To mark the model’s 50th anniversary, Rolex has updated the Explorer II with a new movement and subtle design modifications. We look at what the most recent version can offer collectors, explorers and adventurers.

Before last year’s Watches and Wonders in April, speculation about the anniversary Explorer already ranged far and wide. Would it be given a ceramic bezel? Would it get a green hand, or other elements in the color Rolex has so often used for anniversary models? Would the case diameter be changed? Nothing of the sort. Changes to the new Explorer’s appearance are minimal. Even most watch enthusiasts can only identify the wider bracelet in a side-by-side comparison.

Was this disappointing? Actually not; design continuity is one factor that makes Rolex so successful and stable in value. While other brands replace their less popular models every two years with completely new versions, Rolex improves the technology of all of its watches — even those that are less in demand. And until a few years ago, the Explorer II was one of the Rolex sport models that could even be bought from a jeweler at a discount. Those times have passed. The new, improved model has gained considerable popularity despite minimal changes to its look. And this is not only due to the new caliber, which has since become almost standard in the Rolex portfolio.

50 Years on an Expedition 

How did it all begin? In 1971, Rolex presented the Explorer II as an expedition watch. The 24-hour display was designed to be particularly helpful for cave explorers who would work in the dark for days on end or for those on polar expeditions during the Arctic summer when the sun never sets. The Explorer II was the professional upgrade of the Explorer presented in 1953, which was without a date or a second time zone. This design icon continues to be produced today.

The Explorer II has been on numerous Arctic and Antarctic expeditions and has been worn by explorers of volcanoes and caves. The first model had bar hands with a pointed tip, rectangular indexes and an orange 24-hour hand. The second model followed in 1985. The 24-hour hand was now slimmer and red instead of orange. Applied markers were round in the typical Rolex style, and the familiar Mercedes-shaped hour hand was added. A white-dial version was offered alongside the black-dial model. The new Caliber 3085, which was also introduced in the GMT-Master II that same year, permitted the independent setting of the hour hand to a second time zone. This made the fixed coupling of the 24-hour hand to the hour hand a thing of the past and increased its usefulness.

In 2011, to mark the 40-year anniversary, Rolex took the next evolutionary step and based the 24-hour-hand model on the original “orange hand” model, as it’s known among collectors. Rolex also increased the case diameter from 40 to 42 mm and also enlarged the hands and indexes.

New Details 

The most significant modification of the revised 2021 Explorer, our test watch, is its more harmonious proportions. The bracelet, which has now grown to a width of 22 mm, the narrower lugs and the wider clasp make for a better and more attractive fit with the 42-mm case.

The dial shows only minimal changes. The applied white-gold indexes now have a matte black PVD coating to match the matteblack lacquered white-gold hands. The large markers and hands enhance legibility. But the white dial of our test watch is a disadvantage in this regard. The version with a black dial is easier to read. And now, and for the first time, Rolex has given the flat crystal an anti-glare coating on the inner surface — a noticeable change, which has a positive effect. At night, the Chromalight luminous material increases legibility with its intense blue glow, which lasts until the early morning hours. The Cyclops date magnifying lens increases legibility only if you look directly at the watch from the front.

Overall, the design with the sloping steel bezel with a sunburst finish, the white dial, and the orange hands is a success. However, the combination of modern-looking elements with typical Rolex and historical Explorer II elements is not as seamless as other icons of the brand — the Submariner and the GMT-Master II, which have remained unchanged for decades. The white dial and the 42-mm size are atypical for Rolex watches and are an interesting alternative to the majority of sport models with a black dial.

One tiny new detail can be found on the dial: a small Rolex crown at 6 o’clock. It indicates a new generation of movement, as on other Rolex models.

Movement Update 

The new time-zone Caliber 3285 has replaced the older 3187. With the exception of the Milgauss and the Air-King, a new generation of calibers powers all other Rolex models. The greatest advantage for the wearer is the extended power reserve, which now lasts three days instead of two, thanks to the higher efficiency of the Chronergy escapement. For this purpose, the geometry of the pallet fork and escape wheel was optimized. And with the LIGA process, in which these components are galvanic, Rolex was able to create a perforated and, therefore, lighter structure. Thanks to the nickel-phosphorous alloy used, the escapement does not react to magnetic fields. The new movement also has a ball bearing instead of a friction bearing.

When we opened our test watch, we noticed that Rolex has been further optimizing the movements without any fanfare. The rotor bearing now has 27 balls instead of just seven, which allows the rotor to run almost as quietly as a bushing-type rotor. This should please many Rolex fans.

The well-known advantages of Rolex movements have remained: the in-house Paraflex shock absorber, which is designed to return to its normal position better in the event of impacts, the extremely stable balance bridge instead of a balance cock that is only attached to one side, the free-sprung hairspring with Breguet overcoil made of a paramagnetic niobium-zirconium alloy and the free-sprung fine regulator with Microstella weights on the balance wheel. And the movement can be adjusted using a special tool, no disassembly required. Decorations include a sunburst finish, but no hand engraving is present.

As always at Rolex, the official chronometer certificate from the Swiss testing agency COSC confirms a high accuracy rate of the movement in different positions and at various temperatures. Rolex’s own in-house specifications demand even more precise regulation that ensures accuracy averaging between -2 and +2 seconds per day. On the timing machine, our test watch met these high expectations and showed an average deviation of only 0.3 seconds.

All six positions remained between -2 and +3 seconds; accordingly, the greatest deviation between the positions was 5 seconds. Amplitude differences were quite substantial, however, with a 50-degree drop between the vertical and horizontal positions.

In addition to accuracy, our test watch also meets Rolex expectations of quality. Finishing is virtually perfect — excellent polishing and satin finishes on the case, the bracelet with no play between the links, and a finely printed dial. Every component exudes high quality and can withstand careful scrutiny with a loupe.

The case has Rolex’s own screw-down Twinlock crown and is water resistant to 100 meters. This is sufficient. But we would have liked to see the more secure Triplock crown that offers a higher level of protection on this expedition-style watch, as on the GMT-Master II.

Despite the crown guards, the crown is easy to unscrew. The first position, as you would expect, winds the mainspring. When you pull the crown out to the second position, you can adjust the hour hand in hourly increments, which is useful when you travel to another time zone. The 24-hour hand indicates home time. If the hour hand moves over the date line, the date will change accordingly. This works forward as well as backward and is almost as smooth as a proper quickdate adjustment mechanism. The minute hand can be advanced in the third position, along with the 24-hour and normal hour hand. The secure Oysterlock clasp is also easy to use. Lifting a safety bar over the spring-held lever opens the sturdy folding clasp. The practical Easylink extension of up to 5 mm can be unfolded from the clasp.

At $8,550, the Explorer II has a list price below the GMT-Master II in Oystersteel ($9,700) with its rotating 24-hour bezel. The price is appropriate, and while demand is greater than supply, it’s still not as extreme as the GMT-Master II. Frequent buyers may have a realistic chance of getting this watch from a certified dealer in a shorter period of time, but count on waiting awhile.
Conclusion Evolution over revolution: Rolex avoids major design changes and, for this reason, once again, has built the best Explorer II of all time with its new movement and minor modifications like the more harmonious bracelet proportions.

Rolex Explorer II Specs

Manufacturer: Rolex SA, Rue François-Dussaud 3-7, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland 

Reference number: 226570 

Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, date, second time zone 

Movement: In-house movement Caliber 3285, automatic, chronometer, 28,800 vph, 31 jewels, stop seconds, quickadjust date with hour advancing mechanism, Paraflex shock absorber, Glucydur balance with Microstella regulating screws, 70-hour power reserve 

Case: Stainless steel 904L, flat sapphire crystal with Cyclops date lens and inner anti-reflective coating, screwdown Twinlock crown, fully threaded 904L stainless-steel caseback, water resistant to 100 m 

Bracelet and clasp: Oyster bracelet made of 904L stainless steel, with safety folding clasp and incremental extension piece 

Rate results: Deviation in seconds per 24 hours

Dimensions: Diameter = 42 mm, height = 12.1 mm, weight = 164 g 

Price: $8,550

Scores:

Bracelet and clasp (max. 10 points):
The safety folding clasp with incremental extension piece and the steel bracelet are well made, sturdy and attractive. 9

Case (10):
The cleanly polished saltwaterresistant case could have a higher water resistance for an expedition watch. The screw-down crown provides security. 9

Dial and hands (10): Carefully crafted dial with applied indexes. The matte lacquered hands are not as attractive as the polished hands found on other Rolex models. 9

Design (15): Excellent design but not as timeless as other Rolex models. The wider bracelet provides better proportions. 13

Legibility (5): The large hands and indexes are still easy to read despite low contrast on the white dial. The blue luminous material shines for a long time. 4

Operation (5): The deeply grooved crown is easy to use. The date can be adjusted quickly, and the stop-seconds mechanism facilitates setting the time accurately. 5

Wearing comfort (5): Curved links make the watch comfortable to wear, even with the wider bracelet. Extension piece in the clasp. 5

Movement (20): The well-designed and sturdy inhouse movement provides a long power reserve. 19

Rate results (10):
Very low average deviation, but in the minus range. Values in all positions are close. 9

Overall value (10):
Appropriately priced and high value retention – but it’s hard to get. 9

TOTAL: 91 points

To learn more about Rolex, click here, and to subscribe to the WatchTime print magazine, click here.    

For many collectors, the history of the dive watch starts in 1953 with the introduction of the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms and Rolex Submariner. Divers, however, already had to rely on water-resistant watches, decades before the commercialization of two of the category’s most iconic models. We take a deep dive into how the history of underwater exploration and the evolution of the wristwatch are connected.

In 1942, German trade publication Uhrmacher-Woche (Watchmaker’s Week) began an extensive article about water-resistant watches with the following opening paragraph: “15 years ago, when the water resistant watch hit the market, many expected it to be an advertising gimmick or a fashion fad, because it isn’t really necessary to wear a watch when swimming.” The author then quickly went on to conclude that “the development of the air-tight watch became a technical necessity and important for the outcome of the war, because in rooms with lead storage batteries, in factories, on board submarines the air is filled with acid fumes.”

From the Pocket to the Wrist and Into the Waters of WWII 

What makes this article from 80 years ago remarkable is the combination of several misconceptions about the development of the waterproof or water-resistant wristwatch that ultimately culminated in the invention of the dive watch. First, Rolex clearly did manage to create an impact “15 years ago” by placing its famous full-page advertisement on the front of London’s Daily Mail on Nov. 24, 1927, proclaiming the success of the first waterproof wristwatch and chronicling “the debut of the Rolex Oyster and its triumphant march worldwide” after then-26-year-old British professional swimmer Mercedes Gleitze swam the English Channel wearing a Rolex Oyster, thus spending more than 10 hours in the chilly waters between France and Great Britain. Second, not a single word mentions divers or diving, even though helmet diving had already become an established industry by then. Other fields of application seemed much more important than diving or “swimming,” which ironically was also the case with many of the innovations that helped establish diving itself. It was, for example, the idea for a smoke helmet by Charles Deane in 1823 that led to the development of the first successful diving helmet (which consequently resulted in Augustus Siebe, an engineer and former watchmaker, working on a helmet fitted to a full length watertight canvas diving suit in 1830). The same was true of the oxygen rebreather, which was as much intended to be an emergency escape apparatus for submarine crews, mine workers or firefighters, as it finally allowed helmet divers to work more independently without surface-supplied air via a diver’s umbilical.

Ironically, those early helmet divers came up with a rather pragmatic way to know how much time they had already spent underwater: the first dive watches were simply regular pocketwatches, mounted on the inside of a diving helmet. One reason for this solution: back then, the “bracelet watch” was “looked upon by Americans as more or less of a joke,” according to the New York Times from July 9, 1916. But, like the German Uhrmacher-Woche, the paper also concluded in the same article that “the telephone and signal service, which play important parts in modern warfare, have made the wearing of watches by soldiers obligatory.” Looking at those early field watches, wearing one underwater, over a thick dive suit and thus completely exposed to both water, pressure and potential bumps would have been much riskier (and more expensive) than simply mounting a pocket watch on the (hopefully) dry inside of a helmet.

Two years after the New York Times piece on trench watches, on June 11, 1918, New York based “manufacturers of high class specialties for Waltham watches” Jacques Depollier & Son was granted a patent in the U.S. for a “waterproof and dust-proof watch.” In an ad from the same year, Depollier also came to a similar conclusion as the New York Times. “With the general use of wrist watches for soldiers, sailors, aviators and others engaged in the open, the demand for waterproof watches has become much more insistent, and the fact that the demand still exists unsatisfied is an indication that a reliable waterproof watch has not until now been produced.” Depollier’s “D-D” field and marine watch was equipped with a double clinched bezel that promised to keep out “water, dust and gas.” Again, Depollier, like the New York Times, did not mention the diver as its intended target audience, even though their watch “might be completely submerged in water” and was advertised using a picture of it being placed in a fish bowl.

Rolex, on the other hand, brought out its first attempt at a waterproof and dustproof watch, the Submarine, in 1922. It turned out to be an impractical design, according to Rolex, since the watch was “relying on a second outer case to protect the main watch body. The outer shell had to be opened every day in order to wind the watch, thereby also weakening the metal gasket that sealed the opening.” Four years later, two major technical innovations of the company had made the single-case wristwatch watertight: a screw-down back and bezel, as well as a newly patented winding crown, which could be screwed down to seal the case. Rolex advertised the Oyster as the “wonder watch.” Mercedes Gleitze provided the proof (and also became the brand’s first testimonial).

Like Rolex before, Omega came up with a similar idea of a double-case construction for a watch that was targeted specially at “sportifs, marins et coloniaux” (athletes, sailors and soldiers). In 1932, the “élégante” Omega Marine utilized a patented case sealed with cork to “keep water and the elements away from the heart of the watch.” The rectangular watch even featured an adjustable clasp and was tested in Lake Geneva at a depth of 73 meters (later conducted laboratory tests found the watch to be waterproof to a depth of 135 meters).

A New Type of Watch, Robust Enough to be Worn Underwater 

In 1935, the paths of the watch industry and underwater operations finally became fully intertwined, when the director of G. Panerai e Figlio in Florence, Giuseppe Panerai, was approached by the Italian Navy to develop a water-resistant compass and a watch for operators of its newly developed manned torpedo. While Panerai had already been a supplier of special navy equipment, the company had never produced wristwatches. On Oct. 24, 1935, Rolex therefore sent Panerai a Ref. 2533 with a large 9k gold cushion case for tests, the very same watch that should later evolve into the Radiomir, used by Italian special forces (and later by the Germans after having seized some of these watches during the German occupation of Italy that lasted until May 2, 1945).

While members of the Decima Flottiglia MAS commando frogman unit were initially equipped with Panerai-supplied Rolex watches, the American Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT), predecessors of the U.S. Navy’s current SEAL teams, were equipped with “canteen watches” from the likes of Hamilton and Elgin (featuring a screw-on cover for the crown that was held in place with a small chain). Like the watches supplied by Panerai, these significantly smaller canteen watches were not equipped with a bezel, but simply indicated time with their luminous hands.

For the rotating bezel, clearly the visually most distinctive element on a dive watch, the watch industry first looked to the sky. On July 31, 1929, Philip Van Horn Weems applied for a patent for a “method of and apparatus for navigator’s time keeping” using a rotating bezel. The patent was granted in 1935 and soon found its way on to many pilots’ watches, the most important one being the legendary Weems watch from Longines. It would take a few more years until the watch industry began to recognize the potential for its diving customer. More precisely, with the rise of autonomous diving, based on open-circuit, compressed-air devices, like Yves Le Prieur’s invention from 1925, and, more importantly, Émile Gagnan’s and Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s regulator that was first patented in 1943 (and mass produced by La Spirotechnique after the war), the Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) revolutionized diving, and consequently increased demand for a reliable underwater timing device.

Blancpain started in the early 1950s with the development and testing of the brand’s first wristwatch intended exclusively for divers. The Fifty Fathoms (a reference to the depth rating of 300 feet or 91.4 meters) was the brainchild of Jean-Jacques Fiechter, then CEO of Blancpain, who also happened to be an avid diver. In an interview conducted in 2018, Fiechter recalled that he was diving off the coast of France when he lost track of time and ended up running out of air, prompting an immediate ascent to the surface without stopping for decompression, and thus leaving him at the risk of the bends. His solution, and ultimately Blancpain’s “first modern dive watch,” was commercialized in 1953 and came with a new positioning for the caseback and crown gasket that would better protect the case and movement from water, resulting in a patent for both designs. More importantly, Fiechter had also introduced a unidirectional bezel with the Fifty Fathoms that would allow the watch’s wearer to better track how much time was spent submerged. In short, Blancpain had both improved the water-resistant case and added a bezel that was exclusively aimed at keeping track of time spent underwater.

Rolex, on the other hand, already had implemented a bezel on a watch with the Zerographe and was now working on the most waterresistant watch case of that time with an experimental watch, the Deep-Sea Special, which was attached to the exterior of Piccard’s Trieste during its first deep-sea trials down to 3,150 meters (10,245 feet) off the island of Ponza in 1953 (Jacques Piccard himself was seen wearing a Longines Chronograph 13ZN when diving outside the submarine). In 1960, Don Walsh, Jacques Piccard and another Rolex watch would reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench (10,916 meters, 35,814 feet). Almost simultaneous with testing the Deep-Sea Special, the company introduced the Submariner in 1953, a diving watch equipped with a rotating bezel. In 1954, the watch industry’s trade publication Europa Star first mentions the Submariner briefly as a watch that “has been specially designed for deep-sea diving,” and like the Rolex Turn-O-Graph, the Submariner “carries a Time Recorder bezel,” which “enables the consumption of air in independent diving equipment to be easily controlled.” According to Europa Star, the Submariner was “tested on 132 sea trials in the Mediterranean and declared a to be an essential accessory to diving equipment.”

While Blancpain and Rolex have defined the look and function of the modern dive watch, both had approached the problem from the same angle: a robust, highly water-resistant wristwatch equipped with a bezel that would be able to withstand external pressure. What they didn’t factor in: the rise of saturation diving, first in the military field, then in commercial application. Dr. George F. Bond, a U.S. Navy scientist, had introduced the concept of saturation diving in the late 1950s. Earlier experiments had shown that divers were able to live and work underwater for days or weeks at a time before making a single, comparatively short decompression period. Bond’s work is not only credited as the beginning of saturation diving, but also marked the start of the United States Navy’s Man-in-the-Sea Program. From 1964, a trio of saturation diving experiments that let divers work and live in undersea habitats (Sealab) was launched and supported by the United States Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU). With the ill-fated Sealab III, the habitat was lowered to 610 feet (190 m) off San Clemente Island, California, on Feb. 15, 1969, a depth that would bring a standard-issue Submariner already near its limits. But it wasn’t just the depth that posed new challenges; helium caused the weakest part on some of the watches, the crystal, to pop off during decompression. And this wasn’t just happening to the divers in the Navy. In 1968, Japanese watchmaker Seiko received a letter from a saturation diver from Kure City, in Hiroshima prefecture. In that letter, the diver also complained that the dive watches from Seiko lost their crystals during decompression. While some divers simply unscrewed the crown before compression, Rolex wanted to offer a different solution for its 1967-introduced Sea-Dweller dive watch. From an ad from 1974: “The Rolex Sea Dweller, however, is fitted with a patented gas escape valve.” Rolex had applied for a patent for this valve on Nov. 6, 1967. “In effect, this means that the watch decompresses with the diver,” explained T. Walker Lloyd, then an oceanographic consultant for Rolex in the same ad. The Sea Dweller then went on to become standard equipment of the Compagnie maritime d’expertises (COMEX) employees (and replacing the previous partnership between Omega and COMEX).

A Diver’s Tool 

Omega and Seiko, however, chose a very different approach to solving the helium problem: instead of improving an existing watch, they both went back to the drawing board. One result was the Seamaster 600 “PloProf” (Plongeur Professionel) from 1970 that was built to be more robust than any other watch from the company before. From an ad from that period: “We also put the 600 through our helium test. Helium, having much smaller molecules, can penetrate where water can’t. So if a watch is proof against helium, it’s proof against just about everything else. This test showed that the 600 is one hundred times as air- and water-tight as the Apollo spacecraft.” Another ad from Omega explained the three major innovations like this: “we carved the Seamaster out of one block of stainless steel; no joints behind. Then we gave it a heavy, hardened mineral glass, which actually screws in. We gave it a turning elapsed-time bezel, which has its own lock to prevent accidental moving. We gave it an extra-safe, twin-locking crown.” Seiko, too, went with a monobloc case construction for its 1975-introduced professional dive watch, the 6159-7010 with a guaranteed water resistance of 600 meters (a watch that was, like the PloProf, in fact much more water resistant than this). The Seiko, however, took seven years to develop and resulted in 20 patents. The 6159-7010 was also built in a way that it could withstand the pressure differences without having to rely on an additional opening in the case, but came with a protective shroud, taking into consideration the heavy underwater work of its customers. On the other hand, both the Seiko and the Omega came with a design, size and price that prevented it from being worn by a large group of consumers, while the Sea-Dweller looked much more like a regular watch both underwater and onshore.

All three models also undoubtedly helped improve the quality of dive watches substantially. In 1966, the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) had set up an investigation committee for diving equipment, including dive watches, which back then were deemed not only “a vital part” of the diver’s equipment, but apparently also the most troublesome. In 1968, BSAC member Geoff Harwood concluded that “the majority of the complaints and allegations of faulty equipment and unsatisfactory dealings with manufacturers and distributors have been concerned with diving watches” — which led to the decision “to carry out a survey in order to determine the extent of the problem.” Harwood’s conclusion was not as encouraging as the industry might have hoped for, “since so few of each make are represented, we cannot draw a conclusion as to ‘best buy’ or to definitely not recommend a certain watch.” And added, “[E]ven if you buy an internationally famous watch costing over £50 you still stand a fair chance of finding it full of water when you come to start your decompression schedule after a deep dive.”

Or, as Robert R. Springer wrote in his Skin & Scuba Diver’s Digest of 1975, “At one time an oddity, today, specially constructed waterproof and pressure-resistant watches have become something of a status symbol among the socalled beautiful people — even though most of them never reach depths greater than the bottom of a martini glass. The practicing scuba diver, however, needs a functional item, rather than an impressive one. And, in looking for an underwater watch, it pays to be highly selective.”

Becoming an Ambassador of the Sea 

In 1983, while the watch industry was slowly starting to recover from its worst crisis to date, the Orca Edge hit the market as the first commercially viable dive computer. Watch brands at that time mostly focused on making dive watches more water resistant (the IWC Ocean 2000 from 1984, for example, was the first serially produced dive watch water resistant to 2,000 meters), and multi-function quartz watches and dive computers quickly started to reduce the mechanical dive watch first to the role of a backup instrument, then mostly a status symbol, as observed by Springer in 1975. In 1990, Seiko launched the “world’s first computerized diver’s watch,” equipped with a water sensor and depth sensor that displayed diving time and depth. Five years before, Citizen had introduced the first Aqualand and also the first quartz watch to incorporate an electronic, digital depth gauge. Despite the existence of a more versatile (and often less expensive) option, dive watches have become one of the most successful categories for luxury watch manufacturers in recent years. The Submariner from Rolex, for example, ranks on positions 2 and 5 on Chrono24’s most popular list from 2020. Even at Breitling, a brand traditionally synonymous with pilots’ watches, the Superocean dive watch has become the brand’s most popular watch category. It’s hard to imagine Tudor’s recent rise to fame without the 2016-introduced Black Bay dive watch, or Rado’s success among watch collectors and enthusiasts without the re-introduced Captain Cook from 2017. Even Seiko has based most of its recent global success on the Prospex dive watch collection. And Panerai, the former supplier of the Italian Navy, was resurrected in 1993 exclusively as a watch brand. Last but not least, since 1995, Omega has been equipping the world’s most famous spy with a Seamaster dive watch, and by doing so has created one of the most recognizable luxury watches of the industry.

But perhaps more importantly, dive watches have become an ambassador for the importance of the oceans. Blancpain, for example, became a force in protecting the biodiversity of the oceans. The 2014-founded Blancpain Ocean Commitment initiative (BOC) is a unique program in the watch industry that has already helped a number of environmental initiatives get off the ground (some of them already underway before BOC was launched). Oris, too, believes “passionately in conservation and is committed to acting sustainably” and has launched several limited edition watches that support various conservation efforts. Others, like Luminox, Breitling and Ulysse Nardin, have started to promote upcycling methods with their releases.

From a quality and performance point of view, today’s mechanical dive watches are better than they have ever been. They have reached the deepest parts of the ocean repeatedly and offer any kind of additional feature one could dream of. In recent years, they have become a symbol of sustainability and preservation, and offer a nostalgic look back at how man conquered the deep at the same time. In other words, the dive watch has stood the test of time and proven that an analog product can coexist with a digital alternative.

To subscribe to the WatchTime print magazine, click here.    

l-r:  Rolex Submariner, Sea-Dweller, and Deepsea models

Rolex currently produces four different dive watch models: the Submariner and Submariner Date, the Sea-Dweller and the Deepsea (listed here in order from lowest to highest in both size and price). The Submariner and Submariner Date share the same case size. Almost all watches in this collection offer versions with different materials, dial and bezel colors. The Submariner without a date indication is the entry-level piece and is priced at $7,500. Introduced in 1953, it was the first dive watch from Rolex. At that time, it had a bidirectional rotating bezel for measuring dive time. Initially, the Submariner was water resistant to 100 meters, but by 1954 Rolex had already increased this level to 200 meters. In 1955, the English Royal Navy began using the Submariner as its official dive watch and the Royal Canadian Navy followed suit the following year.

Rolex first became famous in 1927 for its water-resistant watches with their patented screw-down crown, and the ingenious Oyster name was an effective marketing tool. During her more than 15-hour attempt to swim the English Channel, Mercedes Gleitze wore a water-resistant Rolex that withstood the ordeal. Rolex took out a front-page ad in the London Daily Mail to publicize the event that won the watch great acclaim.

The Submariner with no date indication is the most economically priced Rolex dive watch ($7,500).

Rolex also developed the Deep-Sea Special watch to explore the ocean depths. Between 1953 and 1960 it participated in several maritime expeditions, attached to the outer hull of submarines. The high point (or low point) was reached in 1960 when Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh maneuvered their Trieste submersible vessel down into the Mariana Trench to a depth of 10,916 meters, just a few meters short of the deepest point in the sea. The Deep-Sea Special survived unscathed. Although several pieces of this model were built, it never went into serial production. With a semi-spherical crystal and an overall height of 35 mm, it would still be too large to be considered wearable.

The first Submariner was introduced in 1953.

Submariner
Today’s Submariner measures 40 mm in diameter and 12.5 mm in height, which is slim for a dive watch. The watch without a date indication is powered by the self-winding in-house 3130 movement and with a date, by the 3135. Both calibers boast a power reserve of 48 hours. Chronometer certification from the independent testing agency COSC guarantees accuracy, alongside the company’s own stricter standards, which specify that every Rolex watch may not gain or lose more than 2 seconds per day. The Glidelock system can extend the bracelet for a precise fit and allows the Submariner to be worn over a wet suit. Like all Rolex dive watches, it has a metal bracelet and a unidirectional rotating bezel with a ceramic inlay.

Sea-Dweller
Saturation diving was developed in the early 1960s. When working at deep-sea locations, professional diving companies took advantage of the fact that after 24 hours under pressure, the human body will not absorb additional nitrogen, thereby limiting the time required for decompression. So to prepare themselves for working for extended periods at deep locations, professional divers would spend several days inside a pressure chamber filled with a helium-nitrogen-oxygen mixture. Once their underwater task had been completed, the pressure in the chamber was gradually reduced to normal levels. During this process, crystals from the divers’ watches would often pop out of their cases due to the helium trapped inside the watches. Divers in the Sealab program experienced this problem while helping the U.S. Marines carry out research on the effects of high pressure and various breathing gases on the human body.

The 2017 Sea-Dweller with helium escape valve and Cyclops date ($11,350)

A Sealab diver reported the problem to Rolex and suggested adding a pressure relief valve to safely release the helium that had penetrated the watch. Rolex then developed its helium escape valve, which would be adopted by many other brands.

Rolex began working with the French diving specialist Comex in the early 1970s and supplied watches to all Comex divers, who then shared their experiences and helped with the ongoing development of the watches. Comex laid underwater cables, took care of diving work on oil rigs and salvaged shipwrecks. While doing so, they developed their own special tools and experimented with breathing gas mixtures. Comex set a number of depth records and a Sea-Dweller was on the wrists of their divers as they subjected themselves to each torturous trial. In 1972, two divers withstood 50 hours in a pressurized chamber measured at 610 meters deep. Later, Comex employees worked in the ocean at more than 500 meters, and in 1992, a Comex diver achieved a depth of 701 meters inside a pressure chamber. What Comex really needed was the Sea-Dweller with its three times higher water resistance and a helium escape valve.

The newest Sea-Dweller has been available in a steel-and-gold version since 2019 ($16,050).

In the mid-1960s, Rolex supplied Comex with specially equipped Submariner models to test the helium escape valve. Today, these “Rolex Comex” watches (Ref. 5514) are as expensive as they are rare. The Sea-Dweller went into mass production in 1967, equipped with a helium escape valve. The new model was able to withstand pressure to a depth of 610 meters. It remained similar in design to the Submariner. In 1980, Rolex doubled the Sea-Dweller’s water resistance to 1,220 meters. And to mark the 50th anniversary of the Sea-Dweller in 2017, Rolex issued a new model that replaced the previous model introduced in 2014. With a current diameter of 43 mm and a height of 15 mm, and with the iconic Rolex Cyclops date magnifier, the watch looks much like an enlarged Submariner but with continuous 60-minute markers on the divers’ bezel and red lettering on the dial.

Thanks to a special case, the Deepsea can reach an underwater depth of 3,900 meters (with D-blue dial, $12,550).

Deepsea
The maximum depth limit remained unchanged until 2008, when the Deepsea model was introduced with a water resistance of 3,900 meters. Rolex developed a completely new case design to ensure that the watch would not be too large despite its tremendous water resistance. Its patented “Ringlock” system consists of three elements that can take the pressure: a 5.5-mm-thick sapphire crystal, a 3.28-mm grade 5 titan-ium caseback and an inner ring made of BioDur 108 steel. The system is surrounded by the 904L steel that Rolex uses for the case. The titanium caseback is pressure-fit to the inner ring by a threaded 904L steel caseback ring.

Right: In 1960, the Deep-Sea Special prototype reached a depth of 10,916 meters.

The materials are carefully selected; they exhibit both strength and resilience and do not easily deform or break under pressure. The complicated design permits a 44-mm-by-18-mm case that is both striking and 10-percent thinner than other cases with a similar construction. The Deepsea is designed to withstand depths of up to 4,900 meters. Each individual watch undergoes rigorous underwater testing at this 25-percent higher pressure. The Deepsea was updated in 2018 and now has a more balanced case and a new in-house movement with a power reserve of 70 hours. Like the Sea-Dweller, the Deepsea has a Fliplock extension piece that permits fine incremental extension of the bracelet up to an additional 26 mm.

The year 2012 marked another important underwater project, the “Deepsea Challenge.” And Rolex was a partner once again. The filmmaker James Cameron was the first person to successfully reach what was at that time the deepest point below sea level after the first famous expedition in 1960. Attached to the outside of his submersible vehicle was another specially designed concept watch by Rolex: the Deepsea Challenge, which was water resistant to a depth of 12,000 meters. It relied on the Ringlock system and achieved wearable dimensions of 51.4 mm in diameter and 28.5 mm in height.

Below: In 2012, this prototype reached the deepest point in the ocean at that time.

Variations
With the exception of the Submariner with no date, every Rolex dive watch offers different options. The Deepsea is available with a black dial or with one that transitions from black to blue. As of 2019, the Sea-Dweller is available in both steel and steel-and-gold versions. The steel Submariner is offered with a black or green dial and matching bezel. It is also available in yellow gold and in steel and gold, and with either option the customer can choose a black or blue dial and bezel. A white-gold version is offered with a blue dial and bezel only. All in all, the dive watch collection consists of 12 different versions.

The Submariner with a green bezel and black dial (known as the “Kermit”) and the all-green Submariner (the “Hulk”), priced at $9,050, are highly sought after.

Prices begin at $7,500 for the no-date Submariner, followed by the Submariner Date at $9,050. Models with a helium escape valve are considerably more expensive – the Sea-Dweller is offered at $11,350 and the Deepsea at $12,250. The most expensive model is the white-gold Submariner at $36,850. Despite the limited optical variety of these offerings, there is a suitable divers’ watch from Rolex for every size wrist and almost every wallet.

The most expensive Rolex dive watch is the Submariner Date in white gold ($36,850)..

Rolex and Omega are renowned and admired for their dive watches. In direct comparison, which one of the two leading brands dives deeper, offers more value for the money and performs better?

The Submariner divers’ watch has been one of Rolex’s most popular models, and not only since its redesign in 2020. Omega has also renewed its popular Planet Ocean, Diver 300M and Seamaster 300 collections in recent years. But in what area can one brand overtake the other?

Selection
Rolex only has three dive watches in its lineup: the Submariner, the Sea-Dweller and the Deepsea. If you count the Submariner without date indicator as a separate model, then the total increases to four. In addition, there are only a few variations: the Deepsea is available with two different dials, while the Submariner is available in steel, gold and in a mixture of both, and with dials and bezels in various colors. Rolex’s collection of dive watches has a total of 12 variants. Strap variations or complications beyond time, date and rotating bezel cannot be found in the Rolex dive watch lineup.

Omega offers considerably more choice: the brand’s Dive Watches homepage currently lists 117 variants. The four collections — the Diver 300M, the Seamaster 300, the Planet Ocean and the Ploprof — offer cases in various sizes that are made from different materials, in addition to strap variations, diverse colors and additional functions. In addition to steel cases, there are also titanium cases and even ceramic ones in various colors. Omega also has something to offer in today’s popular retro style with the revised Seamaster 300. Rolex, on the other hand, changes the design of its models very slowly, but still keeps them up to date.

Entry Point
Rolex’s entry-level dive watch, the Submariner without date indicator, sells for $8,100. Omega offers a less costly watch for divers: the Seamaster Diver 300M sells for $4,900 with a rubber strap and $5,200 with a stainless-steel bracelet. Moreover, the demand for the Submariner is so high that it’s difficult to get one from an authorized distributor.

Daily Wearer
The Planet Ocean and the Submariner Date are directly comparable. Both are watches that can be worn every day. While the Omega Planet Ocean starts at $6,200 in steel on a NATO strap, the Rolex Submariner Date costs $9,150 in Oystersteel on an Oyster bracelet, if you are lucky enough to get a chance to buy one. Omega’s model remains water resistant to a depth of 600 meters, while the Rolex makes do with 300 meters. The Omega also includes a helium- release valve and encases manufacture Caliber 8900, which can defy even the strongest magnetic fields, despite having a glass caseback.

Omega offers a significantly better price-performance ratio here. However, Rolex has been using the newer Caliber 3235 in its Submariner Date since 2020, so this model is likely to retain its value better than the Omega, which puts Omega’s initial price advantage in a somewhat different light.

Professional Models
Rolex’s Sea-Dweller and Omega’s Seamaster Ploprof compete with each other in the field of highly pressure-resistant watches. The Omega withstands pressure to a depth of 1,200 meters below the water’s surface; on paper, the Rolex can plunge 20 meters deeper to 1,220 meters (not taking into consideration the additional safety reserves that both watches offer).

The Ploprof costs $9,700 with a steel case and bracelet and $12,600 in titanium. The price for the steel Sea-Dweller is $11,700, which is close to the price of Omega’s titanium model. But Rolex has an ace up its sleeve with the Deepsea, which costs only $900 more at $12,600, yet resists pressure to 3,900 meters. For this purpose, Rolex developed a special case system, in which a ring made of particularly hard, nitrogen-alloyed stainless steel absorbs pressure. This enabled Rolex to create a case that is relatively slim despite its enormous pressure resistance. So when it comes to extreme watches, Rolex defends its leading position (if we’d add the brands’ experimental dive watches, the Seamaster Ultra Deep and the Deepsea Challenge, Omega would win in this category, but we’ll get to these two watches in a minute).

Special Editions
When it comes to special models, Omega can draw on a wealth of resources. This brand has produced numerous limited-edition watches for the Olympics, the sailors of the Emirates Team New Zealand and film super-spy James Bond. Rolex offers the Submariner with a green bezel and the Deepsea with a color gradient on its dial, but these are not limited-edition watches. If you want a rare variation of a Rolex dive watch, you have to buy extremely expensive historical pieces. Omega has more to offer here.

The Movements
Since last year, Rolex has only used two different in-house movements: the 3230 without date for the Submariner and the 3235 for all other dive watches. Both offer 70 hours of power reserve. Omega relies mostly on calibers from the 8000 series and chronograph movements from the 9000 series. These feature Omega’s efficient co-axial escapement and a 60-hour power reserve. Rolex’s calibers have proven to be extremely robust and precise, but Omega’s movements achieved better average rate values in recent tests. Furthermore, Omega went to great lengths to develop comprehensive protection against magnetic fields without a soft iron inner case. Thanks to antimagnetic components in the movement, magnetic fields cannot impair the rate accuracy, so Omega can, and almost always does, install a glass back. Rolex is also constantly improving its movements. Here, both manufacturers are at the same high level, with Omega offering a nicer finish on its movements.

Current Projects
In 2017, Rolex supported the “Under the Pole III” expedition, in which divers explored the ocean beneath the polar ice cap and off the shores of Antarctica. The brand also participated in the Deepsea Challenge in 2012, when filmmaker James Cameron became the first person to reach the deepest point in the sea since the 1960 expedition, which was also supported by Rolex. In 1960 and again in 2012, the exterior of the submersible carried a Rolex concept watch that had been specially developed for this ordeal: the “Deepsea Challenge” is pressure resistant to a depth of 12,000 meters. The developers of this deep diver were able to use the Ringlock system of the Deepsea model and thus achieved wearable dimensions of 51.4 mm in diameter and 28.5 mm in height. As a tribute to this expedition, the Deepsea model was given a “D-blue” gradient dial.

In 2019, Omega followed Rolex’s example and sent a wristwatch into the Mariana Trench. Developed expressly for this purpose, Omega’s Seamaster Planet Ocean Ultra Deep Professional reached a record depth of 10,925 meters on the exterior of the “Limiting Factor” submersible owned by the extreme adventurer Victor Lance Vescovo. Omega built only three pieces of this 55-mm-diameter and 28-mm-tall watch. None of the three is for sale, and all survived the immense pressure intact.

Omega also supports the Nekton Foundation, which is dedicated to protecting the seas, and has created a special model of the Seamaster Diver 300m with a likeness of the Nekton submersible on the caseback. So here both brands are working hard to outdo each other.

James Bond
Author Ian Fleming specified in his novels that secret agent James Bond wears a Rolex. The divers’ watch from the brand appeared on the agent’s wrist in the first seven James Bond films. After an interlude with Seiko’s ultramodern LCD watches, Bond returned to the Submariner in License to Kill (1989). Omega was a partner in the eight 007 films that followed, so various Seamaster dive watches accompanied James Bond. Omega also ran numerous ads to heighten awareness of the brand’s association with James Bond. The secret agent is once again wearing an Omega in the most recent James Bond film No Time to Die. Omega has released two special models to celebrate the film’s debut. Omega is following in Rolex’s footsteps here.

Conclusion
All in all, it’s obvious that each brand has its own specific strengths. Rolex came up with the helium-release valve, Omega with the Ploprof. Rolex sent its watches to the deepest trenches of the ocean’s floor earlier, but Omega has gained ground in recent years,especially with its co-axial movements with built-in protection against magnetic fields. In addition, Omega’s image has been enhanced by the presence of its watches on James Bond’s wrist. While Rolex impresses with the highly pressure-resistant and ingeniously designed Deepsea, Omega offers an enormous variety of dive-watch models.

This article originally appeared in the September-October 2021 issue of WatchTime.

One thing is clear: Left-handed people have it harder than the rest of us. Although they are no longer forced to write with their weaker right hand (even Rolex CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour is said to have trained himself to use his right hand), most everyday objects, like scissors and can openers, are designed for right-handed people. Lefties find them hard to use. Left-handers make up about 10 percent of the population, so it’s a pretty substantial minority. Most tools these days are available in left-handed versions, but there hasn’t been a similar shift in the watch world.

Why do left-handed people have trouble with watches at all? In principle, if you use your left hand more often and want to protect a watch from bumps and scratches, any watch can be worn on the right. But it’s pretty hard to operate the crown (even though a watch should always be taken off for setting, to avoid putting excessive lateral pressure on the winding stem). When you hold a conventional watch with a crown in your hand, you either have to wind it and set it with your right hand or turn the watch upside down, with the 12 o’clock position down, to use your left. And this isn’t ideal for time setting — especially for a watch with a second time zone, when the local time should be adjusted any time you enter a new time zone.

Even though brands like Panerai, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Tudor and Sinn have built watches with the crown on the left, most have this feature to keep the crown from pressing against the back of the hand or wrist when the watch is worn on the left, as usual.

Now Rolex is presenting a solution in which not only the crown is positioned on the left side of the case, making it easy to operate with the left hand, but the date display has also moved to the left. This makes it easier to read when the watch is worn on the right and is partly hidden by a shirt cuff.

Left or Right? 

The new GMT-Master II is very well suited for left-handers as well as for people who like to wear their watches on the right. But what about the other 90 percent of the population? Well, then this watch is just as difficult to use as any other GMT-Master II is for left-handers. It’s not a huge problem, but let’s just say it’s much easier to use with the crown on the other side.

And how does it look with these new changes? While the crown on the left is not very remarkable, the date on the left side seems a little off — like a picture that is upside down. It takes some getting used to. You might at first think you’ve got your watch wrong-side up, until you notice the brand name and logo and see that the watch is really right-side up. But you do get used to it.

Another new feature is the black-and-green bezel — something never seen before at Rolex.

We’ve seen a completely green rotating bezel on the Submariner LV. Green is actually the anniversary color at Rolex, and the GMT-Master II was introduced exactly 40 years ago, in 1982. However, it did not differ in appearance from its predecessor, the GMT-Master, but only in its function — the 12-hour hand could be adjusted independently of the GMT hand.

Now, in addition to the Pepsi (red-blue bezel) and the Batman (blue-black bezel), we have a third color variant among the steel models. Admittedly, color is always a matter of taste, but we like the older versions better than the new one.

When the GMT-Master was first introduced in 1955, it had a two-tone 24-hour bezel in red and blue that was designed to differentiate easily between the day and night hours of the second time zone. Another more elegant version was introduced later with an all-black rotating bezel, but the more legible two-tone scale remained essential to the design. When you’re on the road, it’s much easier to see at a glance whether you can call home or if everyone is already asleep.

In 2007, with the introduction of the ceramic bezel, single-color bezels were initially the only option. This material was difficult to produce in color and very difficult to produce with different colors on a single part. But in 2013, Rolex successfully introduced the Batman, with a blue-and-black bezel. Rolex used a process developed in-house and patented for a singlepiece scale. Prior to sintering in a kiln, a metal salt is deposited on one half of the ceramic part, which produces the color. These UV-resistant bezels also do not fade.

However, in low light, as with the blue-black rotating bezel, it is difficult to distinguish any difference between the colors on the green-black version. On a positive note, the green is subtle in tone, so the watch is suitable to wear with an elegant dress shirt. The green 24-hour hand matches the bezel, as was the case 10 years ago with the steel version with the black bezel.

One might think that Rolex would only need to flip the dial the other way around, but in fact the dial, bezel, date ring and GMT hand are all new products, as is the crystal, due to the new position of the Cyclops magnifying lens and the laser-engraved Rolex crown at 6 o’clock.

Design Classics 

Otherwise, the design of this new model is derived directly from the first GMT-Master. Only the bezel numerals have been updated. There was little to improve on regarding the design, and the GMT-Master has become a classic.

The case is slim at 12.1 mm, even though the watch is water resistant to 100 meters. One rarely finds such a slim and comfortable sports watch these days. The 40-mm diameter is also a good size for most wrists.

And the bracelet with its curved links lies comfortably against the wrist. There is an additional feature that helps when your wrist expands due to heat or playing sports — a halflink extension piece can be folded out from the clasp. This extends the length of the bracelet by 5 mm without a noticeable difference in look. The high-quality clasp on the Oyster bracelet is pretty close to optimum, both in terms of workmanship and operation. When shut, the safety folding bar is hardly visible. Opening it by lifting the Rolex crown reveals a lever that is also easy to lift to open the bracelet. The more elegant five-row Jubilee bracelet is available for an additional $200.

The large winding crown is also easy to use, aside from its position. Unscrewing the crown releases it to wind the watch. In the first position, the normal hour hand can be moved forward and back in hourly increments to set the time in a new time zone. The date jumps in both directions correspondingly. The minute hand is adjusted in the second position (and with it, the 24-hour and the normal hour hand). T he 24-hour hand is normally used for the home time, or by pilots for GMT, while the normal hour hand shows the local time, as is usual for a travel watch.

You can also set another time zone temporarily using the bezel, which advances in onehour increments. For example, if you are in the United States and are working on a project with a company in Germany, setting the correct time zone with the bezel shows you when your business partners are available. The GMT-Master II provides extremely practical time zone functionality.

Modern Movement 

We determined the proverbial precision of our Rolex test watch on a high-end Witschi timing machine. Showing a very good average daily gain of only 1.3 seconds, the GMT-Master II remained within the very strict Rolex specification standard of between -2 and +2 seconds per day, which every watch must also attain to be officially certified as a chronometer by the Swiss testing institute COSC. Testing in six positions showed results that were sufficiently close together, with a maximum deviation of 5 seconds, and the amplitude between the flat positions (dial up and dial down) and the hanging positions remained within an acceptable range. The good rate results are provided by the newest generation of in-house Rolex calibers, the 3285, which is protected behind the solid steel caseback. A rotor with ball bearings produces a long power reserve of 70 hours. The main contribution is supplied by the highly efficient Chronergy escapement with its optimized pallet fork and escape wheel geometry, and the LIGA process that allows Rolex to create a perforated and therefore much lighter construction. Thanks to the nickel-phosphorous alloy used, the escapement does not react to magnetic fields.

Other well-known advantages of Rolex movements include in-house, high-efficiency Paraflex shock absorption, an extremely stable balance bridge instead of a one-sided balance cock, the free-sprung hairspring with overcoil made of a paramagnetic niobium-zirconium alloy, and the fine regulation via Microstella nuts on the balance wheel. The movement can be adjusted without having to remove it from the case, using a special tool.

Decorations such as a sunburst finish are present, but you should not expect to see hand engraving. The new generation of movements can also be identified by a single detail at the bottom of the dial: a tiny Rolex crown between the two words “Swiss Made.”

Price and Availability 

The list price of the left-handed GMT-Master II is $11,050, but availability presents a considerably larger hurdle. Anyone who isn’t already an established customer at a Rolex jeweler will, as with other models, have difficulty getting their hands on a watch. Prices on the secondary market have fallen over the last several months, but demand for Rolex watches is still outweighing supply by far. The green model for left-handers is currently the most desirable GMT-Master II and is being traded at more than $26,000, despite recent price drops.

In this latest version, the GMT-Master II is already a design classic with excellent technological features, quality and accuracy. It comes highly recommended for left-handed people and, despite its more cumbersome operation, for those right-handed people who wear their watches on their right wrist, so date is easy to read. Anyone who likes the color, or who values the prestige of the currently rarest GMT-Master II, will certainly be doing everything right with this new, updated model.

Rolex GMT-Master II

Manufacturer:
Rolex SA, Rue François-Dussaud 3-7, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland 

Reference number:
126720VTNR 

Functions:
Hours, minute, seconds, date; second time zone 

Movement:
In-house Caliber 3285, automatic, chronometer, 28,800 vph, 31 jewels, stop-seconds function, quick-adjust date with hour advancing mechanism, Paraflex shock absorber, Glucydur balance with Microstella regulating screws, 70-hour power reserve 

Case:
Stainless steel 904L, ceramic bezel, flat sapphire crystal with Cyclops date magnifying lens and inner antireflective coating, screw-down Triplock crown, fully threaded 904L stainless-steel caseback, water resistant to 100 m 

Bracelet and clasp:
Oyster bracelet made of 904L stainless steel, with safety folding clasp and extension piece 

Rate results:
Deviation in seconds per 24 hours Average amplitude: 

Dimensions:
Diameter = 40 mm, height = 12.1 mm, weight = 154 g 

Price: $11,050

Scores:

Bracelet and clasp (max. 10 points): 9
Well-made bracelet with a secure clasp.

Case (10): 9
Cleanly polished case with reliably sealing Triplock crown and scratchresistant crystal.

Dial and hands (10): 10
Meticulous finishing of white-gold markers and hands. Dial printing is clean and clear.

Design (15): 13
A classic with an unusual left orientation and a new color combination.

Legibility (5): 5
Large markers and sharp contrast provide good legibility during daylight hours, with bright luminous for night.

Operation (5): 4
The crown position means it is less easy to use for right-handers. Optimum setting of the local time.

Wearing comfort (5): 5
Curved links increase wearing comfort. The integrated extension piece in the clasp is helpful. 

Movement (20): 19
The sturdy, accurate and durable in-house movement offers a long power reserve.

Rate results (10): 9
Very low average deviation. Moderate deviations in the different positions.

Overall value (10): 9
The price-performance is acceptable, and the value will remain high — at least for those who can get one at a reasonable price.

Total (100): 92 Points

To subscribe to WatchTime Magazine, click here.

And to learn more about this watch, visit Rolex, here.