The Rolex President

If you are talking to an avid Rolex fan, then the conversation of Rolex President watch might have come up. Whether the “Rolex President” is actually a model or just a bracelet is always a topic of debate. The history of this model has been the subject of many blogs and article, but for the sake of our readers, we thought we would just give you the quick short story.

Solid Gold Rolex Day-Date

When someone mentions the Rolex President, they are usually talking about an 18k solid gold day-date model on a presidential bracelet. Somewhere in the 1970s the name “Rolex President” came to be. This is most likely attributed to the marketing minds at JWT Worldwide, the best-know marketing company in New York City for over 150 years.

Mad Men and Rolex

In 1966, JWT released an advert that capitalized on the fact that Rolex was the choice watch brand of world leaders. I can picture it now, a room filled with Don Draper types, smoking cigarettes and sharing ideas on how to advertise the Rolex brand. The outcome of these meetings was a print ad that showed an 18k gold day-date watch with the header of “The Presidents’ Watch”.  To drive home the image more, the wearer in the advert if holding a red phone, similar to the phone we imagine is in the White House oval office. This advert was a huge success and is possibly the first place where the term Rolex President came from.

To help further this branding of historically elite watch wearers, Rolex released a series of adverts that showed images of famous leaders wearing this model.

This marketing strategy seemed to work. In the 1980s Rolex even released an advert that actually called the day-date model the Rolex President Day-Date Chronometer. This however did not stick. Rolex has since gone back to the calling this model simply the day-date model.

So is there a Rolex President model? Well, based on the adverts alone, we would have to say yes. It would be the 18k gold day-date on a president bracelet. However, if any of these variables are different: the bracelet, the material, than it would no longer be a Rolex President model.

Our Rolex

If you are unsure if your Rolex is a President model, schedule an appointment and bring the watch by for us to see. We are always in the lookout to purchase these models. If you are interested in purchasing your own, we can help you there too. We have a large inventory of new and pre-owned models for you to choose from.