The Public Price Is RMB 170,000. How About These Rolex Formal Watch Replicas?

At this year’s Geneva Watch Fair, Rolex launched a new niche and heavyweight formal watch: Perpetual 1908, which is classic, elegant, and modern. Rolex is also slowly getting closer to the current mainstream demand and continues to try to adopt new designs, gradually increasing people’s interest in the brand’s formal watches. Rolex’s new Perpetual 1908, or will it “raise” the positioning of Rolex? Is it necessary to revive the brand’s “antique complex watch” through this formal watch? With questions together, let’s find the answer in this Perpetual 1908 watch.

Rolex New Perpetual 1908

Hello everyone, Daytona and Shuigui have always been the most concerned Rolex players. At this year’s ‘Watches and Miracles’ 2023 Geneva Watch Fair, Rolex launched a new niche and heavyweight formal wear series, Perpetual 1908.

There are two types of Hengdong 1908, the gold shell; the public price is 172,000; the platinum shell, the general cost is 181,900.

Rolex’s standard dress watch, Cellini’s replacement

Rolex’s new Perpetual 1908 is a replacement for Cellini. We can see that Cellini has been removed from the official Rolex website. As a very niche formal watch series among Rolex, why was Cellini replaced? Because Cellini has limitations in design and movement, Rolex will launch a brand new legal watch series, the Perpetual 1908, which is thinner than Cellini, has better performance, and has more room for development.

Rolex Perpetual 1908 is a standard formal watch. Perpetual 1908 fully meets these requirements. And watches like Rolex log type and week calendar are more sporty.

Rolex’s new Perpetual 1908, (left) gold case, (right) platinum case.

Perpetual 1908 is a scarce Rolex watch that pursues thinness. It measures 39mm and is 9.5mm thick. The thickness of 9.5 mm is already at the same level as Patek Philippe 5227 (9.24 mm) and Jaeger-LeCoultre’s ultra-thin master moon phase (9.3 mm). Compared with the 12mm of the previous Cellini junior needle, the Perpetual 1908 has significantly been thinned.

Rolex Perpetual 1908, the thickness of the case is skinny, and the case is all polished.

Compared with sports watches, the appearance of formal eyes tends to lack Recognition. Perpetual 1908 uses Rolex’s iconic “dog tooth ring” on the outer ring of the case. Although narrower and finer than the dog teeth of the log type and the day calendar, it dramatically improves the Recognition for a formal watch replicas. Similarly, like Patek Philippe’s new 6119, the bezel is also covered with Paris studs to enhance Recognition and luxury, which is very effective for formal replica watches review. In terms of the case, Perpetual 1908 also uses the most standard traditional watch processing method, and the case is all polished.

Rolex Perpetual 1908, the bezel has Rolex’s iconic “dog tooth ring.”

Perpetual 1908 has two types of disks: white disk and black disk. The watch’s dial is retro, with some traces of the Rolex formal watch 6512 in the 1950s. Small three-pin layout, since there is no calendar, the dial of Perpetual 1908 is balanced and harmonious. The hour hand of the watch uses Breguet’s hands. Use three-dimensional bar hour markers plus digital hour markers at 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, and 9 o’clock. The small second dial of the Perpetual 1908 is also an orbital scale, and the Superlative Chronometer Super Observatory certification words surrounding the upper half of the small seconds dial restore the style of the antique Rolex 6512. The “little crown” under the small second’s dial means this is a Rolex using a “new generation” movement.

Rolex 6512 in the 50s of the last century, it can be seen that the Perpetual 1908 has inherited the handling of the small seconds.

With slimness and performance in mind, Rolex’s new 7140 automatic movement

Rolex Perpetual 1908, to achieve a thickness of 9.5 mm, Rolex’s previous movements could not meet the thickness requirements, so Rolex developed a new 7140 automatic movement specifically for Perpetual 1908. The thickness of the 7140 campaign is only 4.05 mm, while the Rolex 3135/3235 movement is 6 mm thick.

Rolex Perpetual 1908, using the new 7140 automatic movements.

Everyone knows all Rolex watches must meet the “Super Observatory Certification” standard with a daily error of +2/-2 seconds. In the past, the Rolex 31 and 32 movement had no thickness requirements, which was conducive to meeting the super observatory standard. Now the new Perpetual 1908 is both a thin and excellent observatory. Therefore, the 7140 automatic movement concentrates all the current “latest technological achievements” of Rolex to meet both requirements.

The Rolex 7140 automatic movement uses a central four-wheel layout, and the four wheels are located in the center of the action. The four wheels are usually used as the second wheel, and the second hand is directly installed, but the Perpetual 1908 is a small three-hand watch, and the second hand is at 6 o’clock. What happened? The 7140 movement uses a passing wheel connected to the four central wheels. Through the transition of the passing wheel, the small second hand can be arranged at 6 o’clock. Next to the automatic rotor, the outer wheel is exposed through the hollow splint. To ensure that this set of additional gear transmissions has a stable torque, the dual wheel at 6 o’clock uses “elastic teeth” to reduce the torque drop in the information. The “elastic teeth” technology has been used in Rolex Daytona 4130 movement and Patek Philippe 26-330 motion.

The “double-layer over-wheel” in the Rolex 7140 movement shows the upper and lower layers of gears.

In the Rolex 7140 movement, the “elastic teeth” second wheel is used, and the elastic teeth circled in the yellow square can be seen.

The Rolex 7140 movement, another key technology, uses the Rolex Syloxi silicon hairspring. Some players will say that Rolex has blue niobium hairsprings; why use Syloxi silicon hairsprings on the 7140 movements? But the Perpetual 1908 is a watch that pursues thinness. The end of the hairspring is wound up, increasing the movement’s thickness, so the Rolex Syloxi silicon hairspring is out.

In the Rolex 7140 movement, the Syloxi silicon hairspring is used.

The Rolex Syloxi silicon hairspring was launched in 2014. It is formed in one piece by photolithography. The appearance is characterized by two “round holes” at both ends of the hairspring. With these two holes, the Syloxi silicon balance spring is fixed to the balance cock. In this way, the ideal horizontal and symmetrical shape of the Syloxi silicon hairspring is guaranteed. Rolex said the Syloxi silicon hairspring has a “patented geometric structure that enables the movement to maintain regular operation at any position.” In addition, the silicon hairspring will not be magnetized and has a solid antimagnetic ability, thereby improving the travel time performance of the 7140 movements. While slim, it meets the Rolex Super Observatory +2/-2 standard. Syloxi silicon hairsprings are mainly used in Perpetual 1908 and Rolex women’s watches, which have thin or small movements to ensure their travel time accuracy.

Rolex Syloxi silicon hairspring

Rolex Chronergy escapement

In addition, Rolex also uses the same Chronergy hollow escapement as the 32 movements on the 7140 movements to improve the movement efficiency (compared with the conventional lever escapement, the efficiency is increased by 15%). 7140 movement, swing frequency 28800 times/hour, power 66 hours.

Details of the Rolex 7140 movement, the iconic red winding gear, can be seen.

Rolex Perpetual 1908, you can see the 7140 movements through the bottom. In the past, Rolex also had a transparent base on the Prince Cellini model, and this year, it is not uncommon for Rolex to have a transparent base in platinum ice blue. The 7140 movement uses an 18K all-gold automatic rotor, hollowed out and brushed. The barrel and winding train are visible, and the barrel is decorated with radial patterns. The decoration level of the activity is very high, and it also matches the formal style.

Rolex 7140 movement, polished details.

Everyone knows that Rolex rarely produces complex watches. Is it going to revive their antique complex watches through this watch?

In the 1950s, Rolex launched many complex watches, such as 6062 full-calendar moon phases and 4768 full-calendar chronographs. Now, from the Perpetual 1908, we can see that the slight 7140 movements, the typical “indirect” second-hand layout (the position of the second hand can be flexibly arranged), it is easy to think that in the future, Rolex will use the 7140 movements Make a fuss about it, it can add various functional modules. The complex Rolex that has appeared in history is “resurrected” again.

Rolex full calendar moon phase 6062 in the 1950s

Rolex’s full calendar chronograph 4768 in the 1940s

If Rolex produces a complex watch, will its positioning be raised to another level?

They launched the Perpetual 1908, and through the new 7140 automatic movements, Rolex has obtained a new trend that is thinner, more beautiful and has outstanding performance. This allowed Rolex to open the channel from “luxury and durable” to “craft level.” How will they develop in the future? Let us wait and see.