In recent days, much of the watch internet has been abuzz with the apparent news of a new Rolex collection with the somewhat hard to believe name of Land-Dweller. Leaked images of the Crown’s new watch began to emerge in the days leading up to this year’s Watches & Wonders, and, as you’d expect from the internet, debate ensued. The shots purported to capture a Datejust-adjacent design with sharper lines and, perhaps, an integrated bracelet. The official Rolex teaser for Watches & Wonders on Instagram seemed to confirm many of the details that had already been guessed, and then a very Daniel Craig at the Olympics style image of Roger Federer wearing the watch hit social media via the tennis star’s (and Rolex ambassador’s) Instagram account. It appeared to everyone at this point that the Land-Dweller was real – we only had to wait for the details.
Rolex has made those details public as of today, with the announcement of the new Land-Dweller collection. This is much more, though, than Rolex jumping on the integrated bracelet sports watch bandwagon (although, it is that, at least a little bit). The Land-Dweller is also an important moment for Rolex as a movement maker, as it introduces their new, patented, direct impulse escapament which goes by the trade name Dynapulse. It uses dual silicon wheels and introduces us to Rolex caliber 7135.
More on that caliber in a moment, but first, the broad strokes of the Land-Dweller collection. The new collection features a family of watches in both 36mm and 40mm sizes, in steel, gold, and platinum. All share the same case shape, which is clearly meant to evoke classic Oysterquartz references with its sharp angles and squared off lugs, along with fluted bezels. Dials have a new honeycomb motif, and in precious metals there are variants with baguette diamond indices. From a distance, the Land-Dweller is clearly being set up in the catalog in a way that mirrors the Datejust. In other words, there ought to be one in the collection for just about everyone. It goes without saying that additional references will be added periodically to provide even more varied options. Our Rolex meeting is still to come this week, so we’ll have hands-on impressions soon. But, until then, there’s some really interesting watchmaking to talk about. Who better to talk about it with than a watchmaker?
We’ve been chatting with watchmaker Nathan Bobinchak today about why what Rolex announced this week is important. More than anything, it’s the rarity of a genuinely new escapement that is the first major point to consider. “Introducing a new mechanical escapement design on an industrial level is so rare, you can count the number of times it’s been done on one hand,” Nathan told us. “Not just recently, ever. You have the Swiss Lever, which is in nearly every wristwatch ever made, George Daniels’ Co-Axial in modern Omegas, and now the Dynapulse from Rolex.”
The Dynapulse is a huge evolution from the Swiss Lever and operates tangentially, which means it has dramatically lower friction than the sliding action of the Swiss Lever,” Nathan continued. “Think of it like rolling a wheel across a floor, compared to pushing a box.”
The principal behind the Dynapulse, a dual impulse escape mechanism that reduces or completely eliminates friction by sending energy to the balance directly, is not entirely new, but has proven very difficult to produce. Nathan notes that Omega’s Co-Axial movements, using technology developed by George Daniels that employs a similar idea, takes some shortcuts necessary for mass production. “The Co-Axial escapement uses a similar tangential concept, but has a single co-axial wheel that both locks and impulses the balance directly,” he explains. “The Dynapulse still has a lever that locks and impulses the balance, but it is nothing like the old Swiss Lever design. It’s a bit of a hybrid design of Breguet’s “échappement naturel” combining its lower-friction approach with the robustness and reliability of the classic Swiss Lever.”
But it’s the fact that Rolex is making these movements that is perhaps the most important point of all. Because it’s Rollex, this caliber “has the potential to be industrialized in a way that no other single brand could ever manage,” according to Nathan. This, after all, is one of the things Rolex is the absolute best at – mass production is truly their forte, and it’s an area where they have no peer among other luxury watchmakers.
Nathan has a lot more to say about this new movement technology, so we’ll have him back soon to go into greater depth on how it all works, and what it might mean for the future of Rolex from a watchmaking perspective.
The Rolex Land-Dweller starts at CHF 13,300 and rises to the low six figures depending on case materials, bling, etc. Rolex
