I'd personally love to have a Rolex just because of its craftsmanship. Because of this, I'm only drawn to the more subdued variants (all steel, plain bezel, plain dial in blue or black).
However, I have a couple of nice automatics, and don't want to expand my collection any further.
It is. "We are not in the watch business. We are in the luxury business" - former Rolex CEO.[1]
Rolex was originally a maker of working watches for rugged environments. Pilots and divers might wear one.
Today, the watch of choice for people who need accurate time is the cheap Casio G-Shock.
For about US$100, you can get solar power, WWV corrections, good waterproofing, and resistance to being banged on. It doesn't need any attention. It just works. Popular with military types.
My watch of choice remains the OG Casio F-91W, unchanged since its June 1989 introduction (35+ years!)[1] and still available today for the very nice price of $16.88[2]. They recently added Pink, Blue, Clear, Gold, White, Grey, and Green versions.
That's what seems newsworthy about this new movement, generally I would have said Rolex was just conspicuous consumption, you could get mechanically better / more interesting (and certainly more interesting-looking) watches for less, but that isn't their target market. So it's sort of heartwarming to see them making improvements that most of their customers won't notice.
