Rolex watches are the most popular luxury watch. Certainly the best known.
And there are a lot of models to choose from.
They're categorized as references with 4, 5 or 6 digit numbers that describe the watch type, the bezel type, the material the watch is made from, and then possibly some letters that describe the bezel colour.
There are at least 28 broad families: Rolex - Daytona, Oyster Perpetual, GMT-Master for example.
That’s a lot of variables to collect.
So Rolex fans, and sometimes Rolex themselves, come up with nicknames.
They’re usually attached to particularly popular or notable models.
And they’re a fun way to negotiate the complicated, long and storied history of Rolex.
Here are 6 favourites:
The Hulk
Your friends will be green with envy when they see your new Rolex.
Colour is among the most popular ways to assign a nickname to a Rolex reference.
The inspiration for the Hulk stands out clearly on that proudly green bezel. Some Hulks (a follow up to the equally green Kermit) had a green dial too.
The watch itself is a Submariner, usually believed to be the most popular of all Rolex types.
This colour was used from 2010 to 2020 on reference 116610LV, and they are considered very collectible, rising in value considerably.
LV stands for Lunette Verte, the shade of green used here.
Submariners are diver’s watches, though many of them spend more time in expensive restaurants than they do under oil rigs.
Should you need to dive into something, the Hulk should stay dry and in perfect working order to 300 meters down.
The Pepsi
Day to night given a fizz with the nickname of this most famous Rolex alternate name.
Pepsis are GMT-Master pilot watches, and like Hulks they’re named for their colour.
Whatever your own beverage preferences, the Pepsi marketing team must have been very pleased when the blue and red of the 6542 brought their drink to mind rather than say, Crystal Palace FC or the flag of Liechtenstein.
So was born one of the best-known Rolex nicks for a model introduced in 1955 with specific application for transatlantic flyers.
The GMT refers to Greenwich Mean Time, and the dual time zone feature of the GMT-Master was a god send for crews in the new long-distance air industry.
The red and blue is - in Rolex’s own view - a night/day split.
The Pepsi continues to be produced today, with references always containing the BLRO (bleu, rouge) letter sequence that describes the blue/red split of the bezel.
The Panda
Nothing could be clearer than the black-and-white ceramic dial that gives the Panda its name.
Pandas are a family of Rolexes within the Daytona group and one-look at their dial tells you how they got their name.
Daytonas - a super popular and extremely valuable watch - have several sub families and nicknames.
Paul Newman is often used to refer as an alternate name for the watch, which is indelibly associated with the Hollywood actor and motor racing enthusiast of that name.
A John Player Special series used the black and gold livery of the British tobacco brand and racing team.
Zeniths are named for a movement used in some Daytonas between 1980 and 2000.
Rainbows are circled in a dazzling explosion of multicoloured gems. Some people hated them!
The Pandas, for the extremely functional high-contrast look that is also a major aesthetic hit, are a favourite though and you can buy The Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona as it is properly called with a Panda dial today.
The Celebration
It's rare to see a Rolex with such a vivacious design.
Rolex is such a big world that there’s plenty of room for everyone.
Not everyone likes every Rolex, and fashions (and demand and price hikes) run through watch collecting like contagions.
Some styles divide.
And the Celebration is probably one that has.
Its proper name is an “Oyster Perpetual 41 with a turquoise blue, Celebration-motif dial and an Oyster bracelet”.
Introduced in 2020, the celebration’s bubbles are in candy pink, yellow, coral red and green over a turquoise blue ground.
Time will tell whether this design will become a sought-after classic in future.
I wouldn’t bet against it. Being talked about, and even controversial is a great plus in collectibles.
The James Bond
The big crown Submariner is the watch most associated with James Bond, though he hasn't always worn this reference or this brand.
Rolexes are so emblematic of glamour, danger and sex appeal that plenty of people assume they must be James Bond’s watch without a second thought.
And that isn’t always the case - he most recently rocked an Omega seamaster with blue dial.
But it certainly was the case in the era that many people regard as the high point of the Bond cannon - the Sean Connery years.
Connery wore a Submariner 6538 on screen.
He might simply have been wearing his own day-to-day timepiece. And so, though author Ian Flemming had written Bond into an Explorer, that’s the watch that carries the Bond name most often.
Pussy Galore, memorably played by Honour Blackman in Goldfinger wore a GMT-Master that is often named for her.
Bond did come back to Rolex, wearing a Daytona when George Lazenby put on the dinner jacket, but most often returning to the Submariner that we celebrate here as his archetypal wrist wear.
The President
Whether it's the dial or the bracelet you can't deny the beauty and practicality of the essential and elegant Rolex President.
The most famous Rolex President was a secret.
John F Kennedy was gifted one by Marilyn Monroe with a message so unambiguous about their relationship that he never wore it in public.
It was LBJ who really made it iconic, thanks to a lovely snap of him wearing a Day/Date in the Whitehouse.
Rolex used that link in their publicity, but as early as Eisenhower POTUS was to be seen in a Rolex. Though the man who led D-Day wore a DateJust.
We know Ronald Reagan wore a President.
First released in 1956, the Day/Date was a first, and it took some very clever engineering to bring up the correct date and day.
The makers themselves probably used President to refer only to the precious metal bracelet, but most fans consider the whole timepiece to be linked with the Oval Office.
You can buy a President today with calendars in pretty much any language under the sun.
Rolex watch creativity
There are plenty more Rolex names to discover as you delve into luxury watch collecting.
Ginger beers have black and brown bezels, Batmans are black. There’s a Coke, in black and red, naturally, and even a Ned Flanders, a specially made left-handed watch.
You can see some of the watches we have on offer here.
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