Rolex Datejust Lady 69174 Watches

If anyone knows how to make a Rolex, it’s Rolex. Let’s face it; they have the heritage, they have the expertise, and most importantly, they have the restraint. Nevertheless, there are many companies out there who think they know better, and the presumptuously titled Artisans de Genève is one of them.

Imagine buying a Rolex 6263 back in the 70s for pennies. Now it’d be worth anywhere between £50–100,000, depending on spec. That would be nice, wouldn’t it? But now, with ever-increasing prices and mark-ups appearing on new models before they’ve even been worn, it seems the days of bargain Rolexes with the potential for big appreciation are gone … but maybe they aren’t.

To look at two Formula One cars, aside from the distinctive paint jobs, it would be hard to tell one from the other. Yet these are machines built independently, in secret, by isolated teams working to different principles and ideas. The reality is that each car is incredibly different on a micro level, despite seeming so indistinct at the macro. The same could be said of Rolex’s Submariner and Omega’s Seamaster—two watches that seem so similar on the surface, yet differ in approach so dramatically when seen just a little closer.

A Rolex and the sea are like, well, a duck to water, the brand having kickstarted the entire dive watch legacy pretty much singlehandedly. As far as credentials go, there’s only one you need to know: a Rolex watch has been to the deepest part of the ocean and survived—and that was back in 1960. A watch literally cannot go any deeper than that. And so, Rolex dive watches have come to be heralded as the very best, and we’ve got three of them. But which is the best of the best?