Rolex Datejust: eighty years on the printed page

A watch can acquire a long history without surrendering its outline. The Datejust offers a particularly clear example: a design introduced in 1945 remains recognisable across the variations that followed it.

In September 2025, WAYFARER reported on Oyster Perpetual Datejust: the Watch that Made History, Rolex’s authorised history of the model. The 224-page book combined new photography with material from the company’s archive, using the eightieth anniversary as a reason to examine continuity rather than simply announce another reference.

The archive as a design record

Nicholas Foulkes, the historian and writer who had also worked on the Submariner volume, led the project. Access to Rolex’s records allowed the book to connect the model’s development with the ideas of founder Hans Wilsdorf.

The Brazilian account described a narrative extending beyond technical specifications to the Datejust’s place in the lives of artists, athletes and other public figures. Such histories can show how a manufactured object enters a wider visual culture.

The book followed the earlier Submariner publication made with Wallpaper. Its subject was different, but the editorial principle was comparable: photographs and documents could make the evolution of a watch visible without relying only on a list of movements and dimensions.

Read as a design study, the Datejust’s persistence is the point. Changes in detail matter precisely because the larger identity remains intact. Eight decades give the reader a long enough sequence to see both.

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Adapted from the WAYFARER Brazil archive, first published 2025-09-15. English adaptation: 6 October 2026. This is an archival account, not a report of a new visit. Exhibitions, collections and menu details are described in their original context, not as current availability.