The Rolex’s new entry-level model, the Oyster Perpetual is all-purpose watch. If you are like me, you sometimes wish you owned a watch that you could wear on every occasion, something that would go well with every outfit and activity, that wouldn’t be ostentatious but would still have character.

Its sportily elegant appearance goes equally well with a business suit or a polo shirt. And its new size (39 mm) is correctly proportioned for nearly every wrist, and is not overly conspicuous.  
The popular Datejust was the godfather for the shapes of the hands, the indexes and the case. Little blue blocks adjacent to the hour indexes add a touch of excitement and combine with the anthracite-colored and sunburst-finished dial to create an attractive color combination that looks modern, elegant and special.

With gently curving lugs and a broad bezel, the case makes a harmonious impression. All surfaces (except the upper planes of the lugs) are polished. As is almost always the situation on a Rolex wristwatch, the flat sapphire crystal rises above the level of the case, but slopes diagonally downward along its periphery to deflect potential shocks. Proofs of authenticity include Rolex’s crown- shaped logo lasered into the sapphire crystal at 6 o’clock, the name “Rolex” engraved into the metal ring around the dial, Rolex’s crown logo as an appliqué at the 12, and the serial number at 6.The crystal has no nonreflective coating and therefore legibility is not always ideal. Luminous material on the hands and on the indexes at 3, 6 and 9 facilitates orientation in the dark. There’s no date display. Its absence assures a tidy-looking dial, but might dissuade some from buying this model. If you’re one of them, Rolex offers the Datejust in 36-mm and 41-mm versions, each with a magnifying lens above the date display, and each at a significantly higher price.

Due to the lack of a date display, operating the Oyster Perpetual 39 is refreshingly simple. The crown, which unscrews easily, has only two extracted positions: one to wind the mainspring and another to set the hands. This model also provides a convenient stop-seconds function that halts the balance, and thus also the hands, to facilitate to-the-second time setting.

The horizontal bar under Rolex’s crown-shaped logo on the winding button stands for the Twinlock crown. With a water-resistance rating of 100 meters, the Oyster Perpetual 39 is impermeable enough for a sportily elegant watch and is well suited for daily use.The caseback is fully threaded: underneath it is Caliber 3132. It differs from its predecessor (Caliber 3130), which powers the smaller, 36-mm and 34-mm models, in that it has a Parachrom balance spring and Paraflex shock absorption. Caliber 3132 is based on the familiar Caliber 3135 with date display, which ticks inside the Submariner and the Datejust.

The movement’s engineering and decoration are equally impressive. For example, a handsome sunburst adorns the automatic bridge and the rotor. The latter boasts Rolex’s characteristic piercings. Other bridges are embellished with circular graining, also known as “perlage.” All bridges and plates are plated with rhodium and their edges are beveled and pol- ished. The polished heads of the screws look quite pretty, too. Rolex regrettably opted for a solid, not transparent, caseback. It would have offered a lovely view of the mechanisms, while simultaneously making life more difficult for would-be counterfeiters. Must you be willing to forego a visible movement if you opt for a one-and-only watch? Each potential buyer will have to answer this question himself.

The rate results clearly show which five positions Rolex used when finely adjusting the watch. The results would have been nearly perfect were it not for the rogue value posted in the uncommon “crown left” position. If you eliminate this stray number, you’ll come up with a calculated average deviation of zero seconds per day. Even if you include the “crown left” number, the final results are sufficiently precise.

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