairspring (highly resistant to magnetic fields and temperature interference) and the Paraflex shock absorption system.

When you think of crazily luxurious watches made by Rolex, you’d be forgiven for thinking of a diamond-encrusted case, or even a rainbow bezel. But this trumps them all. The Yacht-Master 42 is the kind of luxury that only people in the know understand. For your investment, you don’t get anything that will scream your wealth across a room. Instead, you get something that is deliberately pared back. Something that is designed to catch the corner of an onlooker’s eye, but not their full attention. The Yacht-Master 42 is a watch that demands awareness to be appreciated. This is something for the wearer themselves to enjoy. Something deeply personal. Something deeply Rolex.

There are many stories as to where the five-pronged logo of Rolex comes from, and even more about what it represents. But if we take it for what it simply appears to be, it could not be more fitting. This brand is king. It may not have the finest movement finishing, the most mind-boggling complications, or price tags on a level with mansions or private jets, but Rolex has a heritage, a character, and a reputation that cannot be usurped. With this new direction with the Yacht-Master 42 carving out an evermore inaccessible niche, the brand next to whom any other would be happy to sit continues to stride further and further away from the pack.

About Rob Nudds

Rob Nudds is a WOSTEP-trained watchmaker, who graduated from the British School of Watchmaking. After working at the bench with brands such as Omega, Longines, Blancpain, and Bremont, he began working for NOMOS Glashütte, managing a retail network covering 17 countries, most notably the UK and USA.

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Hands-On Rolex Made A Wearable Titanium Watch – How Are People Not Freaking Out?

Any other year, the titanium yacht-master 42 would steal the show for rolex. this year, the brand has so many crazy releases that the ym flies under the radar. here's why it still matters..

A year ago, the very idea of a titanium Rolex was relegated to wild dreams. A prototype had been seen on the wrist of British competitive sailor Sir Ben Ainslie, but the widely circulated online photo had gotten so old that some of us began to wonder if the watch would ever see the light of day.

The pic that launched our titanium dreams. Image by Ineos Britannia Team / C GREGORY

Now, in less than five months, we've gotten two watches from the Crown cased in RLX Titanium (a grade 5 titanium). The first was last year's 50mm Deep Sea Special , the mega dive watch that obliterated the water-resistance record. And now this week we have the Yacht-Master 42, which unlike the DSS is sized so that a normal human being could conceivably wear it. 

Here it is. The first practically sized titanium Rolex, the new Yacht-Master 42. 

It's a big deal. But when seen next to Daytonas with display casebacks, Day-Dates with emojis, a solid-gold GMT-Master II, and an entirely new line of dress watches, a titanium Yacht-Master barely moves the needle of surprise and excitement. What a wild 48 hours this has been for the House of Wilsdorf.

In some ways, it feels like the appropriate response to not be that excited. After all, at this point every other watchmaker under the sun has made a titanium watch, from affordable Citizens in multiple colors of bezels and dials to Jean-Claude Biver's $500,000 minute repeater tourbillon announced Sunday.

And yet, as soon as the new titanium Yacht-Master ref. 226627 started to be passed around the room of Hodinkee editors during this week's Watches & Wonders trade show, the general reaction was just to laugh with surprise. This 42mm watch, which looks so sturdy, feels so unbelievably light. I mean, that's titanium for you. But still. You can't quite believe this watch is real, on a number of different levels. 

For any of us who've ever tried on a steel Submariner (a.k.a. anyone with a passing interest in Rolex), it's kind of comical to find out how much your brain is preconditioned to see a 42mm steel Oyster case, round indices, and Mercedes hands and think about the luxurious heft that awaits you.

At around 100 grams, according to Rolex, the titanium Yacht-Master is so light it breaks your brain.

For a moment, let's compare the new YM to last year's titanium Pelagos from Rolex's sister brand Tudor. Rolex's choice to put the watch on a bracelet instead of a sportier Oysterflex makes the comparison obvious. I've now spent time with both pieces, and I prefer the Yacht-Master. 

The YM, like the Pelagos, is distinctly a tool watch – something that would have been hard to say about Yacht-Masters in the past. But the finishing a world apart, which is saying something for such an understated metal as titanium.

Rolex's proprietary grade 5 "RLX Titanium" (stronger than the grade 2 of the Pelagos) has the curious property of being equally able to be brushed satin or polished, which means it has the nice sharp and shiny chamfers that you'd like to see contrasted against the dark grey and relatively matte metal. That combination also works well with the more matte and textured dial – and with the contrast of the raised black numerals against a matte ceramic bezel insert, which is is the main giveaway that this is still squarely a Yacht-Master.

My main critique (which I share into the void, knowing that Rolex designers will do whatever they think best) is that I wish they'd  stuck to the no-date design of Ainsilie's prototype. In the practical application of most sailing races, there's really no use for a date. If you're blue-water sailing and circumnavigating the globe, maybe its useful, though just like dive watches the practical application gives way to the reality of technology. So why not refine the design further and leave the date off altogether? And while we're at it, a better quick-adjustment option would be great.

The price is somewhat immaterial – CHF 13,400 – since the average collector won't be able to get it at retail anytime soon. But the new Yacht-Master 42 is more than a solid release. It's a more than a titanium proof of concept. It's a wearable piece that portends at least the possibility of future experiments with this fascinating material. 

For more information visit Rolex. 

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Hands-On Debut: Rolex Yacht-Master 42 in Titanium RLX

First introduced in 2019, Rolex is taking a new approach to the Yacht-Master 42 series, this time opting for a new case and bracelet material: titanium RLX. This grade 5 titanium alloy is exclusive to Rolex and has previously only been used for the Oyster Perpetual Deepsea Challenge presented last year. According to the brand, the extremely robust and corrosion-resistant metal makes the watch, which is designed for sailing, 30 percent lighter than other titanium watches.

The combination of polished, high-sheen, and technical satin finishes illustrates the brand’s prowess in finishing techniques. Together, they produce a subtle blend of textures and light, the gleaming polished surface of the crown guard and the lustrous high-sheen on the top edges of the lugs are radiant. Contrastingly, the matte surface created by technical satin finishing – with its pronounced grain – is visible on the case and Oyster bracelet. The bracelet is equipped with the Rolex Easylink 5mm comfort extension link.

In terms of design, the new version remains faithful to the original model presented in 2019. As in previous releases, it features a bidirectional bezel with a Cerachrom insert in matte black ceramic with raised and polished numerals and graduations.

The bezel frames the black dial that offers exceptional legibility in all circumstances, thanks to its Chromalight display. The broad hands and hour markers in simple shapes – triangles, circles, rectangles – are filled with a luminescent material emitting a long-lasting glow. Inside the watch is the manufacture caliber 3235.

Pricing for the updated Rolex Yachet-Master 42 is marked at $14,500.

To learn more, visit Rolex, here .

Love this piece from Rolex ! Cunningly it is not available as a 40mm so as to not hurt the sales of the platinum bezel YM’s…

The first ROLEX I really liked in years. It looks good, the material is about time. Owned at least three to four ROLEXEs, but not one was accurate out of the box. I also own three GP’s and two IWCs, a Jaeger, a Cartier, all are accurate out of the box. Go figure. I bought my first ROLEX at Cartier on Fifth Ave in the late sixties, branded with both ROLEX and Cartier label. It cost $190 with leather, not metal, bracelet. The ROLEX HQ was next door. I had to take the watch to it to get the time adjusted.

After all these years of no real change to fire one’s interest, other than the subject of the article above, ROLEX in my mind has become boring, as well as overpriced for the product they serve the public.

I am amazed though at the advertising prowess of the company everywhere on the planet, which must add at least $2000-3000 to each watch sold. That means that each watch sold is actually worth that amount less than the sale price. I’d rather put m money into the watch than the advertising company’s pockets.

I urge anyone reading this to pick up an IWC Ingeneur AGM ceramic series watch, check the back for the movement, and make his comparison to the value against the ROLEX of his choice. You’ll immediately see what I speak of. Incidentally, my father was a master watchmaker.

I agree with you it is a long time awaited stunning piece. Of course, titanium being my metal of choice, I might not be objective…LOL You really had an unfortunate series of bad luck with your Rollies. May I ask if you have had any recent iterations? Because at my house, the recent models all keep time like…”a swiss clock”…with about 1 second or less per day, constant months after months. You are privileged that your dad was a master watchmaker.

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• How Rolex Became King: A Brief History of the World’s Most-Renowned Watchmaker

Rolex became the dominant industrial watchmaker through a series of eccentric, and effective, business practices.

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Rolex is the first—and often the only—watch brand people think of when it comes to high-end timepieces. But beyond that instant recognition, Rolex has become a broad cultural touchstone with symbolic meaning and social significance that speaks across cultures.

While such powerful branding may be ineffable on some level, it is possible to pinpoint the visionary strategies that put Rolex on the horological throne. Five of those strategies stand out: Rolex’s technical innovation, marketing é lan, design consistency, financial independence and selective scarcity have generated the company’s global presence in the hearts and minds of billions of people.

Technical Innovations

Demand for Rolex watches rose swiftly, and British taxes on the Swiss movements Rolex used prompted Wilsdorf to relocate the business to Geneva, Switzerland , in 1919. With production costs lowered, Wilsdorf set out to solve the problem of moisture and dust entering the watch case and damaging the movement. The Rolex team came up with a fully sealed watch case, which Wilsdorf dubbed the Oyster , and released it to much fanfare in 1926. During the 1920s this screwed-together device was so innovative that some consumers, who were accustomed to protecting their watches even from rain, were skeptical. It would take some marketing brilliance to convince the general population that the Oyster case was, indeed, waterproof.

Interestingly, the Oyster case structure is the reason for the fluted bezel found on so many Rolex models today. That bezel was fluted to receive an interlocking tool used to screw the bezel on and off of the mid-case. The caseback was similarly fluted for the same reasons, but like any caseback, it never became a dominant aesthetic cue. For decades, Rolex’s fluted bezels have served no function, and the fluting itself has become gently flared (more like waves than ridges) to the point where, even if one tried, no tool could interlock. As with other technical innovations from Rolex, the visual impact has long outlived its functionality to become a signature of the brand. Witness a professional tennis match , an international airport clock or a Rolex ad today and you’re guaranteed to see that gleaming fluted bezel doing nothing more than gleam. It’s an interesting case of form outliving function.

Despite Switzerland’s neutrality, WWII was challenging for the Swiss watch industry, and technological innovations aimed at the civilian market were few. Many watch companies retooled to focus on war contracts, which demanded simple, rugged watches for ground soldiers and pilots. Always the maverick with an eye on the long-game, Rolex only supplied a limited number of watches to the British military and otherwise marched forward with innovations for the civilian market. In 1945, Rolex released the Datejust. The Datejust was the first watch to have the date jump instantaneously at midnight, rather than taking hours to turn over as in most mechanical wristwatches. Legend has it that the name comes from the date jumping just before midnight.

After the war, Rolex was uniquely poised to supply an increasingly affluent civilian market that wanted futuristic products, and the brand found innovations. Rolex secured the patent for the date magnifier, or Cyclops , around 1950, and it appeared for the first time in 1953 on that year’s edition of the Datejust. To this day, no watch is as instantly recognizable as a Rolex with a Cyclops and a fluted bezel, making the Datejust, Day-Date and Sky-Dweller horological icons. By launching the Cyclops on the Datejust, Wilsdorf literally magnified one modernization with the other, a brilliant marketing move that capitalized on his well-honed instinct for titillating his customers with exclusive introductions.

Marketing Innovations

We can’t quite say that Wilsdorf invented the adventurous and athletic brand ambassador. Cartier’s watches adorned the wrists of famous pilots, and Jaeger LeCoultre’s Reverso were hot on the polo circuit. But Wilsdorf would repeatedly make sure his watches were on the wrists of some of the bravest people that accomplished some of the most daring feats of the day. Specifically, Wilsdorf understood that when someone sets a record, they’re going to make the papers, and setting records was a 20th-century obsession. With Rolex’s decidedly rugged, adventure-ready timepieces—which stood in stark contrast to what most watch brands were producing at the time—Wilsdorf could legitimately equip explorers and daredevils with expedition-ready timepieces.

Consumers were still highly skeptical of the Rolex Oyster’s ability to resist water. Wilsdorf put those doubts to rest by submerging Rolex Oysters in aquariums he had set up in the windows of high-traffic department stores such as Harrods , in London, while ads brought images of submerged Oysters to a much broader international customer base.

1933 – A Rolex flies over Mt. Everest at an altitude exceeding 33,000 feet with the first team to do so, as part of the Houston Expedition.

1935 – A Rolex sets the world record for land speed at 276 mph alongside celebrity driver Sir Malcolm Campbell. A few months later, he would break the 300 mph barrier at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah.

1953 – A Rolex accompanies Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on the first successful summit of Mt. Everest. Rolex releases a version of that watch called the Explorer in the same year.

1955  – Rolex watches accompany the first commercial intercontinental flights. Rolex then equips Pan American pilots with GMT Masters.

1956 – US President Lyndon B. Johnson famously sports a Rolex Day-Date, and Rolex advertises heavily around the ensuing association with world leaders.

1956 – The Milgauss is proven to withstand a magnetic field measuring 1000 gauss at the CERN particle accelerator. Ads announcing this were targeted toward engineers and scientists.

1960 – A Rolex Deep Sea Special descends to the bottom of the Mariana Trench aboard the record-setting submarine Trieste , a feat that made the papers worldwide.

1963 – Rolex launches the Cosmograph Daytona, an automotive-specific chronograph, linking the brand interminably with one of the world’s most famous motorways.

1976 –  Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Oyster, the Rolex Awards for Enterprise program is launched to award individuals who make significant contributions to improving the world in arenas from conservation to health. Rolex explains, “The awards were designed to fill a void in corporate philanthropy by supporting exceptional individuals around the world, pioneers who had no or little access to traditional funding and were responding to major challenges with original and innovative projects that advance human knowledge and well-being.”

1992 – Rolex launches the Yacht-Master and begins sponsoring yacht races that draw worldwide audiences to this day.

2002 – The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative is initiated, which sponsors creative individuals in the arts, linking Rolex to a wide swath of artists, musicians, performers and architects. The cultural capital of these affiliations has, no doubt, some value for Rolex, but, as we shall explore below, may be more about fulfilling Wilsdorf’s vision for Rolex to become a true corporate benefactor.

Financial Independence & Not-For-Profit Status

What truly sets Wilsdorf apart from so many founders—and what sets Rolex apart from so many corporations—is that upon Wilsdorf’s death in 1960, ownership of Rolex S.A. (a conglomerate of interlinked sub-companies) passed to the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation (founded by Wilsdorf in 1945), the mission of which is simply to sustain Rolex S.A. indefinitely. Under Swiss law, Rolex does not pay taxes on its $4 billion annu al revenue, and because the corporate entities are private businesses, Rolex is not required to disclose any financial records. This arrangement makes Rolex’s business practices entirely opaque, yet it seems clear that Rolex’s contributions to its various charitable outlets (the aforementioned Awards for Enterprise and Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative) are significant. Both of those charities are managed by the Rolex Institute, a kind of parent charity that—assuming it is like most other not-for-profits—likely holds a significant endowment into which some portion of that $4 billion in revenue must go. Operational and development expenses would, of course, eat up a significant portion of the annual revenue as well.

Speculation aside, Rolex is uniquely positioned to do nothing more than sustain itself how it sees fit. There is no mandate to grow market share or to increase profits, and certainly, the company’s vision looks far afield of the current financial quarter. By setting up his legacy this way, Wilsdorf’s esoteric entrepreneurial spirit has outlived him, resulting in two business practices that would surely irk quarterly focused investors: ignoring trends and shorting supply.

Design Consistency

Blancpain, which actually issued the first dive watch, the Fifty Fathoms, one year ahead of Rolex, changed up its design according to the trends of the 1970s—a move that eventually shrunk Blancpain’s stature in the dive watch market to the point where the model was dropped from the catalog. In 2007, Blancpain revived the Fifty Fathoms in its original form, and these retro-styled models have now become a catalog staple. Audemars Piguet issued the Royal Oak in the 1970s , setting off a trend for luxurious steel sports watches that saw traditionalists like IWC and Patek Philippe chasing down this emerging market, with the Ingenieur and the Nautilus, respectively. Rolex responded by upping production of the Submariner, GMT Master and Daytona, but adhered to only making incremental mechanical improvements and modest tweaks to the original designs. Trends in dress watches began shifting rapidly in the 1990s, and Rolex did nearly nothing to respond, keeping most models as recognizable as ever.

Selective Scarcity

Perhaps the scarcity of classic Rolex steel professional models on the vintage market has inspired Rolex’s current practice of shorting demand for the modern versions. Or perhaps Rolex, like most luxury brands, is using scarcity to build an aura of exclusivity around their brand. Whatever the thinking, Rolex boutiques are bereft of specific steel versions of their professional models, namely the GMT Master, Submariner, Deep Sea, Explorer II, Sky-Dweller, the Yacht-Master I & II and especially the Daytona—but you’ll have an equally difficult time getting just about any watch from a Rolex dealer without joining a waiting list . The Explorer I and Air-King—often called entry-level Rolexes— are comparatively easy to get, and yet still difficult to find.

In short, Rolex now privileges their most loyal customers (read: those who spend the most), while a newcomer will most likely never get the call. It’s a psychology trick straight out of the Ferrari playbook, and it has only made Rolex that much more desirable among people of all kinds around the world.

It is ironic that Rolex has managed to create the air of exclusivity and luxury around watches that originally had the air of utility; these were tool watches that no well-dressed person in the 1950s and ’60s would wear outside of the job scenario for which these watches were created. It would have been solid-gold Day-Dates and Datejusts that went with a suit or evening gown. The irony mushrooms, as many watch aficionados express boredom with expensive gold Rolexes while heralding anyone who can obtain, say, a recent GMT Master in steel.

Clearly shorting this market has been working for Rolex, who could certainly bump up production of these models and sell them like hotcakes. But anyone who has walked into an authorized Rolex dealer and asked if they could get a steel Sky-Dweller or GMT Master will experience the ineffable aura of exclusivity that this practice wraps around the retail experience. Further, Rolex fans commiserating about the “unobtainium” watches generates a street-level buzz that most brands only dream of.

It’s hard to imagine that Rolex could get away with not meeting market demand if they were solely beholden to quarterly profits. Wilsdorf’s visionary long-game lives on in this practice, which seems to perfectly embody his innovative methods of generating buzz at any cost. Simultaneously, Rolex’s commitment to its original designs seems to have assured that Rolex watches will never go out of style, even as new materials and technologies slowly make their way into new models. Being eternally in vogue, more than anything, has assured that Rolex will remain king for the foreseeable future.

Allen is Robb Report's digital watch editor. His writing and photography have appeared in Fortune, Hodinkee, WatchTime, International Watch and many others. When he's not obsessing over vintage…

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Oyster Perpetual

Yacht-Master

Staying on course, mapping invisible routes.

For those at sea, staying on course is a constant challenge. When dealing with the elements, nothing is certain and constant reaction is required to stay in the right direction. Since its launch in 1992, the Oyster Perpetual Yacht-Master has been equipped with a bidirectional rotatable bezel that facilitates the calculation and reading of navigational time. Elegantly combining functionality and nautical style, this watch has made its mark well beyond its professional realm.

A shared quest for precision

Knowing where you are in space and time, setting a course and sticking to it are vital in navigation. Given its function, the watch is an essential tool for sailors to assess their position. Regarded as the most precise horological instruments in the world, marine chronometers have been certified by astronomical observatories since the 18th century. At the time, the ultimate authority for measuring chronometric precision was the Kew Observatory in Great Britain.

In 1914, the founder of Rolex, Hans Wilsdorf, had one of the brand’s watches tested by this very observatory, which certified it as a chronometer: a first in the watchmaking world for a wristwatch. Since then, renowned sailors, such as Sir Francis Chichester and Bernard Moitessier, have navigated the seas with Rolex wristwatches serving as onboard chronometers.

Matching the precision of marine chronometers was fundamental to Rolex’s watchmaking.

Designed for navigators

Sailing occupies a special place in the world of Rolex. In 1958, the brand partnered the New York Yacht Club, creator of the legendary America’s Cup. Rolex then formed partnerships with several prestigious yacht clubs around the world and became associated with major nautical events – offshore races and coastal regattas.

These strong ties culminated in 1992 with the launch of the Yacht-Master. Boasting the robustness and waterproofness of our Oyster case, this chronometer is fitted with a bidirectional bezel with raised 60-minute graduations to enable navigational time to be calculated and read.

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Precious on land and at sea

Available in three diameters – 37, 40 and 42 mm – and in various precious versions – 18 kt yellow, white and Everose gold – as well as in Everose Rolesor and Rolesium versions, the Yacht-Master is unique in the world of Rolex professional watches. An elegant watch with a sporty character, it was the first to be paired with an Oysterflex bracelet in 2015.

In 2023, after testing under real-life conditions by acclaimed helmsman Sir Ben Ainslie, Rolex launched a new version of the Yacht-Master 42. It is made of RLX titanium, a high-performance material, at once light, robust and corrosion resistant.

A veritable ally at sea, the Yacht-Master also elegantly adorns the wrists of navigators once back on solid ground. With many different versions, it is a model that transcends its seafaring origins. It has become a watch for those who know how to change course without losing sight of the horizon, moving freely.

Yacht-Master 42

Oyster, 42 mm, yellow gold.