The big day is here and we can finally reveal the most hyped collection of watches this year, Rolex’s 2026 releases. And while there’s nothing as impactful as last year’s Land-Dweller, it’s a slate of watches that seems squarely aimed at serious collectors. Without further ado, let’s get into it.
Rolex Oyster Perpetual 41
The legendary Oyster case is celebrating its centennial this year and with it comes the first two-tone Oyster Perpetual in the modern era, replacing the now-discontinued ref. 124300. It’s relatively subtle as anniversary watches go, with the same 41mm Oystersteel case and bracelet as the mainline collection, but with a gold bezel and crown. It’s an unusual combination for Rolex who would normally pair a gold bezel with gold centre links. Touches of green across the lettering and every hour along the minute track and, even more subtle, ‘100 years’ replacing Swiss made at 6 o’clock mean this is going to be a serious collector’s piece.
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Rolex Oyster Perpetual 36 “Jubilee Dial”
Fans of 70s Datejusts sit up and take notice: this new lacquered jubilee dial is one for you. The graphic squares spell out the Rolex name on repeat in all the colours of the rainbow in a motif picked straight out of the 1970s. While it looks like a Warhol-style print, this is lacquer, meaning each of the colours needs to be applied separately – which given there are ten different colours, makes this a labour of love. We’ll see if it replaces the previous Celebration dial as the fun Rolex; if so, this will be in serious demand.
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Rolex Oyster Perpetual 28 and 34
Since launch, the Oyster Perpetual has been Rolex’s steel entry-level model; now, not so much. This range of smaller models in 28mm and 34mm come in Rolex’s own Everose and Yellow Gold. The 28mm version comes with a handsome anniversary green lacquer dial while the (slightly) larger model comes in a variety of colours. Both dials feature hour markers at 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock and 9 o’clock in dial-matched natural stone – heliotrope for the green, dumortierite for the blue. This is an odd move as it not only pushes the Oyster Perpetual up into new price brackets but seems to directly compete with the Datejust.
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Rolex Datejust 41
While Rolesor tends to mean bi-colour in Rolex circles, as last year’s Land-Dweller showed, it simply means a combination of steel and gold, even if that means white gold, such as the case with this new Datejust 41. It’s a green year for Rolex but here that comes in the form of an ombré – fume by any other name – lacquer dial. It’s more subtle than most other gradient dials and suits the Datejust’s signature fluted bezel to a tee in the classic silver-green combination. Inside is the calibre 3235 automatic movement, loaded with Rolex’s Chronergy escapement, Parachrom hairspring and Paraflex shock absorbers – all the good stuff – contributing to a weekend-proof 70-hour power reserve.
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Rolex Yacht-Master II
The biggest launch for Rolex this year is a long overdue revamp of the Yacht-Master II and while it’s probably the worst kept secret of Watches & Wonders 2026, it’s been worth the speculative wait. The previous model was the worst-performing Rolex in the catalogue and one of the only sports models that dropped in value on the second-hand market.
The big change is that the countdown scale that previously dominated the centre of the dial has been moved to the flange at the edge of the dial, less legible at a glance but much, much cleaner and operable via the pushers either side of the crown. Though you can’t tell from the stills, both the countdown minutes and seconds run counterclockwise for a much more intuitive user experience.
The running seconds at 6 o’clock is the same as previously, but otherwise the new watch has more similarities to the Crown’s divers than expected. Rather than doubling up with a countdown bezel, Rolex has switched to a 60-minute scale similar to a classic diving bezel. Here though, the Cerachrom bezel is bi-directional, the idea being that a sailor can use it to measure intervals while racing. It pairs with Submariner indexes – circle hour markers with batons at 3, 9 and 6 (the latter cut off with the small seconds) and a triangle at 12.
Powered by the Superlative Chronometer-certified calibre 4162 with a 72-hour power reserve and all the Rolex bells and whistles, the new Yacht-Master II is available in both Oystersteel and yellow gold.
This is less of a refresh and more like a fundamentally different watch wearing the same name as the old Yacht-Master II. At 44mm the new watch is still large, but it’s sleeker, sportier and makes more visual sense – and who knows? If it wins collectors over, maybe there might be some retrospective love for the discontinued version, too.
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Rolex Day-Date 40
Rolex’s annual stone dial this year comes in the form of a Day-Date with a new proprietary gold alloy, Jubilee Gold. Joining Everose, Oystersteel and RLX titanium in Rolex’s metallurgical line-up, the new material’s an in-house take on classic yellow gold, here paired with an unusual pale green aventurine stone dial.
With ten baguette-cut diamond markers, it’s a serious flex on the wrist – especially as like other ‘exceptional’ models, it won’t be available from your average authorised dealer. Whether or not Rolex roll out Jubilee Gold to the broader collection (the answer is probably yes), this is a serious collectors’ piece.
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Rolex Cosmograph Daytona
At a glance you might assume this is the classic oystersteel Daytona and you’d be mostly right. The case is mainly steel, but as the ‘Rolesium’ moniker denotes, with platinum accents across the bezel and caseback. The caseback however is more notable for being open, making this the third Daytona with an exhibition caseback.
The dial however is what should be getting collectors excited – a pure white enamel one. White dialled Daytonas are auction headliners at the best of times and bringing enamel into the mix – something Rolex don’t have too much history with – is enough to make this the most covetable watch of 2026. Yes, it looks very similar to standard Daytonas, but if you know, you know. Plus as part of the Exceptional line, it’s listed in the press release as ‘Not in Catalogue’.
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More details at Rolex.
