"As the company that either invented or popularized the dive watch, the GMT watch, the first water-resistant watch, the first automatic watches, and much more besides, you could hardly downplay Rolex's influence on watchmaking history. But while its iconic sports watches, like the Submariner, Daytona and GMT-Master are endlessly imitated, Rolex is not seen as a trendsetter, preferring to ignore passing horological fashions. It does its own thing, iterating carefully and minimally on its age-old templates."
"They were bright, bold and almost childlike in their purity: coral red, green, turquoise, pink and yellow. Rolex-watchers immediately hailed them as a tribute to the so-called Stella dial Day-Date watches of the late 1970s and 1980s-equally bright and unexpected, and evocative of a louche, sybaritic age. But there was something more basic, more essential and, at least theoretically, more attainable about the Oyster Perpetual collection."
Rolex introduced a coordinated palette of bold, bright dials for the Oyster Perpetual five years ago, launching a whole complementary set at once rather than rolling out colors slowly. The hues included coral red, green, turquoise, pink and yellow and evoked the Stella dial Day-Date watches of the late 1970s and 1980s. The Oyster Perpetual collection felt more basic, more essential and, at least theoretically, more attainable than ostentatious designs. The coordinated launch became an industry norm and continues to influence creative decisions, prompting imitators such as Zenith’s collaboration with Swiss furniture-maker USM at Geneva Watch Days 2025, Oris’s Big Crown Pointer Date, and Omega’s 2023 Seamaster Aqua Terra releases.
Read at WIRED
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