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Live from Basel: What’s New from Rolex
There’s a 42 mm YachtMaster and new dials for the Day-Date 36, including pink opal and turquoise.
The new Rolex Day/Date 36 with a turquoise dial introduced at Baselworld. This is the first time in more than 20 years Rolex has used turquoise on a dial.
Basel, Switzerland—Rolex introduced a larger YachtMaster, a slew of new dials for the Day/Date 36 and a watch that is a more abstract—and some would say classier—take on the leopard print watch from the early aughts dubbed “The Mobutu.”
A consistent top seller for retailers in the United States, the Swiss watch brand added to the dial available for its Oyster Perpetual Day/Date 36 models.
There’s pink opal as well as a turquoise dial ($36,350, seen above), an Instagram favorite at the watch and jewelry trade show, which wraps up Tuesday in Switzerland.
Rolex also introduced Day/Date 36 models with green and brown ombre dials—dials that are slightly darker on the edges but lighten toward the center, a trend seen across brands at Baselworld 2019—and a diamond-pave dial version with colored sapphire hour markers.
All new Day/Date 36 watches are powered by the caliber 3255 movement, which has a 70-hour power reserve.
The Day/Date 36 in 18-karat white gold with a diamond-set bezel, pave diamond dial and 10 baguette-cut sapphire hour markers on a diamond-set President bracelet retails for $124,250.
The Day/Date 36 with a green ombre dial in 18-karat yellow gold retails for $34,550. Another new version has a brown ombre dial with an Everose bracelet ($40,250).
The Rolex Day/Date 36 with a pink opal dial on an 18-karat white gold band with a diamond-set bezel and diamond numerals was one of the brand’s introductions at Baselworld 2019 ($58,950).
The Oyster Perpetual Yacht-Master, meanwhile, has been upgraded from 37-40 mm to 42 mm and, for the first time, made with an 18-karat white gold case.
The watch has a bidirectional rotating bezel, 60-minute graduated Cerachrom bezel insert in matte black ceramic and is powered by the 3235 movement, with a 70-hour power reserve.
Following last’s year’s introduction of the GMT-Master II with the red and blue bezel (the “Pepsi” bezel), Rolex followed up with a GMT-Master II with a black and blue bezel this year, noting that the all-black bezel GMT models are no longer in production.
It is powered by the 3285 movement, with a 70-hour power reserve, and comes on a Jubilee bracelet with an Oystersteel case.
The new GMT-Master II with black and blue bezel has an Oystersteel case is available only on a Jubilee bracelet ($9,250).
The new, larger Yacht-Master 42 has an 18-karat white gold case and comes on the Oysterflex bracelet ($27,800).
Of course, the brand also pulled out a couple showstoppers for press.
In addition to the diamond-pave Day/Date 36 with sapphire hour markers, there was the Cosmograph Daytona with 36 trapeze-cut diamonds in the bezel and 243 pave diamonds on the black lacquer dial, designed to mimic animal print and is reminiscent of the leopard print Cosmograph dubbed “The Mombutu,” after the hats worn by Mobutu Sese Seko, the former dictator of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), who died in 1997.
Pictured above, the timepiece has a caliber 4130 movement with a 72-hour power reserve. It is priced at $103,100 and offered in limited number.
All watches introduced by Rolex at Baselworld will be available to retailers in early to mid-summer.
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