For watch enthusiasts, the most anticipated moment of the year is just a few weeks away. Watches & Wonders is when the most prominent luxury watch brands worldwide, such as Rolex, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet unveil their latest creations and announce discontinuation.
Among these brands, Rolex consistently commands attention, stirring anticipation in the luxury watch community with its annual releases.
This year, our team at ChronoFinder, a London-based retailer specialising in second-hand luxury watches, has crafted our own concept pieces, speculating on the new Rolex models for 2024.
New Rolex models: The GMT
Since 2018, Rolex has placed significant emphasis on its GMT models, introducing iconic variations known as the ‘Pepsi’, ‘Root Beer’, ‘Batgirl’, and ‘Sprite’. While diversifying the focus across different models would be welcomed, it’s likely Rolex will continue to explore GMT iterations this year.
Rolex is known for its discretion, making predictions challenging. However, recent reports indicate a potential shift hinted by a patent filing for black and red ceramic bezels, possibly signalling a departure from the iconic ‘Pepsi’ design due to production challenges. An iteration featuring a ‘Coke’ bezel reminiscent of older pre-ceramic GMT models could emerge, offering collectors a fresh interpretation of a beloved classic.
These production challenges could also see the discontinuation of the white-gold ‘Pepsi’ GMT. This is the only sports watch left with the spectacular meteorite dial. Each dial is piece unique, made from a solid slice of the Gibeon meteorite, meaning it is quite literally out of this world. Although supply is incredibly scarce due to mining restrictions on the Gibeon meteorite introduced in 2004, we would love to see it introduced on the rose gold ‘Root Beer’ as it is the favourite of our concepts.
Another possibility is a rerelease of the black steel GMT with an updated two-tone bezel on a Jubilee bracelet. Collectors were frustrated after Rolex reintroduced the ‘Batman’ GMT model on an Oyster bracelet in 2021, after previously discontinuing it in 2018. So whilst this addition could diversify the GMT lineup, we hope Rolex instead shifts their focus towards other models.
Steel & rose gold models
At this year’s Watches & Wonders, we would love to see Rolex introduce steel and rose gold options for their Submariner and Sky-Dweller ranges. We imagine the Sky-Dweller would have the same dial options as the full rose gold version. The Submariner could potentially be introduced alongside a full rose gold model, which is something we’d love to see. When the stainless steel ‘Hulk’ was introduced in 2010, it became one of Rolex’s most popular watches, so its introduction in rose gold would take the watch world by storm.
Olive dial rose gold models
First introduced in 2016, the 60th anniversary olive dial Day-Date has been rumoured to be discontinued in recent years. However, this is an incredibly popular colour, so we wouldn’t want to see it be discontinued completely. Rather, we would like to see it introduced with baguette diamond hour markers, offering a luxury twist on the popular model.
We also would love to see the introduction of the olive dial on the rose gold Sky-Dweller. Precious metal Sky-Dwellers have such a high retail price meaning they are often overlooked. However, anybody who has held a Sky-Dweller will understand the level of craftsmanship, engineering, and precision that has gone into making it Rolex’s most complicated timepiece. If this were to be released, we’d expect it to be available on a full bracelet as well as the Oysterflex, giving the Sky-Dweller range a huge boost.
Full rose gold Yachtmaster
This is a model we’ve been hoping to see for a long time. Recent Yachtmaster releases have seen a larger 42mm case size on the white and yellow gold Oysterflex. Last year also saw the groundbreaking release of the full titanium model. Currently selling for over three times its retail price on the second hand market, this incredibly rare timepiece is something that even as a watch trader, I am yet to have the pleasure of seeing in person. The introduction of a full rose gold Yachtmaster would be incredibly popular and also more attainable for collectors than its titanium counterpart.
Ultimately, even for us who are in the industry – it is incredibly difficult, near impossible to predict what Rolex will do next. There is often no rhyme or reason behind what is released, or discontinued and when. None of the watches that you have seen in this article currently exist – although there is no good reason why they should not. At ChronoFinder, we are true luxury watch enthusiasts. It is our passion and our business. We will be waiting in anticipation of this year’s Watches & Wonders, and hope that some of our concepts might come to life.