Last year, Rolex debuted a brand new family of watches called the 1908. They are serviceable, fine-looking dress watches that, until today, came in white or yellow gold with either a black or white dial. Roger Federer wore one to the Met Gala! Frankly, it wasn’t the type of design I was necessarily looking for from the Crown, which is best known for its stable of historic and category-defining sport watches like the Submariner, GMT, Explorer, and Daytona.
Well, it took Rolex all of one year and a major new color to turn me into a 1908 convert. The new version of the watch comes with a fierce, icy blue dial that helps the tuxedo-ready dress watch loosen its bowtie. And while last year’s dials were smooth, this year it carries a rice-grain pattern that seems to vibrate. The case is made out of platinum, the only material Rolex typically pairs with this color dial. This is the new Rolex: putting emojis in its date window, turning out stone-dial Daytonas, and remaking its dress watch in glacier blue.
Your favorite specialty sport watches, now in gold
For 2024, Rolex casts the Deepsea and two versions of the Sky-Dweller in gold. Let’s start with the Deepsea: The watch was launched in 2008 as the even sportier brother to the Sea-Dweller. The Deepsea was designed to let divers go deeper than ever before with a Rolex on their wrists, and over the decades it’s only pushed into that idea further. A special edition was released in 2014 to commemorate the 10,908-meters-deep dive James Cameron took to the Mariana Trench. So, it’s a surprise to see the watch for the first time ever in full yellow gold—more likely to get 10,000 likes on Instagram than go 10,000 meters underwater.
The Sky-Dweller also got an all-gold makeover for 2024. One variation comes in rose gold with a black dial while the other is yellow gold with a white dial. Unlike the Deepsea, the Sky-Dweller is no stranger to golden interpretations. It is the opposite of Bane: this watch was born in opulence. Similar to the GMT, the Sky-Dweller is a travel-time watch for the PJ set.
Hooray, more fun Day-Dates
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