New colours for the Rolex Oyster Perpetual, new design philosophy or a vintage revival?

With much of the watch world going crazy over the new Rolex Subs in 41mm, there was another announcement from them that may have gone slightly unnoticed. And that is the discontinuation of the Oyster Perpetual in 39mm, replaced by a new Oyster Perpetual collection in 41mm. These new offerings from Rolex caught my eye not just because of the new case size (I am actually quite gutted that the 39mm OP is discontinued) but rather due to the variation of colourful dials that seem to be out of the norm for Rolex. Or is it?

The Rolex Oyster Perpetual collection is the most barebones Rolex you can get. It is one of my favourite collections because of its no-nonsense approach to design; offering a simple three-hand, time-only watch with all the precision, reliability, and quality that come with the brand. And now, there is even a myriad of dial colours you can choose from.

Aside from the standard black dial and a silver one, the Oyster Perpetual will now offer five striking dial colours including candy pink, turquoise blue, yellow, coral red and green. These fantastic looking dials are made from lacquer and give this understated collection a really cool way to stand out.

At first, I thought that these colourful dials were a step out of their comfort zone for Rolex. Or maybe they were trying to do something different to capture a whole new market of Rolex customers (not that they need to). But after doing some research, it turns out that this is not the first time Rolex has such colourful dials, in fact, in the 1970s and 1980s, they had these colourful dials in enamel for their day-date models. During its time, the Stella dials were not successful and were soon discontinued but today, because of its scarcity, the value for a Rolex with a Stella dial apparently fetches a pretty damn good price.

Coming back to 2020, these dials are a great pop of colour for the Oyster Perpetual collection and they are available for both the 41mm and 36mm sizes.

As with the new Submariner, the most significant change comes in the form of the Rolex Caliber 3230 movement. It offers the patented Rolex Chronergy escapement that boasts high energy efficiency thereby extending the power reserve to 40 hours. As with all Rolex watches from 2016 onwards, the Oyster Perpetual is Superlative Chronometer certified meaning it is guaranteed to an accuracy of +2/-2 seconds daily.

Case: Oystersteel (904L stainless steel)
Case size: 41mm/36mm
Crystal: Sapphire
Movement: Rolex Calibre 3230
Water Resistance: 100m
Price: USD 5,900 (Approx. MYR 24,500)