How the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust Watch Transformed Watch Design

It’s set the standard for modern watchmaking and been worn on centre court, in hit films, the Oval Office and Number 10.

High performance

In 1926, Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of Rolex, created the first water- and dustproof wristwatch. With an airtight case to keep the movement safe, the watch was dubbed the “Oyster”. A year later, young British swimmer Mercedes Gleitze wore one to cross the English Channel, a visionary alignment for the brand that equipped the first expedition to fly over Everest, as well as racing driver Malcolm Campbell when he set a land speed record of more than 300 miles per hour (about 485 kilometres per hour).

Infinite possibility

Having proved the Oyster’s technical performance, the term “Perpetual” came about in 1931 when Rolex invented and patented the world’s first self-winding mechanism, a Perpetual rotor, a system that still keeps automatic watches ticking today.

Great expectations

To celebrate Rolex’s 40th anniversary in 1945, the Oyster Perpetual Datejust was born. It was the first self-winding waterproof chronometer wristwatch to display the date in a window at 3 o’clock on the dial, a feature that would become standard in watchmaking. A five-piece Jubilee bracelet was designed for the watch’s launch. Two years later Wilsdorf presented a Datejust in 18-carat gold with the famed fluted bezel and white dial to an impressed Sir Winston Churchill.

About time

In 1957, Wilsdorf went on to create the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Lady-Datejust. Accepting the challenge to offer a modern dependable wristwatch that combined elegance and precision, he said, “Ladies want the best of both worlds: a tiny watch and an accurate movement. Yet, the smaller the watch, the more difficult it is to make it accurate.” The chronometer has all the hallmarks of the Datejust with the added benefit of a compact design. It’s graced the wrists of pioneering women, including marine biologist and explorer Sylvia Earle and opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.

Hall of fame

Today, the Datejust is one of the brand’s most recognisable timepieces, marked by pop-culture moments in film (worn by Paul Newman in The Color of Money, Christian Bale in American Psycho, Bill Murray in Lost in Translation and Matthew McConaughey in The Wolf of Wall Street) and owned by United States President Joe Biden, basketball legend Michael Jordan and tennis greats Roger Federer, Rod Laver and Chris Evert. The watch comes in a variety of sizes, from 28 millimetres to 41 millimetres, in stainless steel, solid gold, two-tone or gem-set versions. It’s guaranteed waterproof to a depth of 100 metres and always with the distinctive Cyclops lens to easily read that namesake date.