Until recently, it was widely believed that 2020 would come and go without the release of new Rolex wristwatches. The watch-loving community certainly has respect for the incredible challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, but like clockwork (pun sort of intended), new Rolex watches have been debuted annually in or around March at the (now retired) Baselworld watch trade show. When it turned out that Baselworld wasn’t happening in 2020, and given the news that Rolex (among others) was leaving Baselworld (which has since been retired and is awaiting reincarnation in another form), it was entirely unclear a few months ago what Rolex has been planning. Publicly confirmed by this teaser post on the brand’s official Instagram channel, we now know that 2020 will see the debut of new Rolex timepieces – particularly what appears to be of the diving variety.
Over the summer, Rolex’s sister brand Tudor released a new 2020 product with the Tudor Black Bay Fifty Eight Blue (aBlogtoWatch hands-on here). At that point, Rolex had been entirely silent in 2020, aside from issuing a statement about departing Baselworld and moving its next annual wristwatch even from Basel to Geneva, Switzerland. Then toward the end of August 2020, Rolex announced to its network of media and retail partners that new Rolex watches would, indeed, arrive in 2020, in addition to being available for sale at generally the same time as the media debut. Dealers were ecstatic.
September 1, 2020 is when Rolex will simultaneously debut its new 2020 watches and start to ship them to retail partners around the world. Just a reminder: Rolex’s steel sports watches are still heavily in-demand by consumers and so very challenging to acquire given that Rolex maintains traditional production levels of steel watches. With a reduced factory workforce in 2020 (like pretty much all Swiss manufacturers), it is likely that the production of new pieces will be even further constrained this year. It is then logical that any new all-steel Rolex watches debuted in 2020 will receive the same type of high demand and be challenging to acquire, at least initially. That said, there is often a lot of speculation as to what watches Rolex will debut, upgrade, retire, or simply add line extensions to — but ultimately, we don’t know yet what we will see in a few day’s time from “the crown.” Below are two aBlogtoWatch audience polls you can participate in to see what you think Rolex will debut for 2020.
aBlogtoWatch will be on-scene at the Rolex headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland on September 1, 2020 to view the new 2020 watches. Shortly thereafter, you’ll be able to find full hands-on looks at all the new Rolex 2020 watches, right here on aBlogtoWatch. Until then, let’s see what the community thinks Rolex has in store for them in a few day’s time. Learn more at the Rolex website.