Jazzing up familiar favourites with new dials

RED, yellow, pink and turquoise are not colours that you typically find on a Rolex dial but when the brand decided to jazz its Oyster Perpetual watches up in those hues last year, it became an instant hit.

More funky dial designs are being reintroduced in 2021, and 2 of them can be found on the Oyster Perpetual Datejust 36 (from S$9,740). The first is a calming tropical-forest-inspired palm motif executed in olive green, gold or silver; and the deep and vibrant metallic hues are produced from materials such as copper, zinc, nickel, chromium, titanium and silicon that have been processed with cutting edge technology in Rolex's lab.

Those shades of green, gold and silver, as well as blue, are used for the second fluted motif that takes after the geometric patterns found in the brand's boutiques. Just like the palm pattern, it is engraved on a sunray-finished dial base using a high-tech femtosecond laser.

The always-popular Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona also gets a stunning meteorite dial (from S$47,150) that has been reserved only for the 18 ct yellow, white or Everose gold models. Every dial is unique-looking because Rolex has a very stringent selection process that follows a strict aesthetic criteria.

Siderite, which is an iron and nickel mineral found mostly in deserts is used; and the Widmanstatten patterns are form naturally as the heart of an asteroid is cooled slowly by a few degrees Celsius while journeying through the cosmos. It is entirely the work of Mother Nature because this unique crystallisation patterns can't be recreated on Earth and the whole process can take millions of years.

Equally stunning to look at are the new diamond Day-Date 36 and Lady-Datejust (both prices on request) just for women. A gemologist and a gem-setter work hand-in-hand, repeating the process of selecting the stones and setting them one by one into the watch by hand several hundred times to bring out the shine of the gemstones in the finished timepiece.

The Day-Date 36 is available in coral (18 ct yellow gold), turquoise (18 ct white gold) and burgundy (18 ct Everose gold); with matching hour markers and alligator leather straps.

As for the Oyster Perpetual Lady-Datejust, it is set with 1,089 diamonds on the middle case, bezel, dial and President bracelet, for extra sparkle on the wrist.