Land-Dweller 36

This ice blue – a colour reserved for watches made of platinum – dial is adorned with a honeycomb motif with a sunray finish. Its creation calls on traditional craftsmanship and high-technology methods, all mastered in-house. The honeycomb structure is cut with a femtosecond laser, which is also used to etch the delicate lines in the grooves separating each cell. The dial is set with 10 baguette-cut diamonds to mark the hours.

Gem-setters, like sculptors, finely carve the precious metal to hand-shape the seat in which each gemstone will be perfectly lodged. With the art and craft of a jeweller, the stone is placed and meticulously aligned with the others, then firmly secured in its gold or platinum setting. Besides the intrinsic quality of the stones, several other criteria contribute to the beauty of Rolex gem-setting: the precise alignment of the height of the gems, their orientation and position, the regularity, strength and proportions of the setting as well as the intricate finishing of the metalwork. A sparkling symphony to enhance the watch and enchant the wearer.

Rare and precious, platinum is striking for its silvery whiteness and vibrant luminosity. It is among the densest and heaviest metals in the world, distinguished by unique chemical and physical properties such as exceptional corrosion resistance. Paradoxically, it is also soft, elastic and highly malleable, which makes machining and polishing especially difficult, demanding an extremely high degree of skill. Rolex always uses 950 platinum, an alloy consisting of 950‰ (thousandths) platinum, painstakingly crafted in-house by the fine metalworkers at Rolex. The noblest of metals for the finest of watches.