One could spend a very long time detailing the histories of Rolex models such as the Day-Date, Daytona, and Explorer. We should know — we’ve certainly devoted more than our share of words to the topic. Given that, a film dedicated to the history of the Rolex Oyster, the brand’s first waterproof watch and the shared ancestor of everything in the modern Rolex catalog, could easily approach the length of the latest Marvel blockbuster. Oyster Story, however, hits all of the brand’s highest highs from the last century in just under 23 minutes.
Released earlier this month as part of the Rolex Oyster’s 100th anniversary celebration, Oyster Story is essentially an extended ad for the Rolex universe; but, if there’s any brand that could make a corporate promotional film as compelling as a prestige cable drama, it’s Rolex. As such, Oyster Story documents the legacy, lore, and cultural impact of the brand’s most prestigious watches. For anyone with more than a passing interest in horology, it’s required viewing.
Oyster Story begins in 1900, when a world transformed by electrification and industry was moving forward with ever-increasing speed. Out of this crucible emerges Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf, a young entrepreneur determined to bring watchmaking into the modern age. The essential problem he faced was that pocket watches — the standard timepiece of the era — were heavy, fragile, and easily affected by dust and moisture. Wilsdorf planned to solve this problem by creating a watch that wasn’t just impervious to rain, dust, sweat, shocks, but truly waterproof. The result, unveiled in 1926, was an ingenious design created by screwing together the bezel, case back, and winding crown into one unit, forming a completely watertight seal. Dubbed the Oyster for its namesake’s tightly-sealed shell, this innovation would be the foundation of every Rolex watch to come.
The development of the Oyster is a fascinating story in itself, but the watch’s evolution over the next century is no less noteworthy for anyone who’s ever coveted a Rolex watch (which, at this point, is a fair percentage of humanity). It covers Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, who carried Oyster Perpetuals on their expedition to summit Mount Everest, and Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh, who tested the Deep Sea Special in the bathyscape Trieste during their descent to the depths of the Mariana Trench. From there, the film details how the Datejust, Day-Date, GMT-Master, and Daytona each made their mark on the world, and the parade of bold-faced names who have worn them, from Martin Luther King and Winston Churchill to Roger Federer and Leonardo DiCaprio.
LEONARDO DICAPRIO ACCEPTS THE BEST ACTOR AWARD FOR ‘THE REVENANT.’ PHOTO BY KEVIN WINTER /GETTY IMAGES, COURTESY OF ROLEX.
If there’s a central message behind Oyster Story — besides creating a desire to add a new Sub or Datejust to your collection, of course — it’s that Rolex didn’t become Rolex by accident. More than 100 years after Hans Wilsdorf founded the company, the brand remains single-mindedly dedicated to creating highly accurate, highly durable timepieces that are as reliable as they are covetable.
Learn more about Oystery Story.
FEATURE IMAGE: CHAMPION RACING DRIVER JACKIE STEWART, UK, 6TH MARCH 1970. PHOTO BY NORMAN QUICKE/DAILY EXPRESS/GETTY IMAGES, COURTESY OF ROLEX.
