The Young Rolex Sky-Dweller:
The Rolex Sky-Dweller is a mechanical masterpiece and is exceptionally popular. Now the reasons why Rolex are so popular and successful today as a brand is the history of the brand, which is close to a century. A history of timeless watch designs, reliable and durable watches that last for generations. Talk about Rolex submariner, Rolex GMT, Daytona or even Oyster Perpetual, these are all the models with a legacy and history of decades, with proven workmanship and functionality in the most severe environments. The Rolex Sky-Dweller doesn’t have a long history as some of the other models, it is just over a decade old and was originally released in 2012. Then why Rolex Sky-dweller is so popular? Let’s jump into this:
The Exuberance of Youth:
It is the most complicated Rolex Oyster Perpetual watch to exist which shows you not just the date and the time on the dial but a second time zone and then it is an annual calendar watch. Meaning it even shows you the month of the year on the dial. How exactly it shows the month is even more interesting. There are 12 indices (hour markers) in a watch dial and coincidently there’s also 12 months in a year — something that’s best utilized by Rolex.
If you see next to the 9th hour marker there is a red dot that represents the 9th month of the year being September. This is an intelligent design and a seamless execution where the dial shows the month of the year when you know where to look for it.
Beauty with Brain:
Another reason why the Rolex Sky-Dweller is so popular is its size and overall aesthetics. Rolex have been continuously increasing the sizes of their watches historically; talk about the Datejust, Oyster Perpetual or even Submariner, they’ve all been upsized and then the sky dweller is originally released in a modern case size of 42 mm and a slightly chunkier case. This was not to just bridge the gap between a typical 40 and a 44 mm Rolex model but it also offered a modern size with classic Datejust like aesthetics.
Since Sky-Dweller comes with the fluted bezel, it is a relatively blingy watch but only to the point where it is beautiful and dressy enough that you can wear it to formal occasion. Then it’s also 42mm in size and still a relatively thicker watch so it can easily become a casual watch for informal looks or occasions. The 42mm size does not mean that it wears too large, too thick or too big. It wears beautifully even on smaller wrists.
The Mint Green:
Rolex makes some of the most beautiful and popular Dials. The blue dials have always had the popularity in the entire Rolex catalog. Lately green is the dial that’s taken over the trend by storm thanks to:
- the Rolex submariner Hulk that started this trend.
- Olive Green Day date to commemorate the 60th anniversary.
- And the sunburst money green John Mayor in the Daytona range.
The Mint Green in the Rolex range is a relatively newer colour shade which was originally offered in the Datejust range. Now that we have this colour in the Rolex Sky-Dweller, looking at it up close and under different lighting conditions it does look spectacular, beautiful and interesting, to say the very least.
One of the strengths of the Rolex Mint green dials is how subtle and versatile it is, it is not in your face and it doesn’t scream for attention either. Rather it quietly and modestly offers the very enjoyable experience on the wrist without actually standing out. To explore the difference in shades and the collection of green dial Rolex watches click here to view them in the shop catalogue.
Different dial colors are available at our store @Calibre24, click here to view them in our showcase.
Two of the most popular colour options are the blue and the green.
Will I pick the green dial over the blue personally and is the premium from this dial color somewhat justified? I don’t think the green replaces the blue dial as such. Also, I wouldn’t want to not have the green dial just because I had the blue already. So, are we all falling to the hype around the green color, or in your mind and opinion the mint green is indeed worth all the desirability and popularity for all that it has to offer on the wrist?
The Crown’s Sheer Brilliance:
Wondering how you operate this watch? It has no pushers and just one crown. But a king needs only one crown. This is where the fluted Bezel is not just an aesthetical element but a practical and functional component. Rolex calls this the Ring command System
- Pull the crown out to take the watch to winding position.
- Pull it one more step back and then every function becomes available by turning the bezel by a step any side.
- As you turn the bezel this allows you to change the local time
- turn the bezel again and the second time-zone and
- Turn the bezel again and now you can set the date of the watch either way. Yes, you can move the date forward or backward and this is how advanced and modern this watch is.
- You can’t adjust the month by a bezel twist, so you’ll have to cycle the date all the way through to set the month.
Incredible how Rolex conceived and executed delivering the full functionality of annual calendar watch by just one crown and no other pushers
Case Size:
The size measured at the bezel of the Rolex Sky-Dweller is 40.7mm watch and going by the size of the crystal or the dial it is 32.7mm so it doesn’t look all that large or big in general
Lug-Lug:
Watch has Lug-Lug of 50mm, so it does indeed wear larger on the wrist than the Rolex a submariner, GMT or Date Just
Case Thickness:
The watch case is 13.8mm thick without the Cyclops lens.
Bracelet:
Bracelet has polished center links and brushed side links; it is 21mm at the case, and it tapers down beautifully to 15.3mm giving it a nice dressy vibe. My wrist size for reference is 6.5 in and the wrist span is 55 mm so while my wrist is on the smaller side you can see that I can pull it off easily and without any problems.
The Sky-Dweller:
The Sky-Dweller is an icon in the making. Its demand is arguably higher than some of the most sought out after Rolexes, you don’t see them every day, it is special, and it is spectacular and above all it is Rolex’s most complicated watch with the right amount of bling for luxury and perfect recipe with 100m water resistance and an Oyster bracelet, to be the underdog for everyday wear. So, with Sky-Dweller on, what you have is the best of both worlds, a class for occasions, and a workshop for the function. Can you really ask for more?
Check out our video review with some wrist shots in the video below:
