Rolex enhances the Sky-Dweller with new movement and dial colours, making it the statement piece for travellers and watch enthusiasts alike.
For avid travellers, a good timepiece is considered one of the most important and trusted companions. The watch should allow the traveller to experience the moment during travels while keeping track of the moments at home.
The Sky-Dweller is today established as the watch for world travellers. First presented in 2012, it became an instant hit with globetrotters, thanks to its dual time zone function that allows for simultaneous tracking of time in two different time zones.
The Ring Command system allows the user to select the watch's functions one-by-one and to set them easily, quickly and securely
Fitted with the Ring Command system, it allows the wearer to keep the pace of changing time zones with one simple movement. By turning the fluted Ring Command bezel counter clockwise by one, two or three positions, the wearer selects the function in question, before adjusting it via the winding crown: calendar, first position; local time, second position; reference time, third position.
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The reference time can be read by means of a red triangle pointing to an off-centre disc. The disc’s 24-hour graduation allows travellers to distinguish daytime hours from night-time hours in the reference time zone (for example, 10 am versus 10 pm).
Local time is indicated by the conventional centre hour, minute and seconds hands. It can be set quickly by means of a mechanism that allows the hour hand to be adjusted independently in one-hour increments both forwards and backwards.
The timepiece also features the particularly innovative annual calendar named Saros – after the astronomical phenomenon of the same name – that displays the date at 3 o’clock and the month via 12 apertures around the circumference of the dial. Its qualities are attributable to an ingenious patented mechanism and which automatically differentiates between 30-day and 31-day months, displays the correct date throughout the year and requires only one adjustment a year — on March 1, February having only 28 or 29 days.
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Classic and precious, the Sky-Dweller seamlessly adapts the map of the world to the wearer’s daily transfers.
New movement
The new-generation Sky-Dweller is equipped with calibre 9002, unveiled this year
The Sky-Dweller is also one of Rolex’s most complicated watches and this year, it is offered an updated movement — calibre 9002. An evolution of calibre 9001, the Sky-Dweller is now equipped with the latest technical innovations that Rolex has brought to its movements — Chronergy escapement, Paraflex shock absorbers and a new oscillating weight with an optimised ball bearing. This enables the display of the hours, minutes, seconds, date and month as well as an additional time zone in 24-hour format.
The movement is also fitted with a blue Parachrom hairspring, manufactured by Rolex in a paramagnetic alloy. This hairspring provides great stability to the timepiece in conditions of temperature variations, as well as being shock resistant.
The calibre 9002’s unique barrel architecture and escapement efficiency offer a power reserve of about 72 hours. It operates at a 4Hz frequency, translating to 28,800 beats per hour.
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Fresh look
The new Sky-Dweller unveiled in 2023 illustrate a desire to reinvent while preserving a sense of continuity, to innovate while being mindful of tradition, and to leverage technology in daring to create. This watch for world travellers is offered, in three new iterations.
The Oyster Perpetual Sky-Dweller in 18 ct white gold with a bright black dial and an Oysterflex bracelet
Firstly, the 18 ct white gold makes a comeback to the Sky-Dweller family. The white gold case is paired with a bright black dial and for the first time ever, it is fitted with an Oysterflex bracelet in black elastomer.
The beauty of the Oysterflex bracelet is that it is equipped with an Oysterclasp and Glidelock extension system to offer the wearer enhanced comfort on the wrist. This patented mechanism with a rack under the clasp enables for fine adjustment of the bracelet length up to 15 mm, without the need for tools
Meanwhile, two new dial colours have adorned the face of the Sky-Dweller this year.
The Oyster Perpetual Sky-Dweller in Oystersteel and white gold with a mint green dial and an Oyster bracelet
A delicate mint green dial that has always been reserved for the Datejust is now seen on the Sky-Dweller in white Rolesor, a combination of Oystersteel and white gold.
The Oyster Perpetual Sky-Dweller in 18 ct Everose gold with a blue-green dial and an Oyster bracelet
A new and elegant blue-green coloured dial is introduced this year on the Sky-Dweller. This colourway is fashioned in 18 ct Everose gold and fitted on an Oyster bracelet.
The Oyster bracelet on the 2023 versions feature Rolex’s Easylink comfort extension link, which allows the wearer to increase the bracelet length by approximately 5 mm.
All three new Sky-Dweller models feature a Chromalight display on the dial, an innovation that improves visibility in dark environments: the hands and hour markers are coated or filled with a high-performance luminescent material that emits a long-lasting blue glow in dark conditions.
Like all Rolex watches, the Sky-Dweller is covered by the Superlative Chronometer certification redefined by Rolex in 2015. This exclusive designation attests that each watch leaving the brand’s workshops has successfully undergone a series of tests conducted by Rolex in its own laboratories and according to its own criteria. The precision of a Rolex Superlative Chronometer is of the order of −2/+2 seconds per day — the rate deviation tolerated by the brand for a finished watch is significantly smaller than that accepted by COSC for official certification of the movement alone.
Visit Kee Hing Hung to discover the Rolex 2023 new watches.
