Sometimes Rolex does things in such a subtle way that you might've even missed it. Did
you realize there was a big update to the Sky Dweller for 2021? We'll talk about it.
Fresh from the showcase here at SwissWatchExpo, we're talking about
some of the major changes that were made to the Sky Dweller for 2021. Rolex is so
subtle with these things. you might've even missed it. With the bigger announcements about
what happened with the Oyster Perpetuals and the Datejusts and everything else. But
one thing that's really cool about the Sky Dweller is Rolex just continues to
improve things and change things. It's very subtle changes, but as they progress, the model just gets
better and better. This is the one that we know and love was released in 2012 to a lot of fanfare.
The differences, of course, with the Sky Dweller, from everything else was:
Number one, it had a bigger case than any of the Datejust up until then.
It kind of looks like the logical conclusion of the Datejust because it has a similar case
and a similar look with the fluted bezel.
It's a 42 millimeter watch. One of the most complicated movements that Rolex has ever made
really fascinating. I love using it. What you do is you'll read the second time zone here in the
second sub sub dial there, six o'clock and you see the red arrow, right under the word Rolex
that indicates where your second time zone is and they made an ingenious change to the hands.
If you notice they're partially skeletonized and near the center and the loom doesn't cover
the entire hand that's so that when the hands are up near 12 o'clock, you can actually read
your second time zone through the hands of the watch. Really fascinating and a great innovation
there from Rolex. The other thing is that the watch features not only a second time zone,
but a annual calendar. Now remember an annual calendar is different from a perpetual calendar
because a perpetual calendar knows which cycle of the leap year you're in — 1, 2, 3 or 4
and adjusts accordingly for the dates and February and annual calendar
knows how many days are in all of the months, except February and automatically adjust.
So that's what you've got here. As luck would have it, there are 12 indicators of
hours on a watch and 12 months out of the year. So Rolex decided to put that to good use, and you can
see there's a red indicator past the five o'clock baton here. There are apertures at the end of each
hour indicator, and it indicates the month. So five that's — what May? And so it knows that May
has 31 days and it'll automatically adjust at the end. So it's really fascinating the way you
set all these different functions on this watch is through of the rotating bezel. So when you
unscrew the crown, you can turn the bezel to get to what you want to set. So with the bezel
rotated all the way to the right you're ready to wind the watch, you turn it to the left.
And this allows you to set the time as you pull it out, you say you would set your minutes and
your second time zone. Then as you move it, one more click. Now you can adjust the hours in your
the clock for wherever you are. Notice that the second hand keeps going when we're doing
this one. So this way you can change your time zones when you're part of the jet set without
messing up the time after all it is the Sky Dweller. So this is the watch for the jet set.
And then as you move the, the bezel around, it allows you to set all those
different functions. Then you just screw the crown down like a normal
Datejust. It is water resistant to 100 meters — 330 feet, just like the other Datejust watches.
So you certainly could use it for any amount of water-based activities, other than a full dive.
So the Oyster bracelet that they put on it from the beginning had the high polish center links.
So similar to a GMT Master — not like the sport watches, the Explorer, Explorer II,
the Submariner, which are brushed. So this is like kind of the dressier version of the Oyster
bracelet that has the three-piece bracelet. This is the one that really, in my mind,
this is the bracelet that the Sky Dweller belongs on because
it's always had kind of half of it in the sport camp and half in the dress camp. This
is the one watch if you're only going to pick one watch to do everything, this might well be
it because it's equally at home in a very casual environment, or it could certainly
dress up. You could wear it with a suit and be — definitely — an elegant presentation.
Now, what they did for 2021 — and when I said it was so subtle — is that they announced that
the Sky Dweller was now going to be available with a Jubilee bracelet. The Jubilee Bracelet
has always been thought of as a dressier version than the Oyster. It certainly with the five piece
links with the three in the center being all high polish and being smaller, they're more rounded
than the center links on the Oyster bracelet. They catch a lot more light. They sparkle a lot more
and it just looks more dressy. So this allows the Sky Dweller to move more wholeheartedly
into the dress watch camp — away from the sport watch side. It's — some people who are
haters on the Jubilee bracelet will say that — it looks more feminine. That's why the
Jubilee bracelet blue black version of the GMT Masters nicknamed Batgirl rather than Batman.
But when you see these two watches right next to each other, it would be hard to argue that the
Jubilee bracelet doesn't actually look better on this watch. I'm — it's always just personal
opinion, that's why they make 31 flavors of ice cream. We don't have to all like the same thing.
I do tend to like the Oyster bracelet better on the sport watches, but I got to say this
Sky Dweller, the more I look at it, and now that I'm holding it in my hand and seeing it in person
rather than in the pictures I think that the Jubilee bracelet really is probably the way to go
on this watch. The feel of it is great. They've integrated the easy link feature,
which was certainly popular among the Oyster bracelet watches. It allows you to fold in
about five millimeters of the bracelet and pull it back out with no tools. So if you
feel a little stuck to your watch in the summer, Maybe you ate a lot of salsa and chips last night,
and you're a little swollen. You can just open it up a little bit. If you're feeling
like it's just loose and flopping around on you in the winter, you're certainly able to
just close up a little bit of that bracelet and not have to have any tools to do it.
Some people assumed from the dimensions that it's a really thick, heavy watch.
I mean, it is a big watch, but at 42 millimeters, it really is kind of the correct modern size. The
Jubilee bracelet — I don't have big wrists, but you can see it just
fits really nicely. It's a very comfortable bracelet. It feels great on.
Of course, it has the Oyster lock here where you can only open the clasp by the end of it. Other
than that it's locked in. So it's very secure all around. Of course you get the high polish edges,
the mat on the back of the bracelet — typical what you've come to expect from Jubilee bracelets,
but it just feels really good. It looks great on the watch. Right now, it is more highly coveted
design because it is the new one for 2021. And so there is a premium on it at this point.
But if you check our website, see what we've got available, give us a call, click the bell to like,
and subscribe so you don't miss any new content but know, give us a call and tell us what you
think. Comment below. Tell us which one you like better. Right now my vote is on
the Jubilee bracelet, which I know is unusual for me, but I think it just fits with this one.