The Golden Age of Rolex Movements Part III: Branding vs. Breakthroughs in Recent Years

Credits:  Article and images by Tim Mosso @ Quill & Pad.  See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2024/09/08/the-golden-age-of-rolex-movements-part-iii-branding-vs-breakthroughs-in-recent-years-2/

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Burying the lead: soft on silicon

The 2014 rollout of Rolex’s Syloxi hairspring in Caliber 2236 is emblematic of the company’s conservative public-facing engineering strategy. Rather than launch this major revision in a flagship like 2014’s first ceramic-bezel “Pepsi” GMT-Master II or that year’s Sea-Dweller 4000, Rolex soft-launched Syloxi in the ladies’ Pearlmaster 34.

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust Pearlmaster 34

The company carefully chose an extravagant and expensive ladies’ watch in order to ensure low initial volumes. Moreover, this move ensured a safe firewall between the reputational risk of a new technology and brand-defining men’s steel sports watches from the Submariner, Daytona, and GMT families.

As if to keep the lid on volumes and expectations, Rolex chose the mid-size 2015 Yacht-Master 37 mm as the second Syloxi roll-out platform.

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Yacht-Master Reference 268655

Silicon hairspring manufacture is a significant feat of technology that Rolex customers never will see. As with its innovations in LIGA fabrication, Rolex mostly has subsumed its silicon tech to the primacy of its models and brand.

Rolex movements: fast forward

The final installment of this series will look toward the future of Rolex watchmaking. Precedent-setting Rolex patents for existing watches will be discussed in order to illustrate the journey of a Rolex watch from engineering brief to the collector’s wrist.

Finally, recently patented Rolex technologies including atomic wrist timekeepers, programmable travel time displays, split-time chronographs, and exotic escapements will be examined in detail.

Quick Facts Rolex Cellini Moonphase Reference 50535
Case: 39 x 13.4 mm, pink gold
Movement: automatic Caliber 3195, 48-hour power reserve, 4 Hz/28,800 vph frequency, officially certified C.O.S.C. chronometer
Functions: hours, minutes, hacking seconds; date, moon phase
Production: discontinued in 2023
Price: $26,750

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The Golden Age Of Rolex Movements Part I: Sowing The Seeds Of Greatness

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Credits:  Article and images by Tim Mosso @ Quill & Pad.  See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2024/09/08/the-golden-age-of-rolex-movements-part-iii-branding-vs-breakthroughs-in-recent-years-2/