--- title: "The Rolex Oyster Turns 100, and It Still Keeps the Sea Out" url: https://quietmenace.com/watches/rolex-oyster-history/ author: Quiet Menace Editors section: Watches published: 2026-11-01 updated: 2026-11-01 topics: Watch History, Heritage Brands, Industrial Design --- # The Rolex Oyster Turns 100, and It Still Keeps the Sea Out > In 1926 Rolex sealed a wristwatch shut with a bought patent and a screwed crown. A year later a London stenographer carried one into the English Channel, and this year Rolex wrote 100 years on the dial. On October 7, 1927, at her eighth attempt, Mercedes Gleitze became the first British woman to swim the English Channel. She was 26, a professional swimmer who had worked as a secretary and stenographer in central London. Within weeks her name was selling a watch. The watch was the Rolex Oyster, and in 2026 it is a hundred years old. Rolex marked the date at Watches and Wonders Geneva this year with a centenary Oyster Perpetual that swaps two words on the dial for two others. To see why a case design deserves a birthday, it helps to go back to the problem it solved. ## A watch that let the weather in Rolex began in London. Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis founded Wilsdorf and Davis there in 1905, and Wilsdorf registered the name Rolex in 1908. In 1919 he moved the business to Geneva, where it became Montres Rolex SA. Wristwatches were still a young idea, and they had an obvious weakness. A pocket watch lived inside a waistcoat. A wristwatch lived on the outside of a man, in rain, dust, sweat and washing water, and its case had gaps at the crystal, the back and above all the winding crown, which had to come out and go back in every day. The fix did not start at Rolex. According to the Wikipedia history of the [Rolex Oyster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolex_Oyster), the original patent belonged to Paul Perregaux and Georges Peret, and a third party casemaker produced a waterproof and dustproof wristwatch for Rolex in 1926. Rolex bought the patent, added a clutch, and combined a crown that screwed down against the case with a threaded caseback and bezel. Everything that could open was screwed shut, and the watch was named the Oyster. Rolex claims it as the first reliable waterproof wristwatch case. The claim is not unchallenged. The same Wikipedia entry notes that a case by Depollier, built for waterproof trench watches, was patented eight years earlier. What Rolex did that nobody else did was market the idea relentlessly. ## The swim that sold it Gleitze was the marketing. After her October crossing, doubts were raised about whether she had really made it, and she agreed to swim again to prove it. The Rolex Oyster entry dates this vindication swim to October 21, 1927. The water was colder, and after more than ten hours she was pulled out semiconscious, seven miles short of France. She had an Oyster with her. Accounts differ on the details. The Wikipedia biography of [Mercedes Gleitze](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes_Gleitze) says the watch was tied around her neck and ties it to the second swim, while the Rolex Oyster entry puts an Oyster on her necklace for the first crossing. Both agree on what happened next. The watch came out dry inside and keeping good time, and Rolex had its proof. On November 24, 1927, Wilsdorf launched the Oyster in Britain with a full front page Rolex advertisement in the Daily Mail. Rolex still uses Gleitze's name today, nearly a century after she wore the watch on a cord rather than a wrist. ![The White Cliffs of Dover seen from the air, with the English Channel below](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1677773408105-403de5beddaa?w=1600&h=1067&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop) *The White Cliffs of Dover above the Channel that Mercedes Gleitze swam in 1927. Photo by Eamonn Wang on Unsplash* ## From a sealed case to a family The Oyster was a case, not a single model, and that is why it lasted. Everything Rolex built afterwards was poured into it. In 1931 Rolex patented a self winding mechanism it called the Perpetual rotor, a half moon of metal that swings freely with the movement of the wrist and winds the mainspring as it goes. A watch that winds itself has less reason to have its crown unscrewed, which suited a waterproof case perfectly. From then on the watch was the Oyster Perpetual, a name Rolex still uses. In 1945 came the Datejust, reference 4467, which Wikipedia describes as the first chronometer wristwatch with a date that changed by itself. In 1953 the Explorer arrived to celebrate that year's ascent of Everest, and the same year the [Rolex Submariner](https://quietmenace.com/watches/rolex-submariner-history/), reference 6204, took the Oyster case down to 100 meters. Two years later Pan Am's pilots got the [GMT-Master](https://quietmenace.com/watches/rolex-gmt-master-history/), another Oyster with a fourth hand. Even Wilsdorf's more affordable second brand, the subject of our [Tudor Black Bay history](https://quietmenace.com/watches/tudor-black-bay-history/), sold its early automatic watches as the Oyster Prince. ## What the centenary watch changes The 2026 anniversary model is an Oyster Perpetual 41, reference 134303, according to Esquire Singapore and the watch strap maker Everest. It comes in yellow Rolesor, the Rolex name for Oystersteel paired with 18 carat yellow gold, here used for the bezel and crown. Everest describes a slate grey sunray dial. Two details carry the anniversary. At six o'clock, where the dial would normally say Swiss Made, it says 100 years instead. On the crown, the part that made the Oyster possible in the first place, Rolex has added the number 100 in relief. Inside is the calibre 3230 with a 70 hour power reserve, and the case is rated to 100 meters. Everest lists the same treatment at 36mm and 31mm, the smaller one with the calibre 2232, and gives US prices of $9,650 for the 41mm, $8,450 for the 36mm and $7,700 for the 31mm. Everest also counts 22 new configurations across this year's Rolex line. Luxe Digital reports that Rolex has widened its Superlative Chronometer testing from four criteria to seven for 2026, adding magnetism resistance, reliability and sustainability. ## The Oyster's century, by our count We lined up the dates from the Rolex and Rolex Oyster entries on Wikipedia, the Gleitze biography and this year's release coverage. The last column is our own arithmetic. | Year | Moment | Years after the Oyster | |---|---|---| | 1926 | Waterproof Oyster case made for Rolex | 0 | | 1927 | Gleitze's Channel swims, Daily Mail launch | 1 | | 1931 | Perpetual rotor patented | 5 | | 1945 | Datejust, reference 4467 | 19 | | 1953 | Submariner, reference 6204, rated to 100 meters | 27 | | 2026 | Oyster Perpetual 41 with 100 years on the dial | 100 | One line in that table is worth a second look. The centenary Oyster Perpetual is rated to 100 meters, the same depth the first Submariner was built for in 1953. A watch that Rolex sells today as its everyday model is as waterproof as its specialist dive watch was 73 years ago. ## Why the case still matters Most of what people love about a Rolex, the dials, the bracelets, the reference numbers collectors trade like baseball cards, sits on top of a piece of engineering nobody sees. Screw the crown down, and the case is sealed. That is the whole trick, and it is a century old. If you own any Oyster, the habit that keeps it working is the oldest one in the manual. Screw the crown fully home after setting the time, and have the seals checked when the watch is serviced. Gleitze's watch survived ten hours in the Channel because nothing on it was left open. For more of the story, see our guide to [buying your first mechanical watch](https://quietmenace.com/watches/how-to-buy-your-first-mechanical-watch/) and the whole [Watches section](https://quietmenace.com/watches/). --- Filed under: [Watch History](https://quietmenace.com/topics/watch-history/), [Heritage Brands](https://quietmenace.com/topics/heritage-brands/), [Industrial Design](https://quietmenace.com/topics/industrial-design/) Hero image: Photo by Ryan Waring on Unsplash (Unsplash License)