Saturday, March 04, 2023

2023 Rolex Predictions for Watches And Wonder in Geneva, Switzerland

 







70TH Anniversary Rolex Submariner?

You can't help but notice that everybody and their mother have been speculating on what Rolex will be introducing at Watches And Wonders later this month in Geneva. Rolex is extremely unpredictable and you never know what they will do!?!! My best guess is Rolex might introduce a special edition 70th Anniversary Rolex Submariner—perhaps in a model made out of Titanium or Platium. 

Of course, this is dependent on wether or not Rolex perceives the introduction year of the Submariner as 1953, or 1954, as Rolex tested many prototypes of the Submariner in 1953, but formally debuted it at Basel Fair in 1954. So, maybe Rolex will surprise us with something unusual like a left-handed Submariner. 
 






In the photo above we see a vintage "Lefty" Rolex Submariner which lacks crown guards. You can learn much more in my 20 part series titled "The Complete History of The Rolex Submariner & SEA-DWELLER: Rolex's Conquest of the Ocean."


70TH Anniversary Rolex Milgauss?

Our Captain Danny mentioned that he thinks they might come out with a new Rolex Milgauss model as it's the last sports model that doesn't have the 32XX movement. Also, the earliest the Milgauss could have been introduced was 1954, or later.



60TH Anniversary Rolex Daytona?

Many people have been speculating that Rolex might introduce a 60th Anniversary Daytona model. The challenge is that Rolex really didn't formally launch the Daytona name until 1965/1966. Many Rolex models have a confusing genesis date for many different reasons. Rolex claims the "Cosmograph Daytona" was introduced in 1963 as seen below. This would be accurate if you based it upon the actual chronograph watch model they came out with.




As we see below, Rolex filed a trademark with the United States Patent Office (USPTO) in 1961 for use on their watch and chronometer, claiming it was first registered in Switzerland on June 11, 1953. 




This is confusing because Rolex first used the COSMOGRAPH designation on their Rolex triple date moon phase model (Reference 6062) as we see in the Rolex ad below.


Below we see a 1964 Rolex 'Le Mans' magazine ad from the Concannon Collection introducing the Rolex Le Mans. In other words, Rolex originally intended to call their chronograph the Le Mans, and NOT Daytona.



In early 1965 Rolex published the following advertisement linking their Chronograph with racing, but did NOT use the name "Daytona".


Later in 1965. Rolex Rolex re-introduced the same Rolex Chronograph as the Rolex Daytona Chronograph as seen in the Rolex Magazine ad below which is also from the Concannon Collection.


To make things even more confusing, there were Rolex chronograph models as seen below [Reference 6263] where one has the 'Cosmograph' designation on the left, but without a 'Daytona' dial designation, whereas the model on the right also features a 'Daytona' dial designation!?!!



Now that I have probably confused you to death with my Daytona history analysis above, keep in mind we will have complete live coverage on March 30th, and I might update this article as news comes in, but stay tuned!!!