Review: Rolex Oyster Perpetual 124300

This watch right here, the Rolex Oyster Perpetual 124300, is, I believe, the best watch Rolex makes, better than the Daytona, the Submariner—all of them. That’s a bold claim for sure, so let me take a moment to explain what I mean.

Legacy

If you were to try and capture what Rolex was about as a brand, it wouldn’t be centuries of heritage, or wild complication, or even exceptional design. Rolex watches are, really, a bit basic. Although it might sound like one, that’s not intended as an insult. Some of the best things in the world are born from simplicity, a desire to do one thing and do it well—if not better than everyone else.

The Oyster Perpetual as a watch captures that better than any other from the brand. The Rolex Daytona is nice for sure, but the chronograph is hardly a stake Rolex has any claim to. The Submariner too, a fine watch with a fascinating story to tell, but it broke absolutely no new ground whatsoever, save for making the form factor available to a wider public.

Rolex’s real genius lay in the formative years of its creation, the first quarter-century when it fought the hardest to make itself known against giants like Omega and Longines. The dial tells you all you need to know: Oyster, Perpetual, Chronometer—a three-pronged strategic attack to bring Rolex level so that the second quarter-century could be all about getting ahead.

In 1910, Rolex sent a watch—a wristwatch—to be chronometer rated, to prove its accuracy. Not only did it pass, but it was also the first wristwatch to do so—because it was the first one to be tested. A major pre-emptive milestone in the bag when Omega was still most concerned about pocket watches.

Then, in 1926, Rolex created a watch that was sealed against water like an oyster, which it had publicly worn across the English Channel in a record-breaking swimming attempt. Screw-threads and gaskets achieved a seal tight enough to leave the watch unscathed, at a time when an Omega watch was at best dustproof.

Lastly, in 1931, Rolex introduced a movement that could wind itself, using a simple rotor mechanism that could spin in either direction without hindrance. Omega, meanwhile, was experimenting with limited systems that were forced to bounce back and forth between a pair of springs.

What the Oyster Perpetual represents is the three big blows Rolex struck to its competitors to change the face of the industry and force it in a new direction—a direction that Rolex could be dominant in. Rolex knew it could never win the game Omega was playing—so it changed the game completely.

Flexibility

Focussing on these milestones in particular means that as a piece of consumer-friendly jewellery, the Oyster Perpetual falls a bit short. Unlike Omega’s necessity to demonstrate its workmanship in the quality and styling of its watches, a Rolex case was merely the thing that contained the movement and the dial, and the bracelet merely the thing that held it all to its owner’s wrist.

If you think about it, if Rolex didn’t exist today and the design of the Oyster Perpetual appeared overnight, no one would look at it twice. Again, this sounds like an insult, but it’s really not. It means the watch is designed to do what it’s supposed to do and nothing else. The shape and name may be so recognisable today that a Rolex has become a desirable piece of jewellery, but that’s nothing to do with the way it was designed.

Why am I telling you this? Because when something is designed simply, that usually means it can be very flexible. Think of the Porsche 911. It looks like it does so you can fit four people—sort of—into a low-slung sports car that handles like a dream and can be used daily. There aren’t many other car manufacturers who’ve managed the same trick, and that’s because if they did, they’d just end up with a 911 again.

So, the Oyster Perpetual can be worn with a suit and look right. It can be worn with jeans and a t-shirt and look right. With this dial colour, you could wear it with a tutu and it probably wouldn’t look out of place. Because it is the simplest way to display the time on a human wrist, it can never look wrong, because there is nothing else more right. You’re also the least likely to have it taken off your wrist when you wear it in public, although, perhaps not in bright blue.

This particular model is 41mm across, a very modern size and, thanks to a thickness of just under 12mm, nicely balanced, but if you want something a little smaller you can have it—and then some. As well as this 41mm option, there’s 36, 34, 31 and 28mm as well. The calibre 3230 may not be a feast of complications and beauty—I mean, you can’t even see it—but it has superb accuracy, a power reserve that’ll see you through the weekend and shock absorbance and anti-magnetism up the wazoo. It’s a proper fire-and-forget watch, that, once you’ve bought it, you need never buy anything else again.

Investment

This next bit will be the most contentious, but that doesn’t make it any less true. This watch, with this dial colour, is better than money in the bank. Far better. Like, so much better it’s not even funny. The RRP may be £4,850, but nevertheless, these are being advertised for upwards of ten times that.

That is clearly crazy, but again, that doesn’t make it any less true. Rolex has created a hype machine of enormous magnitude, carefully balancing demand and availability to run the gears just smoothly enough to keep the queues long. From an outsider perspective, it’s an impressive feat, maintaining such volume of hype for such a long time, treading a fine line between oversupply and frustration. One more time, that’s not a criticism—more an observation.

So, let’s say you’re one of those lucky few that manages to get the rare, blue Oyster Perpetual—what does that mean? It means you’ve got what is probably the best balance between RRP and desirability that Rolex makes. Usually, you’re in for the thick end of £10,000 or more, but this, for the fortunate few, is a watch that sits in the same bandwidth as the Omegas and Breitlings you might also be considering, but with the added value of, well, value.

Before you hiss and boo, that doesn’t necessarily mean that this watch should be purchased for its desirability or flipability—but you’ve got to admit, the idea of having a nice, free sum of cash available to you if you need it is a benefit not to be sneezed at. It’s a practice as old as watches themselves—a practical tool small enough and valuable enough to trade out in a sticky situation. Indiana Jones would probably have one—perhaps not in powder blue.

That completes a trio of reasons that makes this watch perhaps the best among Rolex watches today. It represents the legacy of Rolex, the source of its dominance today, with the most purity. It is the most flexible daily wear, happily doing duties as a dress watch or a sports watch—or just the watch to walk the dog in. And it’ll make you a tidy penny if and when you decide you want to move on to something else, whilst also being one of the cheapest watches Rolex makes. Can you think of a better all-round watch in the Rolex stable than that?

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