“For those who travel the world, this is the Sky-Dweller.”
Those are the first words spoken in the web video about Rolex’s newest luxury watch, the Sky-Dweller. And I think it
sums it up pretty well. This is the Rolex for people who travel.
On first glance, this looks like just a Rolex with a busy dial. It’s a non-typical look for the brand, and I personally think it’s refreshing when a brand tries something new. That being said, it’s a risk for Rolex, too, because the Sky Dweller won’t appeal to everyone.
Perhaps Rolex sensed that it needed to try something different so as not to go stale. The best brands in the world pay attention to the changing needs of their market. In this case, Rolex recognized the fact that people in general—and successful men in particular—are more airborn than ever. They travel constantly, and never stay in one time zone for very long. But these same people don’t exactly like wearing a digital watch everywhere they go. So Rolex took their classic luxury watch and added a healthy dose of practicality. The Sky-Dweller is the first ever from Rolex to have two time zones and an annual calendar. Pretty cool. What’s cooler? It’s also the first Rolex to be able to tell the difference between a 30- and a 31-day month. Now THAT’S a whole new ballgame.
Anyone who knows anything about mechanical watches knows that the type of mechanism needed to keep track of which months have 31 days and which ones have fewer is a feat of mechanics not found in many watches. It’s extremely complex, and thus, extremely rare. But this Rolex watch does it (with the exception of leap years). That means no more needing to adjust the date every other month.
So how does that affect the look? Like I said, this watch was made with the frequent flier in mind. So the design itself is a bit more complex than most Rolex watches. There’s a lot going on, too much for some, but just right for the watch enthusiast with a bit of “tech geek” inside of him (you can see what I mean looking at the picture of the three styles it comes in below).
So what else is going on in this busy dial? Well, let’s start with the dual time zones. The main hands show whatever time zone you’re in and are easily adjusted whenever you travel. The 24-hour disc in the middle is for keeping track of the time back home.
To access and control the Sky-Dweller’s functions, Rolex has put the control into the rotating bezel. They call this function “Ring Command.” Simply turn the bezel to select one of four different adjustment settings. Turn once, set the date. Turn twice, set the local time. Turn three times, set the reference time. Turn a forth time, and you’re in neutral mode. Given that adjusting a watch with movement this complex could turn into a confusing nightmare, I have to hand it to Rolex for making it simple. No awkwardly pushing down a hidden button with a pen while turning a knob on this watch. And this simplified, pusher-free user interface was no small feat. Rolex had to create a new in-house movement, the Calibre 9001, for the Sky-Dweller, that is chronometer certified with a 72-hour power reserve.
Another cool feature: the month is shown on the dial on an aperture at each hour marker. The picture below shows the dark-colored box at the top of eight o’clock, indicating that it’s August. The hour hand is jump set so setting local time only involves moving the hour hand, not the entire hand set (this is faster and more accurate).
So I actually really like the Sky-Dweller. As long as the busy dial doesn’t bother you, it’s a very technically advanced watch, one you’ll probably enjoy bragging to your friends about.
