Cover Rolex unveiled the first Oyster in 1926
Rolex unveiled the first Oyster in 1926
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A century after Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf redefined the wristwatch with the Oyster, the brand continues to ask how much further it can go
Imagine a wristwatch so ahead of its time that, a century after its introduction, it still defines what a wristwatch should be. That watch is the Rolex Oyster, which was unveiled in 1926, at a moment when pocket watches ruled and wristwatches were little more than delicate jewellery.
When Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf set out to solve the wristwatch’s central problem—its vulnerability to dust, moisture and the rigours of daily wear—he was not simply engineering a better case. He was making an argument: that precision and durability were not competing values, but inseparable ones. With its patented screw-down bezel, caseback and winding crown, the Oyster became the world’s first truly waterproof and dustproof wristwatch, changing the terms of the conversation entirely.
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Above The first Oyster from 1926
The first Oyster from 1926
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Rolex had already signalled its ambitions in 1914, when one of its wristwatches earned a Class A precision certificate from England’s Kew Observatory—the highest distinction in chronometry at the time. But it was the Oyster that transformed technical achievement into cultural proof. In 1927, British swimmer Mercedes Gleitze wore one during her attempt to cross the English Channel. After more than ten hours in cold, open water, the watch emerged without fault. Rolex subsequently ran a full-page advertisement in the Daily Mail. The point had been made—and so had the method. For Wilsdorf, excellence was never merely a claim to be printed in a catalogue; it had to be demonstrated in the field, under pressure, and over time.
What followed was decades of the world becoming a living laboratory for the brand. Oyster watches travelled to the summit of Everest and into the depths of the Mariana Trench. As Wilsdorf said in 1948: “Rolex Oysters have flown over Everest ... crossed deserts at record speed ... withstood the humidity of jungles and resisted the cold of the Arctic—without ever altering the precision of their movement.” They accompanied mountaineers, divers, aviators and scientists into conditions that would have destroyed lesser instruments. The Oyster did not only survive these environments; it became synonymous with the people who chose to wear them.
Above The first Oyster Perpetual from 1931
The first Oyster Perpetual from 1931
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That association between technical credibility and clarity of purpose shaped the Oyster’s design as much as its engineering. The case that emerged over the decades became one of watchmaking’s most recognisable silhouettes, defined by purposeful proportions, legible dials and a quiet permanence that resists the pull of trend. Many of Rolex’s most enduring models—from Professional to Classic models—trace their lineage directly to the Oyster’s architecture.
The introduction of the Perpetual rotor in 1931 deepened that legacy. A self-winding mechanism powered by the natural movement of the wearer’s wrist, it addressed convenience with the same disciplined logic that had defined the Oyster from the start. Together, the Oyster case and Perpetual movement became the blueprint for the modern mechanical wristwatch—and a template the industry has been refining ever since.
Above Testing the winding system via a Perpetual rotor
Testing the winding system via a Perpetual rotor
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But the word Perpetual has come to mean something larger than a movement. Over the years, it has become the governing idea behind Rolex’s wider world: its partnerships with athletes in golf, tennis, sailing and motorsport; its support of artists and performers through the Perpetual Arts Initiative; and its championing of conservationists and environmental scientists through the Perpetual Planet Initiative. Where the early Oyster explorers pushed into unknown terrain to test what was possible, today’s Rolex-supported changemakers share their expertise to tackle the environmental challenges of our time.
A century on, Rolex is marking the Oyster’s centenary with renewed ambition. The manufacture is expanding its Superlative Chronometer certification from four criteria to seven, adding resistance to magnetism, reliability and sustainability to its existing standards of precision, waterproofness, self-winding and autonomy. At the same time, it is investing in optical atomic clock research—an area of science that draws on quantum physics to achieve levels of timekeeping precision far beyond anything currently possible in a wearable watch. So precise are these clocks that they are expected to be incorporated into the international system that establishes Coordinated Universal Time. The work sits at the frontier of science, while reflecting the same instinct that drove Wilsdorf nearly a century ago: that technical progress, relentlessly pursued, is always worth the effort.
Credits
Images: Rolex
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Annabel Tan is the Editor of Watches and Jewellery at Tatler Singapore, where she covers all things luxury timepieces and fine jewellery across both print and digital platforms. She is also the Editor of Tatler GMT Singapore, a role that deepens her fascination with the ever-evolving world of watchmaking. Outside of work, she’s usually on the hunt for her next favourite watch that she can’t afford, planning her next beach getaway, or catching up on the latest Formula 1 race.
