Dressed And Impressed

In a surprising move, Rolex entirely reshuffled their dress watch offer with the Perpetual 1908. Proclaiming Rolex is not all about sports watches, the 1908 is filled with hints at past classic-looking and historic timepieces. Only much better

- DAVID CHOKRON

As the luxury sports watch sits front and centre, an entire span of watchmaking is being overshadowed, verging on irrelevance. The past five years have been so focused on the likes of the Rolex Oyster Perpetual and Day-Date that an entire generation of customers has all but forgotten dress watches (the popularity of casual style, even in business and evening wear, in Singapore means that the sports watch has been dominant for far longer than five years – Ed). They do not seem to be aware that the new Perpetual 1908 is but the latest avatar in an almost century-long history of Rolex classic timepieces.

And yet, this new Perpetual collection is nothing short of a revolution in the way it has been devised, designed and positioned. The 1908 symbolizes this constant re-examination of what has been achieved while setting tradition in motion. Behind its understated looks and 39mm gold case, the 1908 is, to put it simply, a great watch, which we have ascertained after a week-long test on the wrist.

EARTHQUAKE

To the untrained eye, the Perpetual 1908 is nothing extraordinary. What could be extraordinary in a classic-looking Rolex after all? The Geneva watchmaker has been making such pieces for its entire history. Case in point, the 1908 takes its name after the year the Rolex brand name was registered. It can also be argued that the first self-winding Oyster, launched in 1931, served as inspiration for this contemporary one. Several design cues do link these two watches, even though they are 90 years apart. To the trained eye, though, the inaugural piece in the Perpetual collection is extremely special. Yet this fact may go unnoticed, because 2023 will go on to be an earthquake year in the brand's timeline.