King at last!: facts, myths, and opinions about Rolex.

What's the best watch in the world?
Rolex, of course.

At least that's the answer you would get from the vast majority of people around the world. The most powerful brand in watches and the one with the most sales (at 3 billion dollars annually). It's also the highest grossing watch brand in important developing markets like China. At around one million watches a year, the Genevan manufacturer is truly the industry king.

But since this is not a business blog so let's get down to business.

I had wanted a rolex since probably conception. They were mystical and I had heard many (untrue) things about them, the most common being:

They're the most accurate watch (some exaggerate to say they're never off)
They're the most durable watch
They're the most expensive watches (I think Greubel Forsey begs to differ)
They make the best watches (definitely not true on an absolute scale)

Not only are those bits of lore ridiculous, Rolex isn't even close to being the most technically advanced watch with the most complicated piece being the Yacht-Master II or the new Sky Dweller with the dateless Daytona coming in a close third.

The 2012 Sky Dweller is the most complicated Rolex watch currently in production

Now before I get angry emails and death threats about my criticisms, Rolex deserves a lot of credit for the things they did do:

First water resistent watch
Helium escape valve for saturation diving
Reach the bottom of the Mariana trench twice (tried but didn't quite make it to the moon...)
Brand that is not named after anyone but rather easy to pronounce
First GMT watch
Most copied design AND most faked watch (an amazing achievement)
Other "firsts" are written but are a bit more dubious

Undeniably cool

Rolex was also worn by some pretty cool people like Che Guvera, James Bond, The Pope, and every other rich/powerful/famous person ever.

In my next post I'll be reviewing what I see as the embodiment of the Rolex brand, the 14060M No-Date Submariner in 904L Stainless Steel.

Now for the rest of the post I get to be silly and rant a bit:

Rolexes are also very durable and well designed as a tool watch, but paving a tool watch with colored diamonds and having it in 18K gold seems slightly counter intuitive to me, just like a gold plated vacuum cleaner.

Complete 24K Gold Plated Vacuum cleaner nonsense

(just get a Dyson)

Cool rainbow Rolex nonsense

Sexual innuendo Rolex nonsense

The most vulgar watch in existence: Rolex Daytona Leopard

Price? Priceless

Available at Amazon 

Although we're not really into celebrities here at Horolograph, it's fun to note that apparently Miley Cyrus has already gotten her paws on the new and slightly obscene rainbow Rolex Daytona above. Rumor websites say the price is at least 100,000 dollars but I would wait for an official figure :