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54
F O C U S
With its new case, new bracelet and a cut-
ting-edge movement inside, the Rolex
Land Dweller demonstrates the brand’s
absolute commitment to excellence. Is
this the perfect watch?
By Christophe Roulet
At the latest “Watches and Wonders Geneva” fair,
regulars might not have been surprised to spot Roger
Federer, given the long-standing relationship between
Rolex and one of the great champions of tennis. What
was a surprise, at least to keen-sighted observers, was
that the maestro of the courts was wearing an entirely
new model. A Rolex, of course, but definitely not one of
the brand’s famously recognisable timepieces, those
essential, set-in-stone pillars of the watchmaking world
that have built its reputation since its founding exactly
120 years ago. An anniversary watch, then? Perhaps, but
also much more… Roger Federer was not the only one
with a strange new watch on his wrist as at his side was
the Chinese classical pianist Yuja Wang who wore the
feminine version of the watch. This was no coincidence.
These two characters, whose reputations were built on
creativity and faultless technique, perfectly embody the
spirit of the new Land-Dweller, a watch, according to
Rolex, “that opens new horizons” and is distinguished
by “its aesthetic and technical daring.”
Smart thinking
To say Rolex caught the watch world off guard with
the Land-Dweller is an understatement. The superlatives
piled up from the moment the watch was unveiled with
Rolex itself calling the Land-Dweller “a new chapter in
its story,” a “contemporary timepiece that represents
the peak of its expertise, the result of over a century
of horological mastery.” The goal with this “symbol of
harmony” is to deliver a message “simple yet powerful”:
“to be in tune with the times, with our environment, to
build the world of tomorrow.”
The shackles of conservatism have been coming off in
the last few years under the leadership of Jean-Frédéric
Dufour, who has been CEO since 2015. Rolex has already
taken several bold steps: putting a sapphire caseback on
the Daytona, releasing a Day-Date Puzzle with emojis,
introducing the refined Perpetual 1908 dress watch, not
forgetting the launch of the Certified Pre-Owned pro-
gramme and the surprise acquisition of Bucherer, one
of the world’s largest watch retailers. With the Land-
Dweller, Rolex takes a giant leap forward.
Everything in this watch has been considered afresh
to make it the most complete expression of contempo-
rary watchmaking. Its style aligns with the growing trend
of ‘sports-luxe’ watches, a genre that first emerged in the
1970s and no maker can now do without. That decade
saw the launch of the Explorer II (ref. 1655) and the Sea-
Dweller 4000 (ref. 16660), as well as the Oysterquartz
movement and the vividly dialled Day-Date Stella. As
Rolex say, the Land-Dweller “reinterprets the demanding,
ambitious design of integrated-bracelet watches” and
while the watch undoubtedly fills that niche for the cur-
rent era, it’s also a milestone in terms of intent.
Fine Margins
Naturally enough, Rolex is introducing a new bracelet
for the Land-Dweller with the Flat Jubilee, a reinterpreta-
tion of the iconic Jubilee first unveiled on the Datejust in
1945. Like its predecessor, the bracelet features two broad
outer links and three smaller central ones — though
now polished and slightly raised. The side links, given a
technical satin finish, are polished along the edges and
on the bevels at their upper ends, the result of a new
manufacturing process. The effect is a “true line of light”
that extends the case profile, whose upper sides are also
bevelled and polished. This being Rolex, the bracelet’s
already robust Oyster attachment is further reinforced
with ceramic inserts. Designer Davide Airoldi summa-
rises: “Aesthetically, the seamless visual flow between
the Flat Jubilee bracelet and the Oyster case gives the
Land-Dweller a great elegance, while maintaining the
robustness and reliability required of every Rolex watch.
This is a timepiece to wear in any situation.”
The case and dial are equally architectural in detail.
The dial features a honeycomb pattern with subtly raised
cells – no simple satin or sunburst finish is going to suffice
for Rolex. To cut the cells, a femtosecond laser – emit-
ting ultra-short bursts (1 femtosecond = one millionth
of a billionth of a second) – was used. Enough treat-
ment? Certainly not: the same laser was then employed
to engrave concentric circles between the cells and as
for the applied indices, “We used a new variant of lumi-
nescent material,” says Mathieu Vorontchouk, head of
dial prototyping. “It’s machinable, which allowed us to
create this unique aesthetic, with the luminous sub-
stance reaching the open ends of the markers.”
The case meanwhile, with its curved flanks, features
a bezel with slightly widened fluting in a modern style
and is gem-set on the more precious models. Water-
resistant to 100 metres, it has a sapphire crystal case-
back that reveals the movement’s every detail.
Absolute
Watchmaking