So there is no such thing as a nondescript Rolex. Each one has character. (Even our costly dress watches are designed to do more than look good.)
If you want a watch with honest character rather than superficial style, consider these telling facts:
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Rolex invented the swimproof watch. The Rolex Oyster case is quaranteed waterproof and still the only one of its kind in the world. The “Twinlock” winding crown is the most notable feature of an Oyster case. This winding crown alone costs as much to make as the entire case of other fine watches. The Oyster case itself costs as much to make as the case and movement of most other watches.
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It takes 84 separate precision operations to get the shape of an Oyster. It is filed and polished by hand because no machine can give the profile which is so unique and so well-regarded. The Geneva-made Oyster case is constructed in special Swedish stainless steel or in gold or platinum; there is no joining, soldering or welding, and no operation to alter the structure of the metal. So precise is the work on a Rolex Oyster that the crystal (made to one-hundredth of a millimeter) is placed, not stamped, in the case, and this push-on fit is 100% waterproof.
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Rolex watches have equipped most of the important expeditions of the past 30 years. They have been to the highest point of the earth’s surface, and at the bottom of the deepest ocean chasm known to man. There is a Rolex Oyster on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. This is the special watch which was fitted to the outside of the bathyscaph “Trieste” when it dived to a record depth of 35,798 feet – nearly 7 miles. The Rolex Oyster returned to the surface, having withstood pressures of nearly 7 tons per square inch, still working perfectly.
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A Rolex Oyster is not only waterproof and climateproof, it is antimagnetic and shock-resisting. It is the most protected watch movement in the world. Miners working at the pit-face in the Auguste Viktoria mine in Germany’s Ruhr, where no watch has been able to stand the constant slamming of the hydraulic tools, the penetrating dust and high temperatures, have found that the Rolex Oyster will take the punishment.
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Rolex make but a small percentage of the watches made in Switzerland, yet Rolex have been awarded nearly 800,000 Official Timing Certificates for wrist-chronometers – or close to half of the entire Swiss chronometer production during the last 50 years. Limited production is necessary, in order to maintain the Rolex standard. You may have to wait a while for the Rolex watch of your choice but it will be worth it.
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The Rolex “Datejust” was the world’s first waterproof, self-winding calendar wrist-chronometer showing the date in a dial window. The Rolex “Day-Date” was the first wrist watch to show the date and the day of the week in full. The “Day-Date” is generally recognised to be the crowning achievement of the Swiss watch-making industry. When you buy a Rolex you buy leadership in fine features – every Rolex is an “original”, not a copy.
