If you’ve ever gone, ‘Nah; a Rolex isn’t for me’, there are definitely reasons for that, some of which may be that the complication of a Cosmograph Daytona is … just too complicated. Or that the ‘tool-siness’ of the Yachtmaster, Submariner and other tool watches in its lineup are … well, too toolsy. Whatever your reasons are, however, you may find them harder to defend with the all-new 2023 Rolex releases .
This year, the premium timepiece manufacturer has gone all out in its updates, even with those it labelled ‘subtle’. Now, if you have ever wanted a Rolex you can fall in love with immediately, no questions asked, here are some hard-to-resist 2023 models to have and to hold, possibly forever and ever.
The Cosmograph Daytona
60 is such a big year – maybe no bigger than 100 or as widely celebrated as 50, but significant all the same – that you would expect Rolex to pull out all the stops for the Cosmograph Daytona’s 60th. But this is Rolex, and while its 2023 releases are proof that it can be just as fancy as some of the masters of over-the-top horology, it chose to go the route of simple elegance that underscores many of its models.
The 2023 Rolex Cosmograph Daytona looks like its predecessor until you look closer and see that the hour markers are smaller and there are metal disks surrounding each chrono register. What is unmissable however are the available colours in this latest drop: the yellow gold model with Oysterflex bracelets and the rose gold variant with a black dial are impressive. But the show stopper here is the special 950 platinum model with an ice-blue dial and chocolate bezel that features the first-ever transparent case back in this series.
The Perpetual 1908
Complicated timepieces and toolsy watches are fine and dandy, but sometimes, we just want pieces that tell the time. The brand-new Rolex 1908 does exactly that: this new dress watch model tells you precisely where you are in our 24hr timeframe with its added Superlative Chronometer feature.
The 1908 is named after Rolex’s start year as a timepiece manufacturer, and its black or white dials are paired with either yellow or white gold and finished off with black or brown alligator straps that make for a truly understated, yet refined and classy piece.
The GMT-Master II
Yellow is back in the GMT-Master II collection and makes an appearance as a full 18k yellow gold model or a new two-tone rolesor-fitted variant.
The combination of a less-black Cerachrom bezel with a blacker dial result in a very serious-looking, mature and highly-desirable GMT-Master II
The Oyster Perpetual
For the 2023 model of its Oyster Perpetual, Rolex switches from serious to playful by infusing the dial with what seems to be all of the colours from the 2020 version. The bubbles dominating the turquoise-blue dial come in candy pink, mustard yellow, coral red, and forest green shades.
The Day Date 36
If you ever thought ‘fun’ is an alien concept in the world of Rolex, the Crown brand is out to prove you wrong.
The Swiss watchmaker has definitely shown it has a thing for colours over the years, but to include a jigsaw design on the dial, replace the day of the week function on the window display at 12 o’clock with affirmative words like “Happy,” “Eternity,” “Gratitude,” “Peace,” “Faith,” “Love,” and “Hope,” and, swap the date feature at 3 o’clock with emojis like the heart?
Indeed, even Rolex must have surprised themselves with this new Day Date that appears to be nothing like the pieces we know. And, if this unexpected shift is too much for you, don’t worry: the Crown has a toned-down, bedazzled version with colourful stone dials in emerald, turquoise and orange.