The world's most famous watch brand offers a dazzling regatta chronograph and a mix of updated favourites and new line extensions
Ask a person to name three luxury watchmakers and there is a good chance Rolex will be among them. The name is one of the most widely recognised in the watch and luxury goods sector, and it is associated with some of the most prestigious sporting events on the international circuit including Wimbledon, the US Open Championship, the US PGA Championship, and numerous international yachting events.
Fittingly, this year at the BaselWorld fair the brand launched the new Yacht-Master II, which falls under the Oyster Perpetual family.
The regatta chronograph was designed primarily for professional yachtsmen. It features a new complication enabling it to have a programmable countdown feature with a mechanical memory, a first for Rolex. Essentially this enables the wearer to set and synchronise the countdown function with the official countdown time of each regatta.
This is made possible by the use of a Ring Command bezel that interacts with the movement, which was developed and designed by Rolex. The function is activated by rotating the bezel 90 degrees, and setting the programme countdown. The bezel is then turned back to its original position. The countdown function can be programmed for up to 10 minutes and set at any time before the race. It can be activated, stopped, set or synchronised, while it is in progress, to the official countdown by pressing a pusher. A countdown counter between the 8 o'clock and 4 o'clock position on the dial shows the minute countdown hand; a red countdown seconds hand shows the time left before the start of a race.
The watch has two pushers: a start/stop pusher for the countdown; and a reset pusher which has three functions, to programme, synchronise and set the countdown. The watch is waterproof to 100 metres.
It comes in yellow or white gold. The Ring Command bezel comes either as a blue ceramic disc with numerals engraved in gold, or in platinum with raised numerals.
