Elegant, classic and decidedly contemporary, the Perpetual 1908 immortalizes Rolex’s age-long daring spirit. Heir to the brand’s aesthetic heritage as much as to its numerous innovations in watchmaking, the watch perpetuates the brand’s pursuit of excellence. This fine example of Rolex’s watchmaking prowess, with Superlative Chronometer certification, brings classicism to the future.
Since the brand’s creation in 1908, Rolex has pursued the fundamental conviction of its founder, Hans Wilsdorf, for whom the future of the wristwatch was inseparable from superlative performance. The 1908 combines all the essential attributes of a self-winding wristwatch according to him: chronometric precision, waterproofness, autonomy, comfort and durability.
While Hans Wilsdorf’s revolutionary innovations concerned the technical features of the wristwatch, they were also the fruit of an extremely strong aesthetic vision. The silhouette of the case, as well as the design of the 1908’s dial, reinvent the classic – yet very modern – spirit of the original Oyster Perpetual watches. An aesthetic signature, its finely domed and fluted bezel is testimony to a quest for delicacy in all of its forms.
To power the 1908, Rolex’s watchmaking engineers have developed a completely new self-winding movement, caliber 7140, that allows the time to be displayed via two central hands and a small seconds hand at 6 o’clock. A number of patents have been filed for this movement, which has been entirely developed and manufactured in-house. Its cutting-edge design incorporates some major innovations from the Manufacture to guarantee exceptional performance, including the Syloxi hairspring in silicon, Chronergy escapement in a nickel-phosphorus alloy – both of which are resistant to strong magnetic fields – and Paraflex shock absorbers, which protect the oscillator and escape wheel from any shocks to the watch.
