Watch sleuths uncover rare titanium rolex that could soon be a reality

[Chewbacca]

Titanium Yacht-Master article.


https://www.dmarge.com/2021/09/titan...ricas-cup.html

[kilyung]

A Ti Rolex... anathema to me. Of course my preferred metal is Pt or Au.

[alphadweller]

Thanks for sharing. Here are my pros and cons:

Pros:
- love the YM and I find the absence of date aesthetically pleasing
- probably a 42mm case

Cons:
- titanium looks dull
- NATO straps look cheap and don't feel good on my wrist
- all black ceramic bezel with no contrast and poor legibility
- another black dial watch, they could have made an interesting dial, for a change

What I would like to see:

- 42mm SS case with steel bracelet
- precious metal bezel
- beautiful dial

[Nav01L]

Haven’t we had a thread about this already in like January/February this year? This looks awfully familiar

[powerfunk]

RolexMagazine.com isn't related to the actual issues of Rolex Magazine, is it? A bit confusing because this watch was originally revealed in Rolex Magazine #09

[1William]

I like the watch and am a buyer depending on the details.

[Cru Jones]

Originally Posted by Nav01L

Haven’t we had a thread about this already in like January/February this year? This looks awfully familiar

Actually, just last week.

[JSolution]

Originally Posted by alphadweller

Thanks for sharing. Here are my pros and cons:

Pros:
- love the YM and I find the absence of date aesthetically pleasing
- probably a 42mm case

Cons:
- titanium looks dull
- NATO straps look cheap and don't feel good on my wrist
- all black ceramic bezel with no contrast and poor legibility
- another black dial watch, they could have made an interesting dial, for a change

What I would like to see:

- 42mm SS case with steel bracelet
- precious metal bezel
- beautiful dial

Sounds suspiciously like a Rolex lol

[Alvar*]

I think nato as an only strap option for any luxury strap feels cheap. I find it odd, if Rolex would do that.

[HiBoost]

Originally Posted by Nav01L

Haven’t we had a thread about this already in like January/February this year? This looks awfully familiar

This could literally be the site's tagline -

Rolex Forums: Haven't we had a thread about this recently?

https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?p=11722702
https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?p=11646389
https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=822045

The good thing is most posts start with the obligatory "not sure if this has been posted or not...". Side thought - somebody should invent some kind of way you can search a website. Not sure if that would catch on but could be a useful feature. Anyway...

The interesting thing is that this post on TRF back in January seems to have some of the same pics posted 8 months later on Jake's Rolex site. So kudos to our users for getting the scoop!

[Lukebennett21]

Another user unearths the mysterious titanium yachtmaster!

[askdanny]

Originally Posted by HiBoost

This could literally be the site's tagline -

Rolex Forums: Haven't we had a thread about this recently?

https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?p=11722702
https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?p=11646389
https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=822045

The good thing is most posts start with the obligatory "not sure if this has been posted or not...". Side thought - somebody should invent some kind of way you can search a website. Not sure if that would catch on but could be a useful feature. Anyway...

The interesting thing is that this post on TRF back in January seems to have some of the same pics posted 8 months later on Jake's Rolex site. So kudos to our users for getting the scoop!

Originally Posted by powerfunk

RolexMagazine.com isn't related to the actual issues of Rolex Magazine, is it? A bit confusing because this watch was originally revealed in Rolex Magazine #09

I wrote the story on Jake's Rolex World (aka Rolexmagazine.com). It was a bizarre story to write because it was the most "unscoop" scoop. As Powerfunk pointed out, it was printed in the Rolex-published Rolex Magazine issue No. 9. Out in the open.

I was flipping through the magazine one afternoon while sitting on my deck, and I saw the picture of the watch, which was at the end of an interview with Sir Ainslie, almost as an afterthought. I couldn't believe my eyes.

I googled "Rolex titanium" and thought, Surely Hodinkee, Worn and Wound, Time and Tide, any of those publications must have written about this. The only thing I found was the thread on TRF. Some users were surmising it was a Bamford-edition customized watch... or Photoshop.

So I wrote the story and added a narrative, highlighting why this was important: This is the first time Rolex is actually telling us what they're working on next. This is the first time Rolex is working with a complete titanium case. This is the first time since the COMEX days Rolex is testing a watch out in real-life conditions *before* releasing it to the public. And more importantly, when was the last time we saw Rolex de-luxury-fy -- is that a word? I better not use that -- a watch?

While we've seen Rolex introduce a two-tone Sea-Dweller in 2019, a two-tone Explorer this year (to our chagrin), and a meteorite dial on a watch we can't even get in the most basic metal, this signifies a huge reversal in trend: With this titanium watch, Rolex is making a watch look *less* luxurious for pure practical sake; titanium looks dull but is half the weight of steel. And did I mention it comes on a NATO? Is this the return of Rolex as a tool watchmaker?

So I reached out to Rolex and I reached out to Sir Ben Ainslie. Both were kind enough to reply. And I hit "Publish."

Worn and Wound, Time and Tide, DMarge -- all picked up on my story, hence the new thread here. Monochrome Watches wrote: "Surprisingly, none of the leading watch magazines – MONOCHROME included – noticed this watch."

Jake's Rolex World is not my blog -- I'm just a contributor. But shout-out to Jake and TRF! In this social-media driven world dominated by Facebook and Instagram, a good ol' fashioned amateur blog with zero monetization can break stories professional watch journalists don't see -- because we are fan boys and passionate and we understand why a story is significant. Thousands saw the picture of the Yacht-Master 42 in titanium before I did. After all, issue No. 9 was sent all over the world.

But they didn't see the significance of it like I did or like many TRF'ers did. They were too distracted by Youtube and Instagram.

--Danny

[Avs Fan]

Thanks for the additional insight Danny!

[gmtbatman]

"The cynics will call it pure marketing genius"

Anthony, is that you?

[HiBoost]

Originally Posted by askdanny

I wrote the story on Jake's Rolex World (aka Rolexmagazine.com). It was a bizarre story to write because it was the most "unscoop" scoop. As Powerfunk pointed out, it was printed in the Rolex-published Rolex Magazine issue No. 9. Out in the open.





--Danny

Thanks for writing the article and thanks for commenting here! I agree this definitely seems newsworthy. I even sent my AD the Jake's link when I first saw it haha. Let's hope it does make it to production in a similar format.

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

[Speedbird-1]

DEEPSEA needs to be Ti, for obvious reasons........its a brick!

[Rashid.bk]

So that's the only picture of said watch, the blurry one with his thumb up. Just curious, couple questions.
-If that's the only photo, how can you tell its a YM
-Didn't see where anyone(the watch owner) associated with the watch confirmed any details such as make model or materials
-To me that looks like a normal DLC 14060M if anything, black can look grey in certain angles, although it does appear to be a maxi dial.....so maybe a DLC 124060?
-The one of him sitting definitely does not look like a YM's case profile at all, but the bezel does look like the YMs black ceramic.(modded watch?)

Just asking, for a friend....

[askdanny]

Originally Posted by Rashid.bk

So that's the only picture of said watch, the blurry one with his thumb up. Just curious, couple questions.
-If that's the only photo, how can you tell its a YM
-Didn't see where anyone(the watch owner) associated with the watch confirmed any details such as make model or materials
-To me that looks like a normal DLC 14060M if anything, black can look grey in certain angles, although it does appear to be a maxi dial.....so maybe a DLC 124060?
-The one of him sitting definitely does not look like a YM's case profile at all, but the bezel does look like the YMs black ceramic.(modded watch?)

Just asking, for a friend....

It’s not the only picture. You’re welcome to (re)read my article. There is a quote from the owner.

This is what I was talking about earlier: forums might be first at publishing the information, but there will be a fair amount of commenters casting doubts, negating the news — so, often first but seldom conclusive. That’s why I felt I needed to write an article.

https://www.rolexmagazine.com/2021/0...ter-42-in.html

[Rashid.bk]

Originally Posted by askdanny

It’s not the only picture. You’re welcome to (re)read the article. There is a quote from the owner.

This is what I was talking about earlier: forums might be first at publishing the information, but there will be an equal amount of users casting doubts, negating the legitimacy of the news. Forums are often first but seldom conclusive. That’s why an article needed to be written.

https://www.rolexmagazine.com/2021/0...ter-42-in.html

Now that's better. The first link didn't take me there. This is however totally different. The watch can be seen clearly now, although the case profile still looks like a Submariner vs the svelte lines of the YM.
I for one love this option although I agree with what was stated in the article, hard to see them downgrade a complication and make a no date Yachtmaster. From a company that designs watches specific to use, what could a no date three hand watch possible benefit a Yacht team, not that a date helps anymore, but....

My generic assessment is that the dial is a mule for what is essentially R&D for a 4xmm Submariner. Like automakers do, since they have a 42mm dial for that case but not a 42 mil Sub dial, much easier to just dump in an existing dial versus engineering around or making a new one. Automakers take the existing body of a vehicle and dump the next gen engine, trans and suspension inside for testing. Hard to predict though, Patek just made their arguably hottest watch titanium so there is precedence in the luxury market for titanium, not to mention it's huge benefit over steel, and that anything Rolex sells faster than you can pull out your wallet.

Running down to my AD to get on the "titanium" Rolex YM/Submariner list.