Now that the dust has settled, I am going to share my honest thoughts on how I really felt and feel now about the new Rolex Oyster Perpetual 'Celebration' ref. 124300. As I stood in front of the vitrines at the Rolex pavilion during Watches & Wonders 2023 in Geneva, I just couldn’t believe what my eyes were seeing. This is the very first time that the Green Giant would do something like this. On one hand, I felt that they were very ballsy to come up with such a dial, but on the other hand, I felt that this wasn’t what I would ever expect from Rolex and their very ‘by the book’ approach.
Named ‘Celebration’ by Rolex, this brand-new motif is available for the Oyster Perpetual 31, Oyster Perpetual 36, and Oyster Perpetual 41. Composed of differently sized bubbles fringed with black, it encapsulates the vivid colors of the lacquered dials introduced in 2020 —candy pink, turquoise blue, yellow, coral red, and green— over a turquoise blue background.
Don’t get me wrong, this is a nice looking festive watch but it is not what a Rolex in my mind should’ve ever looked like. I started my watch-collecting journey in 1990 when I was 18 years old and owned a bold stainless Rolex Submariner back then. Since 1990, I’ve owned mostly all modern Rolex Professional models and many vintage 1675s or 1680s. Based on my admiration for Rolex back in the day, whenever I think of Rolex the first watch that comes to mind is a Datejust with an oyster silvered dial on an oyster bracelet. While the two movements powering the new Oyster Perpetual 'Celebration' are at the forefront of watchmaking technology and way more advanced than the old movements, I still wouldn’t choose the new Oyster Perpetual 'Celebration' over a basic simple, yet very classic Datejust like the one I referenced above.
In Rolex’s words, the new Oyster Perpetual 'Celebration' is:
Alive with colour, vitality and positivity, the new dials of the Oyster Perpetual in 31 mm, 36 mm and 41 mm are dotted with many-coloured bubbles that joyfully reunite the five hues introduced to the range in 2020.
Honestly, I am not sure that it was necessary to celebrate the five hues introduced three years ago on the new line of Oyster Perpetual models. Was it necessary to perpetuate the colors of one of the most hyped Rolex watches out there? I don’t think so. I mean, at one point the price on the Turquoise Tiffany Blue Dial OP ref. 126000 reached a peak of $35,000 USD when the retail price for this watch was under $6,000 USD.
Since the day I laid eyes on the new Oyster Perpetual 'Celebration' I have not been able to get it out of my head and I’ve hesitated on writing my honest thoughts about it.
First of all, the Oyster Perpetual is the direct descendant of the original Oyster, the world’s first waterproof wristwatch, on which Rolex has built its reputation since 1926, second, the Oyster Perpetual is the Rolex in its purest form. While I liked the colorful dials for this model in 2020, I feel the ‘Celebration’ dial is a little bit of a sacrilege. If we make a simple comparison with other watch brands, I don’t think that any brand with the history and reputation of Rolex would’ve done something like this to one of their icons.
Even Hodinkee made somewhat of a mockery of this new watch on their hands-on review editorial:
“Just when life seems utterly predictable, Florida Atlantic makes the Final Four and Rolex makes a watch that looks like it should be sold at Party City, right next to the helium balloons.”
Like I said before, the Rolex Oyster Perpetual 'Celebration' Dial ref. 124300 is cute and wearable, but it is just not for me or for anyone that really appreciates what Rolex has done in almost 100 years. The watch is Rolex in form and craftsmanship but as far as the dial, I am not sure what their design team was thinking. And as far as I know, the marketing team doesn’t know about the new releases until the morning when the vitrines are opened to the press in order to prevent any leaks beforehand.
With this being said, I only wonder how Rolex operates as a company and how marketing decisions are really made. As a marketing and advertising maven with almost 30 years of expertise, I still can’t fathom how this Rolex Oyster Perpetual 'Celebration' Dial ref. 124300 even made it to the market.
Will this $6,400 USD watch become a discontinued highly collectible watch in a couple of years?
Most likely it will.
For more info on Rolex click here.
