The 19 Greatest Rolex Watch Models Ever, Ranked

Rolex is indisputably the biggest and most influential watchmaker in the world. The Crown makes the most important and recognizable timepieces on the market—and where it goes, the industry follows. Which is why setting out to rank all of Rolex’s best models might seem foolish. How do you choose a winner when the brand has had so many important hits over the course of its 119-year history?

But when you start to get into the nitty-gritty of it, you realize that despite Rolex’s enduring stranglehold on watch collectors, the brand hasn’t actually released that many different lines over the decades. Instead, the Crown is as streamlined as a supercar, famously sticking by and slowly iterating on its icons over the years in an attempt to inch them closer and closer to perfection. Think of the biggest releases over the past couple of years: a Daytona with slightly thinner rings around the subdials; a Submariner that’s a mere millimeter larger than the version it’s succeeding.

Making this list also put a fine point on how Rolex builds up its most important lines. “One of Rolex’s greatest assets is that everything they do and have done informs each other,” James Lamdin, the owner of New York-based vintage shop Analog:Shift, tells me. The waterproof technology of the Oyster Perpetual goes into the Submariner, which is then the basis for the deeper-diving Sea Dweller, which eventually yields the Yacht-Master, a dive watch for getting some sun on deck. Even when models don’t stick around long, they seem to leave their mark on the DNA of the brand, like how the King Midas helped usher in the Crown’s hair-down creative side.

A brief word on methodology: I considered a heady brew of metrics to determine my final rankings. How important was a watch in terms of introducing new technology to the Crown or pushing the brand’s aesthetics forward? What is its lasting impact on both the collector’s market and culture as a whole? How popular and desirable does it remain today? All of this matters.

Here are all of Rolex’s most significant models, ranked.

19. Pearlmaster

This doesn’t mean we don’t love you, Pearlmaster. Although I think we can all agree there’s something poetic about starting a ranking of the best models from the King of Sport Watches with the most ludicrously opulent design in the brand’s history. The codes of the Pearlmaster guaranteed its brazen luxury: This model was only released in precious metals and was always dressed up with gem settings.

The Pearlmaster was discontinued in 2022 after remaining in production for three decades. In some sense, it was successful enough to no longer be necessary. While the Pearlmaster’s high-octane jewelry vibe felt novel for Rolex upon the model’s introduction in 1992, that diamond-forward attitude has since been diffused throughout the Crown’s stable, with many of its best-known models now available iced out. Thank you for your service, Pearlmaster.

18. Sky-Dweller

Next to the Precision 1908 that you’ll see a little later on, the Sky-Dweller is the second-youngest Rolex on the list that’s still in production. This model was launched in 2012 as an alternative to the GMT-Master. If the GMT is meant for pilots, the Sky-Dweller is intended for the person who owns the PJ. It’s a travel watch that’s all flash: most variations come in gold, and the watch’s 42-mm case was designed to compete with the big, gaudy cases that were in fashion at the time.

17. Prince

Courtesy of Bob's Watches

Three spots into the rankings, let’s get weird! This is maybe the most off-the-map watch on the list, but it’s useful in illustrating the Crown’s full scope. In 1928, the brand started making a rectangular, Tank-esque piece named the Prince. While the watch was intended for elegant black-tie occasions, it wound up becoming especially popular with a specific audience: doctors. It wasn’t just that the watch looked good with white coats. Medical professionals were drawn to the Prince because they could use the watch’s seconds sub-dial to measure a patient’s heartbeat. There are certainly worse ways to buoy your reputation as a maker of precise timekeeping instruments.

The original Prince was discontinued in 1940, but Rolex wasn’t finished with the model just yet: The Crown brought the Prince back in 2005 as part of its dressy Cellini line before retiring it again in 2015.

16. Turn-o-Graph

Courtesy of Bob's Watches

The year 1953 marked a watershed moment for Rolex—one that set it on course to becoming the brand it’s known as today. The Crown batted 1000 that year with the release of the Explorer and Submariner—two watches that went on to become icons—as well as the lesser-known Turn-o-Graph. Although it didn’t ascend to the same heights as the aforementioned pieces, the Turn-o-Graph made a major technical contribution to the brand’s history: It was the first Rolex with a rotating bezel, a feature that would become critical for both the GMT-Master and Sub, the latter of which was released a few months after the Turn-o-Graph. Despite its technical achievements, the Turn-o-Graph didn’t last long as a distinct line—it was very quickly moved under the Datejust umbrella and eventually discontinued completely in 2011.

15. Oysterquartz

Courtesy of Bob's Watches

During the height of the Quartz Crisis, even Rolex got in on the fun and experimented with the new tech. The brand spent five years developing a quartz movement that met its exacting standards. The resulting watch is as quint\essentially ’70s as bell-bottoms and platforms, featuring several hallmarks of the era. There’s quartz movement inside, of course, as well as the newly-designed case’s integrated bracelet, a feature also seen on other stars of that period like the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, Patek Philippe Nautilus, and Vacheron Constantin 222. And while it was developed during a frenzied time in the industry, the Oysterquartz stayed in production for a surprisingly long 25 years.

14. The Rolex Perpetual 1908

In 2023, a year after the Cellini’s discontinuation left a dress-watch-sized hole in the Rolex lineup, the Perpetual 1908 stepped in to fill it. This watch and the next two on the list are ranked sequentially for a reason: They represent Rolex’s most pointed efforts to make dressier pieces that could find equal footing with its legendary tool watches. The Perpetual 1908 is the current line holding up that mantle. The model is still young but I do quite like one of the 2024 releases, which features an ice-blue dial with a beaded guilloché finish.

13. Cellini

Rolex is rightfully known as the King of Sport Watches, but that hasn’t stopped it from trying to make an impression in the world of dressier timepieces. The Cellini was Rolex’s most consistent and long-lasting effort on this front before it was fully discontinued in 2022. The line was introduced all the way back in 1968 and represented a new direction for Rolex.

The Cellini was reportedly the brainchild of Rolex board member René-Paul Jeanneret, who helped popularize the idea that although their watches might last a lifetime, clients should have multiple Rolex pieces in their collection. If you’re diving, a Submariner; flying a plane, a GMT. The Cellini was meant to cover customers’s black-tie occasions.

But more than simply checking a box, the Cellini is partially responsible for creating the perception of Rolex we’re accustomed with today. After Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf passed, Andre J. Heiniger took over as chairman of the brand. The LA Times opens the latter’s obituary with an anecdote that sums up his effect. The story goes that a buddy asked an innocuous question: “How’s the watch business?” Heiniger replied, “I have no idea…Rolex is not in the watch business. We are in the luxury business.” Critical to making that pivot to luxury objects was the Cellini, which opened up a world of precious metals, gems, and black-tie-ready design. Notably, the Cellini was the watch of choice for former President Barack Obama.

12. King and Queen Midas

Courtesy of Bob's Watches

The King and Queen Midas would eventually be absorbed into the Cellini family, but the watches actually debuted on their own in 1964.

The Midas is inarguably the funkiest mass-produced Rolex ever. The watch was designed by none other than Gerald Genta, the legendary watch designer who happened to throw this heater in warmups before going out in the ’70s and creating both the Royal Oak and Nautilus. What a star.

(Rolex was really in its bag with naming during this era. The King Midas was named for the mythological Greek figure who turned everything to gold with his touch. The Cellini, meanwhile, was named after the Italian sculptor Benvenuto Cellini.)

The King Midas’s asymmetrical square case, carved from a solid block of gold, became an instant icon in its time. Elvis Presley and John Wayne, two of the era’s most famous men, were both fans of the Midas. In 2024, the watch is now adored on Watch Instagram among forward-thinking collectors who’ve scooped up the design and its urn-shaped case in bunches or in variations with mesmerizing stone dials.

Experts like Lamdin also suggest that the Midas represents a turning point for Rolex—the moment when the brand started to truly champion the fun side of luxury watchmaking. “Rolex was willing to try something and embrace artistic design outside of their core offerings, and that carried on from there,” he says. “Rolex started gem-setting stuff and making wacky dials and wacky textures. The pave rainbow Daytonas wouldn't exist if Rolex didn't have it in their DNA to do something artistic and fun [like the Midas].”

11. Yacht-Master and Yacht-Master II

Many Rolex models perfectly capture the era they were produced: the GMT emerged in the ’50s, just as people began regularly flying around the world; the Yacht-Master, meanwhile, captures the so-bad-it’s-good taste of the ’90s. “How do you take a sports watch and appeal to a Monaco yacht club scene?” Lamdin says, summing up the model’s appeal. All the experts I spoke to had the Yacht-Master ranked higher than I'd expected.

The Yacht-Master, which debuted in 1992, has been around for an unexpectedly long time. The watch gave the Crown an excuse to outfit a diver-inspired watch with luxury touches, like gold cases and mother-of-pearl dials. Obviously, collectors with a penchant for this type of flair have become a core Rolex audience.

The Yacht-Master II, released in 2007, also gets points for introducing a complication to Rolex that provides some real utility: a regatta timer. The brand is still making improvements to the piece’s actual on-the-water functionality—sailor Ben Ainslie was spotted wearing a prototype of the Yacht-Master made from super-light titanium in 2021; it was eventually released into the main catalog two years later.

10. Air-King

Created in 1945 to honor the Royal Air Force pilots who flew in World War II’s Battle of Britain, the Air-King is the only watch remaining from a series of “Air” pieces from that era including the Air-Lion, Air-Giant, and Air-Tiger. (The Crown, unsurprisingly, has always had a soft spot for royal honorifics.) The Air-King has since become the gateway Rolex of choice for folks seeking a historically significant model. “It's a model that's been in continuous production to this day, and one that has remained popular as a perpetual entry point,” says Adam Golden, the Miami-based dealer behind Menta Watches. It doesn’t hurt that the Air-King gives you the full Rolex effect with the house’s signature green accents (at least on the watch’s most classic variation).

9. Sea-Dweller

The Submariner is the dive watch in the Crown’s lineup, but the Sea-Dweller is the diver’s dive watch. “Whereas the Submariner was [intended for] scuba diving, this is for motherfuckers like James Cameron, who really want to push it,” Golden says. “[Rolex] strove to make the Submariner even crazier and created the Sea-Dweller.”

The Sea-Dweller is a true adventurer’s watch. Most notably, Cameron took the Deepsea Challenge variation of the model all the way to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on earth. The Sea-Dweller deserves top-ten status because it encapsulates what Rolex does so well: tie itself to historic achievements—whether that’s getting the Oyster Perpetual onto Mercedes Gleitze before she swam the English Channel or stowing one of its pieces inside the packs of the first guys to ascend Mount Everest.

The Sea-Dweller is also the beneficiary of another important Rolex strategy: perfecting its watches over many, many decades. The Sea-Dweller is a continuation of the Submariner with a clear purpose—to go deeper than its predecessor in every sense. It’s a pretty good analogy for Rolex in general, which is much more interested in going narrow and deep, rather than shallow and wide, with its catalog.

8. Milgauss

I went back and forth between the Milgauss and the next watch on this list. Eventually the Milgauss lost out because, unlike the following model, this piece has been in and out of production since its original launch in 1956. Following its most recent discontinuation in 2023, if you want to own a Milgauss now, you have to either find one on the secondary market or outbid Rolex’s archivists at auction for the very best examples.

However, the Milgauss marks an important technical development for Rolex. The model was designed specifically for scientists who needed a watch that wouldn’t be affected by strong magnetic fields. It’s a great historical footnote, but that antimagnetic technology now comes standard on any good modern watch, which is why the Milgauss has largely fallen out of favor. The Milgauss gets brownie points because I like the swings it took design-wise. The honeycomb pattern on vintage references are a winner, and I’m even a sucker for the goofy (and often divisive) lightning-bolt-shaped hand.

7. Oyster and Oyster Perpetual

Before we go any further, I want to make one thing clear: I’m talking about the Oyster Perpetual watch line here, not the Rolex technologies of the same name. The words “Oyster Perpetual” are, in fact, visible on nearly every Rolex. “Oyster” refers to the Rolex’s waterproof case introduced in 1926, while “Perpetual” points to the brand’s OG automatic movement from 1931. These terms were first combined on a watch dial in 1945 and make up maybe the most sacred phrase in the Crown’s history.

The Oyster Perpetual model, meanwhile, is one of Rolex’s most historically significant watches—but it doesn’t have the same sort of long-lasting cult appeal as the watches ahead of it on this list. What the modern OP deserves huge credit for, however, is that it’s one of the pieces with which the Crown has the most fun—and the watch most casual collectors are invited to the party with. Think back to the OP releases that have come out this decade: the version with ferns on its face or the suite of ’70s-inspired colorful dials. Rolex would eventually use the latter as inspiration for the multi-colored “Celebration” design, which is now a full-on hype watche—it originally retailed for just $6,100, but now regularly sells in the $20,000 neighborhood.

Some of the funkier and more loveable Rolexes in history have also fallen under the OP umbrella. The incredibly collectible Bubbleback, so named for its bulging caseback, is an OP. And this line of watches was often home to the ’50s-era star dials, one of my all-time grails.

(Note: So we all don’t totally lose our minds, I’m considering Oyster Precision and Oysterdate as part of this grouping.)

6. Explorer and Explorer II

The original Explorer is a dependable watch that came to be following the first-ever ascent of Mount Everest. Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary carried a Rolex Oyster Perpetual on their pioneering climb in 1953—a version of that model now called the “Pre-Explorer” by collectors. That prompted the Crown to capitalize on the achievement by launching the Explorer that very same year. The best thing you can say about the Explorer is that 70 years following its launch, it’s hardly changed at all and has remained in production uninterrupted. The watch is still available in a 36-mm construction—just like Hillary would have had in the ’50s—with an unfussy dial that can be worn every day and anywhere, from the office to a dinner date to the top of one of the world’s most menacing mountains. On its own, the Explorer essentially covers everything Rolex needs to be a power player in the field-watch category.

When I bounced my list off of various experts, the Explorer II was the watch with maybe the most variation among their rankings. Some placed it near the bottom: How high can you sincerely rank a watch using a GMT movement with a big chunky hand that’s designed for something as comedically specific as cave diving? Others, like Jacek Kozubek of Tropical Watch, rated this model above the OG Explorer. Why? It’s a watch that people actually buy.

Maybe the coolest thing you can say about the Explorer II is that it encapsulates the power of Rolex. How many other brands could make a watch for spelunking that ends up being a top seller across the industry? None. The reason this watch ranks on the higher end of the spectrum for me is because, while its intended use may be oddly specific, Rolex used that purpose to deliver a truly great design. That show-stealing orange hand gives the watch just enough zest.

5. GMT-Master and GMT-Master II

We’re entering interesting territory now, where nearly every watch ranked from here on has a legitimate claim to the top spot. “Personally, I rank the GMT as higher than the Submariner,” Lamdin says. While the Submariner’s straightforward aesthetic is the defining look of modern-day sport watches, you can have a heck of a lot more fun with the GMT.

“It uses the base architecture of a sports watch that the Submariner sort of dialed in, and then it adds complexity and it decreases thickness, making it a much better watch to wear,” Lamdin says. The watch is so versatile Lamdin’s description of it essentially turned him into a horological Dr. Seuss: “GMTs look cool with a matte dial or a glossy dial, they look good in steel and two-tone and gold, they look good with ‘Root Beer’ dials with black-and-brown bezels, or ‘Pepsi’ bezels, or ‘Coke’ bezels, or Oyster bracelets or Jubilee bracelets.”

Beyond the GMT’s obvious sex appeal, the watch is tied into a very important part of humankind’s development: the onset of commercial aviation. The GMT was invented specifically to allow globe-hopping Pan-Am pilots and their crews to track the time in two different places with its second 24-hour hand. “It's part and parcel with the world becoming a smaller, more integrated place, and that is inherently more meaningful on a human level than a watch that can go deeper,” Lamdin says.

I’m grouping the GMT together with the GMT-Master II because the successor is so similar to and inextricable from its predecessor. The updated version of the travel watch debuted in 1983 and its main difference was a slightly chunkier movement to make an hour hand you can adjust without disturbing the rest of the watch.

4. Day-Date

If this were merely a list of Rolex watches that I dream about owning at night, the Day-Date would hold down the top spot. In 2022, after getting a chance to try on the platinum ref. 228236, I gleefully messaged my editor that the industry could just stop making watches now—we’d reached nirvana. The Day-Date exists in that perfect middle ground that Rolex helped invent. It's not strictly a sport watch, as its typical yellow-gold construction is a touch glitzy for everyday wear. And it’s not strictly a dress watch, but it sure looks damn fine with a suit. It tells you what you need to know—the time, date, and day of the week—and nothing else. It’s flashy but still practical.

The Day-Date is one of the most significant pieces from the Crown. It marked a few firsts not just for Rolex, but the industry as a whole. Before the Day-Date, no watch spelled out all seven days of the week. The line also introduced the prophetically named “President” bracelet even before Lyndon B. Johnson and several other Oval Office dwellers ever wore the piece. The model has become the quintessential “I made it” watch in my mind. The Day-Date is fascinating to me because it took Rolex’s strategy for making models for folks at the top of their sport—be it the Submariner for diving, Daytona for racing, or Explorer for mountaineering—and applied it to business. It’s a watch that’s been worn by everyone from former President Johnson to Warren Buffet and even Tony Soprano.

3. Datejust

Rolex introduced the Datejust nearly 80 years ago and it continues to be a pillar for the brand. It may not be the sexiest name in the Crown’s stable, but it’s the industry’s Tim Duncan: committed to the fundamentals and ever-dependable. To this day, the Datejust continues to be the best-selling Rolex model. While other pieces on this list might be more desirable, many collectors get their start with the Datejust—it paves the way before they have GMT-Master or Daytona money.

The Datejust isn’t without the bolder points on its resume, though. When it debuted, the Datejust invented the modern date complication that automatically flips over to the next number at midnight without any assistance. The Datejust also introduced the well-known Jubilee-style bracelet, an alternative to the super-solid Oyster chain, in the Crown’s canon.

2. Cosmograph Daytona

The models at the top of the list are star students who get high marks in every category. For starters, the Daytona is in contention with the next model for the title of most popular watch, period—not merely the most popular Rolex. If the only criteria we were judging on here was the number of people who would rank a watch at the top of their grail lists, the Daytona would be the runaway favorite. This is the bluest of blue-chip watches and the bellwether for modern Rolex collecting. When Rolex wants to put out its most impressive special editions—like the “Le Mans” in yellow- and white-gold, or versions set with a rainbow of sapphires—it dials up the Daytona.

But the Daytona isn’t just a popularity contest winner; it carries historical weight for both Rolex and the watch world at large. While it had predecessors, the Daytona is now the only chronograph across Rolex’s entire roster. The model emerged in 1963, jockeying for pole position with other iconic pieces like the Omega Speedmaster and TAG Heuer Carrera. The Daytona emerged successful in the industry and it alone carries the torch for Rolex’s ties to the racing world.

There might not be a more important watch to collecting as a whole than the Daytona. The most expensive vintage wristwatch ever sold is still the Daytona that once belonged to Paul Newman. That watch went for $17.8 million in 2017 and the reference 6239 “Paul Newman,” with the specific dial configuration the actor wore, remains one of the most desirable watches in the world. “[Newman] basically, unknowingly, was the trigger for why Rolex Daytonas became what they are today, triggering a movement of Rolex collecting...because he had this watch on his wrist for 15 years,” Aurel Bacs, the Phillips auctioneer who handled the sale of the watch, told me at the time. “I call it the Adam and Eve moment in Rolex collecting.” Versions of the Daytona will continue to be collectible for generations to come.

1. Submariner

Honestly, I wish I could have given you something surprising here: Why the Space-Dweller is actually Rolex’s most important model ever! Alas, my intact ties with reality have led me to the same answer that most Apple Watch-wearing folks on the street could have given you. The Submariner isn’t just the most important Rolex—it might be the most important watch, period. The Sub’s cultural and historical appeal is peerless in the industry. “It's perhaps the most recognizable watch in the world, and the one that's probably most closely associated with the brand,” Lamdin says. “And if you close your eyes and think of a wristwatch, what do you think of?” A Rolex Submariner. “The Sub is just the most iconic watch in the world,” Golden confirms.

The very first James Bond wore a Submariner. The very first book Rolex ever published is a Submariner bible. When the Crown introduced this model in 1953, it changed the trajectory of not just Rolex but the watch industry. The Sub helped define the entire category of sport watches in the broadest terms and set the course for Rolex’s ongoing focus on crafting purpose-driven tools. Collectors could dedicate their entire lives—and life savings—to hunting down Subs and still not reach the bottom of that particular trench. There are so many variations: rugged stainless steel Subs; MilSubs designed for military use; Subs cast in white gold and slathered with diamonds that only a cryptogazillionaire would wear. There’s a Submariner for everyone—which is a good thing considering its audience is, well, everyone.

Special thanks to Watches of Switzerland, James Lamdin, Adam Golden, Jacek Kozubek, and Eric Wind and Charlie Dunne of Wind Vintage

PRODUCTION CREDITS:
Photographs by Bowen Fernie
Set Design by Suzy Zietzmann