The market of famous watches has declined as a whole, but this Rolex is close to Daytona
At the " Watches and Miracles " Geneva Watch Fair at the beginning of this year (March 2023), Rolex 's new efforts were very strong. In addition to updating the entire line of Daytona , an unprecedented color plate version was launched on the Oyster Perpetual . The official name is the Oyster Perpetual "Celebration Pattern" dial, which is commonly known as "balloon" and "bubble" (hereinafter referred to as balloon).
Rolex Oyster Perpetual "celebration pattern", commonly known as "balloon".
After several months, the new Oyster Perpetual “Balloon” has been distributed to Rolex dealer stores around the world and has begun sales. The Oyster Perpetual was originally the entry-level series of Rolex. The public price of men's watches starts at more than 40,000 (36 mm), making it the cheapest Rolex . But with the support of the “celebration pattern” balloons, the actual price of the new Oyster Perpetual has soared to the level of a Rolex Daytona . Although the ultra-high market price is expected, it still makes people feel a little surprised in today's period when the global market for luxury watches is declining overall.
Rolex Oyster Perpetual “Celebration Pattern”, Balloon
The new Oyster Perpetual “Balloon” includes 3 models, namely: 41mm model 124300, 36mm model 126000, and 31mm model 277200. Among them, 41 and 36 are men’s watch sizes. The actual photos in this article are of the 36mm model.
Rolex Oyster Perpetual "Celebration Pattern" balloons, from left to right, 41 mm, 36 mm, 31 mm.
The soaring popularity of the Oyster Perpetual “Balloon” stems from the launch of the Oyster Perpetual “ Tiffany Blue” in 2020.
In 2020, Rolex launched the “Tiffany Blue” dial on the Oyster Perpetual for the first time, and it became an instant hit. Not only did the market instantly reach more than 100,000, but it also directly gave birth to the Patek Philippe 5711A "Tiffany Blue" limited edition, triggering the "Tiffany Blue" craze in the world of famous watches.
In 2020, the Rolex Oyster Perpetual “Tiffany Blue” triggered a craze for “Tiffany Blue” color matching.
But just when the Oyster Perpetual "Tiffany Blue" became popular, Rolex was so extreme that it directly discontinued the 41mm "Tiffany Blue" (36mm is still in production). The 41mm Oyster Perpetual 'Tiffany Blue' has only been produced for about a year. And this year, the 41mm Oyster Perpetual 'Balloon' was used to replace the 41mm 'Tiffany Blue'. As a result, the market price of the new "balloon" has soared, and the 41 "Tiffany Blue", which was only produced for one year, continues to maintain a super high market price due to its limited quantity.
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual "Celebration Pattern" balloon has 51 colored balls on the disk.
The background color of the Rolex Oyster Perpetual "Balloon" is still "Tiffany Blue", but on the disk, 51 colored balls have been added, and the colored balls have black outlines. The other parts are the same as the regular Oyster Perpetual Disk. Among watches of the same level, Rolex uses very sufficient materials. Even the entry-level Oyster Perpetual uses platinum hands and platinum hour markers. Below the 6 o'clock position on the dial, there is a small crown (indicating that the watch uses Rolex's new generation 32 series automatic movement ). The fancy dial of the Oyster Perpetual "Balloon" is highly recognizable.
Rolex Oyster Perpetual "Celebration Pattern", dial details.
The Oyster Perpetual uses Rolex's most standard "Oyster case" and the most standard aperture. The front of the case is fully brushed, the bezel and the sides of the case are polished. The polished side of the case is a major feature of Rolex (including Tudor ). The watch crown has a screw-in lock and is waterproof to 100 meters. Rolex Oyster Perpetual, with Oyster bracelet and Oyster buckle. The bracelet and buckle are all brushed in large areas. The whole table processing method is similar to professional workers such as Airmaster and Steel Case Tanyi.
Rolex Oyster Perpetual "Celebration Pattern", case detail.
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual 41 and 36 men's models have been fully equipped with Rolex's new generation of 32 series automatic movements, specifically the 3230 automatic movement, which is consistent with the Rolex No Calendar Water Ghost 124060 movement. The power is 70 hours, and the new Chronergy escapement is used to improve the power transmission efficiency. At the same time, continue to use the Rolex blue niobium hairspring and fine-tune the balance wheel with no calorie weights. Certified by the Rolex Super Observatory, the daily error is +2/-2 seconds.
41mm and 36mm Oyster Perpetual, using the 3230 automatic movement.
The price of the Oyster Perpetual "Balloon" is close to that of Daytona, and the price in Europe is even higher.
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual “Balloon” has a public price of 50,000 for 41mm and 47,600 for 36mm.
Rolex Oyster Perpetual “Celebration Pattern”
Of course, the public price is meaningless in front of the Oyster Perpetual "balloon". Although the global market for luxury watches is currently falling, with Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet , and Rolex sports models all falling, the Oyster Perpetual "Balloon" is currently soaring. Among them, the actual price of the 41mm model is even close to that of Daytona 116500 (36 mm actual price is lower). At the same time, according to foreign information, the actual price of the 41mm Oyster Perpetual "Balloon" in Europe has reached 34,500 euros, which is about RMB 273,270, which is much higher than the domestic secondary market price. An Oyster Perpetual is more expensive than a steel-cased Daytona, which is surprising.
The actual price of the 41mm Oyster Perpetual “Celebration Pattern” is already close to Daytona’s 116,500.
The "conservative" Rolex has become more and more "fashionable".
Rolex is one of the most "restrained" and "conservative" brands in the world of luxury watches. In addition to technological changes, every update in the appearance of the watch is just a detailed adjustment. It can be said that there is not much difference in the overall appearance between the water ghosts and day calendars currently on sale and the antique models from 50 years ago.
Rolex’s new weekly calendar “puzzle” uses enamel to create a puzzle pattern on the disk, replacing the original weekly calendar with cartoon patterns and English.
In recent years, Rolex has begun to add “fashion” elements. In addition to the Oyster Perpetual "Balloon", Rolex's new weekly calendar "Puzzle" this year uses enamel to make a puzzle pattern on the dial, and uses a weekly calendar window to display a cartoon pattern. For Rolex, which has always focused on practicality, it was unimaginable in the past to completely remove the calendar function and change the calendar to a cartoon pattern.