After a five year break (last visit was 2013) it was time to return to Baselworld.
This time was a very good reason to go: Rolex invited me (upon my request) to attend a product presentation with their new models. It was my first experience entering inside a brand at Baselworld. Of course, this was special to me and extremely exciting.
I have spent much of my collecting life so far dedicated to Rolex not only in terms of buying old models but also writing and researching about them. Although I have spent years familiarising myself with the vintage side of the brand; Rolex remains so secretive that I was not really familiar of how they operate as a brand.
In many ways you could argue it was my first glimpse inside the world of Rolex – not counting the times when I would bring my vintage watches to the Geneva manufacture for service. There are a few things I learned.
First Rolex is all about consistency.
They keep on making little improvements to the bezel or the crown, to the steel being harder more durable. To the Everose gold getting this special Rolex color. Useful changes like making the bezel out of ceramic that is easier to read, more durable. It is evolution rather than revolution at Rolex. This is what makes the brand so successful in my view.
Second Rolex does it their way with no exceptions. If a client wants a special watch done differently – Rolex does not do it other than what it offers in its portfolio. So, yes you can swap dials of your Daytona with another dial that Rolex produces and offers but if you want to customise your watch and make it unique – for example I asked if Rolex can make the Rainbow Daytona without the diamonds on the case for me – they told me no. There are no exceptions.
Third, the new signature at the bottom Swiss Made with a crown in between is not a marketing gimmick but rather denotes all the new movements within Rolex. It is why the new Rainbow Daytona does not carry this signature – the movement is not new.
With that being said let me share with you want I liked and what I didn’t and what I learned.
I arrived 15 minutes early for my 1:30 appointment. Time to catch up on Cerachrome and the definition that Rolex has for it.
The process of making the Cerachrome bezel the Rolex way. There are four steps from moulding (green disc below) to the final heating process (blue and red).
The Cerachrome bezel is used in four model lines within Rolex, the Daytona, the GMT Master, the Submariner and the Yachtmaster.
(Credit: Rolex press room).
It was the year of the GMT for Rolex in 2018. Here the new movement for the Rolex GMT Master, Calibre 3285.
Sitting in the wonderful waiting room of the Rolex house at Basel world, I saw executives climb up those stairs into private meeting rooms.
My best guess they were from Tourneau – the large US retailer that just got bought by a Swiss family company called Bucherer. Together this firm must now be the largest distributor for Rolex by far in the world.
An Italian man with an elegant white jacket was taking care of guests Espresso (and other) needs.
It goes without saying that he was wearing a tie with a crown.
I pretty much had the entire Rolex product presentation room to myself. This is the advantage of going on the second last day of Basel World.
The only other man present in the room was a very nice – and super well dressed man – who has been attending Basel world for 43 years in a row!
The first watch to catch my eye was this Everose GMT Master. I liked it in real even better than the bi-color I have to admit, it just had more presence. Having said that, the bi-color offers exceptional value for money compared to the Everose (CHF 13.4k versus CHF 35k for the Everose).
Let us see how it looked like on the wrist. That is the maximum size limit for me – 1 mm bigger and I am out of the picture.
The full Everose GMT has tremendous presence and is my favourite GMT to come out of Basel this year even if I find the bi-color almost as cool and much better value.
It was the year of the brown GMT Masters for Rolex (if you exclude the Pepsi which I didn’t care for anyway – more on that later).
This was also special for me since the very first Rolex watch I received from my mother was as bi-color GMT Master with brown dial, so called Rootbeer in 1992. I still have the watch and papers and box (long before it was fashionable to keep these).
Below both the bi-color and the full Everose GMT models that Rolex introduced this year. I love both models but the right one has more presence. For that the bi-color is unbeatable for the value for money.
Naturally I had to bring a brown GMT Master Ref 6542 as well from 1956.
Here the new Everose with the vintage GMT Master from 1956 with Bakelite bezel. One thing you really notice is the size difference between the old watches and the new ones.
Let me briefly comment on the new Pepsi Rolex GMT before we move on to another line: The Daytona.
I think the main problem is the how the watch looks on the jubilee bracelet. It looks clumsy and not natural. You have the big fat lugs and case and then this fine bracelet. There is little harmony between the two. I also don’t care for the blue and red bezel. I much prefer the warmth of the black and brown bezel.
The star attraction for me this year has to be this new redesigned rainbow Daytona.
It came with same movement (cal 4130) as prior but with new rainbow indexes (as opposed to diamonds)*. A small change of detail which makes the dial just much more attractive.
Another new feature is the Everose gold color (previously the rainbow Daytona was in normal gold). Recently Sothebys has posted a fabulous picture of the previous rainbow in normal gold** and I can´t help wonder if the gold version brings out the rainbow even more than the Everose? I think it might. Nonetheless I think both watches are absolutely marvellous.
The new rainbow Daytona has one big advantage over the last one and I think it is here where Rolex made a subtle but huge improvement: The dial.
The new Daytona just hypnotises you with the new indexes matching the rainbow bezel. You become defenceless to its charm. I often asked myself why I like this watch so much? It is not understated nor is it particularly classy. It is loud and very colorful. I am completely fascinated and in love with this watch. I think it has a few reasons.
First, we live in a world were everything is becoming conservative. We have to watch out what we say. What we do. We are expected to act, dress and be a certain way (this is especially true where I live). This watch is the contrary of that. Buyers of this watch don’t give a damn what other people think or say. This watch is so über cool in its audacity and loudness. I absolutely adore it. Think about – the most popular model of Rolex – the Daytona – put it in Gold, or in this Everose and cover it in stones that match the rainbow – and the collecting community is going crazy. Myself included. I love it.
This watch is a daring masterpiece that will be fought over by both men and women. Why women love it – is obvious. And I can totally see why men love it too:
It is so wrong that it is right.
(Thank you Rolex and particularly Celine M for organising the presentation and letting me in the secretive but wonderful world of Rolex. Thank you also for the fantastic chocolate.)
*Picture credit: Sotheby ** This rainbow Daytona is for sale at Sotheby’s in the upcoming April 2nd sale. More details see here.
Once outside I bumped into a German collector who had this fabulous Haribo Yachtmaster.
