Tennis season is in full swing and we are gearing up towards one of the most
prestigious tournaments that happens every year. And today we've got a really special edition,
well, a special dial from Rolex. I'd like to discuss that pays tribute to that tournament.
For those of you all that didn't quite pick up on it, today, we're going to be
talking about Wimbledon. This is a tournament that takes place in London every year. It's
about two weeks long. This year, it's going to be happening from June 28th to July 11th. Of course,
it's 2021. So next year, those dates might be slightly different, but I want to kind of go
into the history of how this partnership came into being, why Rolex was chosen and what it is that's
so special about the tournament of Wimbledon. Now, Rolex, as we know, as most people know, is one of
the most recognizable brands in the history of watchmaking. And Wimbledon, very similar is the
most prestigious tournament. And one of the oldest tennis tournaments that is still around today.
So it's a, it's a really great matchup between the two of them just with not only just their
history and longstanding in their own particular industries, but also how they compliment one
another. So Rolex began the partnership with Wimbledon back in 1978 when they became the
official timekeeper. So of course, what they were doing was timing the matches to precision,
to make sure that any sort of accuracy, as far as keeping up with the time was kept accurate. And
that's a very important thing, not only just in tennis, but in most sports. And you'll find that
Rolex has a lot of partnerships with very high profile, sporting events and sports throughout
the world in today's society. Now, when I wanted to kind of talk about not only the traditional
elements of the company and the tournament themselves, but it goes a little bit deeper.
I mean, Rolex really takes a traditional approach to the designs and styles of their watches.
They haven't changed much since, since the beginning, you know, subtle changes,
definitely technologically advanced. You know, they're always creating new pieces that have
the current most up-to-date technology. So it improves the functionality of the watch.
But if you look at the Datejust, or the President, the style of the watch, the shape of the case is
something that is considered timeless by the watchmaking industry. Now Wimbledon also has
some very traditional elements to it, right? It's played on grass, you know, as opposed to clay or
the other materials that they use for the courts. And the players actually are required to wear 90%
white clothing when they're on the field. So it's the perfect match-up and pun intended on
that one. Now, roughly 40 years after Rolex started this partnership with Wimbledon,
they ended up releasing this special edition dial.
They call it the Wimbledon dial. Now that is not the official title. I believe given to it
by Rolex it's something that society has kind of garnered and created as a part of it, very similar
to like the Starbucks or the Kermit, you know, it is a Rolex dial. Now what makes it special is not
only just the fact that it incorporates green into the hour markers, but it's a very unique dial. So
you'll notice that all of the dials themselves are going to be a slate gray dial with a Sunray
effect. So if you look really closely into the dial, you'll see that these lines radiate outward
from the center where the hands are all connected. And it's a very subtle thing. It's not something
you would notice when you first look at it, it's got this flat smooth. It does have a sheen to it.
When I say flat, I don't refer to the color, but it's a smooth surface. But if you look really
closely, you will see that they're really intricate details laid in to the design
of the dial. Now it does have Roman numeral hour markers. They're going to be black Roman numerals,
but on the outline of each of these Roman numerals comes in green, and that is kind of a nod to,
you know, the grass that they play on when they're at Wimbledon. Now you'll notice that unlike most
of the Roman numeral our marker dials that we see from Rolex, this one only has one Baton
hour marker. Right? We see some, that'll have a combination of, of Roman numeral on our markers
and the batons, but this one, aside from the date, it's all Roman numerals and then just
one Baton hour marker. And the reason that they did that, they placed it at nine o'clock and it
creates symmetry with what is always at three o'clock on the Datejust being the date aperture.
Now there are a couple other things that I'd like to talk about regarding this style of
watch it. It does come in the 41 millimeter size, but you're not restricted to just this particular
watch. I mean, the one I've got on my hand here has a fluted gold bezel with an oyster bracelet,
but you can get it on a Jubilee bracelet. You can get it with the domed or the smooth bezel. You
can get it with rose gold. You can get it in just stainless steel. You can even get it in stainless
steel with the white gold fluted bezel. So all of the favorite configurations regarding metal
content are available with this dial. Now it's a wonderful watch. Obviously it is a little bit
unique. So whether you're a tennis fan or a Rolex enthusiast or just a watch enthusiasts in general,
people that see this dial are going to recognize what it stands for, because it is the unofficial
watch of the Wimbledon tournament. And when I think about this watch and the history of the
watch itself, the history of the tournament, well, when you look at what Rolex does for tennis and
other sports at the end of the day, Rolex, doesn't just tell time it tells history. So like the bell
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