Trying To Get Airborne With The Rolex Sky-Dweller In Yellow And Everose Gold On A Jubilee Bracelet
Honest question: why do people like the Sky-Dweller? Is it because the travel watch with the Saros annual calendar and Ring Command is a complicated piece of watchmaking? Is it the characteristic dial layout, perhaps? Or is it because if you wear this 42mm watch in precious metal, everybody within a hundred-meter radius will know you’re sporting a costly Rolex? I never felt the need to “board” the most complicated watch in Rolex’s current collection, but this Monday, I’m trying to get airborne with the Rolex Sky-Dweller in yellow and Everose gold.
The Sky-Dweller first took off in 2012, and it still feels like this watch is a new kid on the block. You get that when surrounded by “Subs,” GMT-Master IIs, and Daytonas. The watch combines Rolex’s Saros annual calendar with a GMT function in a very original way. The Ring Command system works in such a way that it can simultaneously indicate two time zones, the date, and the month while allowing them to be adjusted by turning the fluted bezel. You can read about it here to learn exactly how it works.
Trying to get airborne with the Rolex Sky-Dweller in yellow and Everose gold
The two Sky-Dweller models that Rolex introduced last year were not completely new. The full-gold Jubilee bracelets were new, but the automatic caliber 9002, for instance, wasn’t. This chronometer-certified movement is a 2023 update of the caliber 9001. It is equipped with the Chronergy escapement and provides a power reserve of 72 hours with an average accuracy of ±2 seconds per day.
So, in reality, all that was new was a bracelet change, but what a change it was. If a 42mm watch with a busy dial and a Cyclops on top wasn’t eye-catching enough, Rolex already offered a Jubilee bracelet for the Sky-Dweller, but it was a steel one matched to a steel model with a white gold bezel. Full gold in two colors is new and makes the Sky-Dweller shine like never before. The opulence of gold is not for the faint of heart. Be it in the Rolex equivalent of rose gold — Everose — or yellow gold, the Sky-Dweller is not a watch for introverts.
They will undoubtedly appreciate the build quality, comfort, and folding Oysterclasp equipped with the Easylink comfort system. This clasp allows an extra 5mm on-the-fly adjustment without requiring any tools. The introverts will also be grateful for the ceramic inserts that make the bracelet feel simultaneously supple and robust.
The Sky-Dweller is a watch for…?
The Rolex Sky-Dweller is an impressive watch in multiple ways. Its 42mm case has a 14mm thickness, 50.5mm length, and a 21mm lug spacing. Like most Rolexes, it looks bigger than it is, making the Sky-Dweller a massive watch. It feels too big on my 18cm wrist and looks even bigger. That’s also because of the plethora of lavish gold. The yellow gold reference 336938 with a white dial (€56,800) is the most traditional-looking version, but it’s too big to be a classic. The Everose reference 336935 with a slate-gray dial (€60,100) is a more contemporary creation. The dial is less outspoken than the white one, but combined with the fluted rose gold bezel and Jubilee bracelet, the visual effect is on par with the white-dialed version.
So, who is the perfect person to wear the full-gold Sky-Dweller? This is a larger-than-life watch and, therefore, a perfect fit for basketball great Michael Jordan and rapper DJ Khaled. They’ve both been seen wearing a blue-dialed Sky-Dweller, so these full-gold Jubilee-equipped references should also be to their taste. Other famous wearers of the Sky-Dweller include UFC champion Conor McGregor, actors Will Smith and Tom Cruise, basketball all-star LeBron James, and comedian Kevin Hart.
What about a Sky-Dweller EVO?
The big, brash Sky-Dweller has such an outspoken look that its ingenious insides are often overlooked. How could Rolex set that straight? Functional evolution would do the trick. The caliber 9002 has a 33mm diameter, meaning it can most probably fit in a smaller case than the 42mm case it beats in now — a 40mm case, for instance. The thickness would probably remain about the same, but that wouldn’t be too much of a problem proportionally.
There will also be no issues regarding comfort because the Sky-Dweller EVO I have in mind has a flat-sided RLX titanium case. The titanium Oyster bracelet Rolex builds for its superb Yacht-Master 42 in RLX titanium will be a perfect fit for the most utilitarian Sky-Dweller ever. I envision a matte black dial with legible white indexes, plenty of luminous material to light up the cockpit or cabin, and a few color accents to make all the functions easy to read.
The Sky-Dweller EVO will attract Rolex fans who fully appreciate the brand’s technical qualities. These people don’t want a big and shiny watch but, instead, appreciate the functionality of their travel timepiece. Finally, there will be Sky-Dweller wearers noticing that the watch, while displaying the local time using the central hands, also presents a 24-hour-graduated off-center rotating disc, making it possible to read the time in another time zone. The fact that the date, month, hours, minutes, seconds, and an additional time zone are all visible at a glance will finally be noticed and appreciated. The same goes for the Saros calendar, which requires only one date adjustment a year on the first day of March.
From opulent behemoth to nimble travel tool
In its current form, the Sky-Dweller is more a mile-high-membership kind of watch than an instrumental travel companion for the discerning watch connoisseur. But in a smaller and different case, it could most definitely be the latter. It could also be a future classic. Having said all that, please don’t get your hopes up. I have no idea what Rolex will be presenting during the upcoming edition of Watches and Wonders. No inside information came to me regarding a possible Sky-Dweller in titanium. But please remember that the titanium Yacht-Master also came out of nowhere. With that in mind, then, I look forward to being surprised by a next-generation Sky-Dweller. What about you?
