Watches and Wonders 2023: Rolex Teaser Dropped

...Watches and Wonders 2023...

NEW ROLEX

TEASER

Rolex Drops 20-second Video

The question on every Rolex fan's lips is what will the brand reveal when it trumpets its 2023 lineup Monday at 8:30 CET in Geneva. But the 20-second clip Rolex released today says it will have something for us "from the slightest detail to the greatest inspiration."

PLAY-BY-PLAY ANALYSIS

EXPLORER 

The key to these teasers is to always look at the environment. The first watch we see has a smooth bezel and an Arabic "6" marker, and the environment is cave-like with crystals. It's interesting to see that Rolex might be releasing a new Explorer just two years after it released the 36mm Explorer which came in steel and also two-tone. Moreover, the bracelet doesn't look like a steel Oyster bracelet. Could it be an Explorer on Oysterflex? Let's do a slow-mo, back and forth, back and forth. It is hard to tell, but if it is an Oysterflex then the Explorer will be in full precious metal.

YACHT-MASTER

The second watch we are treated to (below) has raised numerals on its bezel which means a Yacht-Master. But the watch is not sporting an Oysterflex. Instead the case, case flank and bracelet seem brushed. Is this an Oystersteel bracelet or are we seeing the titanium Yacht-Master first spotted on Ben Ainslie's wrist? Notice also the beveled lugs on the case. Beveled lugs were brought back with the Deepsea Challenge last November.

GMT-MASTER II

The watch below is another professional model. The GMT hand is barely perceptible but it's there. If it's a yellow-gold GMT then it would be a first in the 1267XX line. But if it's a rose-gold GMT, it begs the question: What is so different about a rose-gold GMT which we already have with the Rootbeer? Will it be equipped with a Jubilee bracelet this time, like the Rootbeer of yore? More radical still: Was the GMT case redesigned to resemble the one of a Submariner 41, with finer lugs?

OYSTER PERPETUAL

For less than a second, Rolex shows us the bottom half of a watch with a brushed Oyster bracelet. But if we look at its shadow, we can see two things: A crown on the left. And no crown guard. The OP and Explorer are the only two Rolex watches with both a brushed Oyster bracelet and no crown guard in the collection. 

DAYTONA

 

In the second half of the teaser, we can't miss the road markings, the racetrack and two race cars. That means a new Daytona. But no part of the Daytona is being teased... unless it is one of the color dials we see in the teaser video. (On that dial, it's unclear if the second hand at 12 o'clock is actually a chrono hand; more on that later.) Notice also that the racetrack is ice-blue.

SKY-DWELLER

Is the hand below a second hand or a chrono hand? Hard to tell. Though based on the racetrack above we will see a new Daytona, I don't think the dark-teal dial below is the one of a Daytona simply because of the marker at 11 o'clock. The marker is completely rectangular while the one of a Daytona is pointed at the bottom.

So let's take a look at another option: The 11 o'clock index appears, at least at this angle, to be unusually close to the "R" of "Rolex", coming down almost halfway through the "R". This is typical of a Sky-Dweller dial which sports oversized indices. Please see a picture of a Sky-Dweller here to compare.

DAY-DATE

For the dial below, with the orange color, I believe we are entering into dress-watch territory. Look at the curve just above the coronet. It doesn't look like a bezel or rehaut; but rather, a day window. After all, Rolex admonishes us to be ready for the "greatest detail" just before showing us this amazing dial.

CELLINI

Speaking of dress watches, the coin-edge bezel and gold crown are typical of the Cellini line. The Cellini is still using a 31XX movement so we might expect an update on this one. Currently, there is only one Cellini in the collection: the Cellini Moonphase. 

With the slow-mo we can see on the right side of the dial almost the shape of a star reminiscing of the star dials of the old Rolex 6062.

danny@rolexmagazine.com