What is special about the $99 Rolex Sky-Dweller?

28 May

The Sky-Dweller is equipped with a mechanism of interaction between the rotatable bezel, the winding crown and the movement: the Ring Command system, which allows the user to select the watch's functions one-by-one and to set them easily, quickly and

Before we check out what has changed on the Sky-Dweller, we first need to see how it all started. By definition, the Sky-Dweller is the brand’s ultimate world traveller’s tool watch, a watch that isn’t meant to be a tool for pilots, like the $99 GMT-Master initially was, but a companion watch for frequent travellers, a luxurious instrument to bring them all the necessary indications, in the most practical and intuitive manner. Despite looking like the datejust 40 at first sight, the classic time-and-date display being only broken by the application of a 24h ring, the Sky-Dweller, first released in 2012, is one of the most, if not the most complicated Rolex ever created. How…? Thanks to its combination of an annual calendar, a GMT function and a user-machine interface that relies on the bezel to select and set the functions.

We know about some of the best watches that are iconic. Many people automatically associate watches with brands and, frankly, you can’t go wrong buying from those luxury watch sellers.

Looking at the two most popular $99 sports models in the luxury watch collection, the situation is slightly more complex than above. The Milgauss 116400 follows the trend of other steel watches, rising about 7%. The Air-King reference 126900, a recent model introduced in 2022, sees a slightly less significant rise in its price. All the previous generation Sky-Dweller models with references 326xxx have been discontinued and replaced with the new generation 336xxx series with the new 9002 movement. The Sky-Dweller was almost not impacted by a price correction in 2022; however, it is now following the same trend as all models above, with an increase in prices depending on the materials.

The Perpetual 1908 watches feature 39mm cases (in yellow gold or white gold), bezels that are both partly domed and partly fluted, and ultra thin winding crowns. The back of the watches includes see through exhibition casebacks for a view of the stunning Caliber 7140 mechanical self winding movement, which powers the center hour and minute hands, in addition to the small seconds subdial on the dials. The movement features a skeletonized gold rotor and Côtes de Genève decoration on the bridges, and supplies approximately 66 hours of power reserve to the luxury cheap watches.