From The Straits Times    |
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So you’ve scored that big promotion, or hit a special milestone in your life. Say, a big birthday or an anniversary, or the start of a new chapter perhaps. Naturally, you’d want something significant and enduring to mark the occasion, something aspirational to signify that you’ve crossed the mark. And few things tick all those boxes as well as a Rolex, a brand so widely recognised as a symbol of success and worth that it’s virtually a currency in itself.

Of course, given the weightiness of purchasing a Rolex watch, you’d want to be sure of making an informed choice. There are factors to consider, as well as aspects of the timepiece you should know about. Here, we’ve nailed down five important details to note.

 

 #1 What’s your style 

Consider your lifestyle and the occasions or situations where you’d be wearing the watch and go for something that would best suit them There are mainly two kinds of watches to choose from: dress watches or sports watches. Dress watches such as the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date or Lady-Datejust are perfect for formal events and the boardroom. Meanwhile, Rolex’s sports watches such as the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner and Cosmograph Daytona models are intended to take you from “from day to night”, thanks to their casual-cool but polished appearances.

 

 #2 Size matters

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Yacht-Master 40. Photo: Rolex

It is imperative that the watch fits you well. An ideal watch should look proportionate to the size of your wrist. To start, watches measuring 36mm in diameter would suit smaller wrists, such as the Day-Date 36 range with its myriad of dials. This collection comes in white, yellow, Rolex’s patented Everose gold, or 950 Platinum, accompanied by exotic alligator straps or matching bracelets. Watches with a 39mm, 40mm, or 41mm diameter case are great on larger wrists, these include the Cellini Date, Time, or Dual Time models in 39mm; the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Yacht-Master 40 in 40mm; or the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust 41 in 41mm.

 

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 #3 The bracelet makes a difference

White Rolesor Lady-Datejust 28 in 904L and Cosmograph Daytona. Photo: Rolex

The finishing touch to a timepiece comes from its strap, which lends additional character to a watch. At Rolex, watches come with a selection of complementing bracelets, with specific styles fitted to particular models. If you’re after a more feminine aesthetic, metal bracelets are the way to go. For example, Rolex’s new Lady-Datejust 28 in 904L steel and its white Rolesor version – recently launched at this year’s Baselworld – are fitted with the Oyster or Jubilee bracelet, a flat three-piece link and five-piece link bracelet respectively. 

For a sportier alternative to those bracelets, have a look at the Oysterflex bracelet instead, which was developed and patented by Rolex and is currently exclusive to the Yacht-Master 37 in Everose gold and the new Cosmograph Daytona. A two-piece titanium bracelet coated in black elastomer (a rubber-like material), the Oysterflex also has a patented cushioning system that allows air to move between the rubber and your skin for increased comfort, particularly on hot days.

 

 #4 You are paying for resilience 

 

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When you splash out on a big ticket item like a Rolex, clearly you’d want it to last. Here, you can set your mind at ease because not only is stainless steel is a watchmaking staple, Rolex only uses 904L steel, a highly corrosion-resistant alloy found in aerospace industries. As well as offering a unique lustre, this also makes Rolex timepieces highly resistant against hard knocks and scratches. If you are partial to gold, the 904L steel pairs particularly well with 18 ct yellow, white, or Everose gold, as seen on the Rolesor – a combination of gold and steel that was hallmark patented by Rolex in 1933.

 

 #5 And precision 

 

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The stamp of a well-made timepiece is its accuracy. That is why it is imperative for a quality mechanical watch to be formally certified as a “chronometer” by the COSC (Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute) – the industry’s gold standard.

Rolex watches not only pass the COSC’s exacting tests, they are certified “Superlative Chronometer”, which means that their precision after casing is around −2/+2 seconds per day – more than twice that required of an official chronometer. In order to attain this prestigious status, the movement inside each Rolex wristwatch would have undergone 15 days and nights of rigorous testing by the COSC.

 

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