Page 36 - Esquire - USA (Winter 2020)

the Code: Complications

FREQUENT FLIER

The ROLEX SKY-DWELLER is the travelin’ man’s dream watch—but

one you may have overlooked in the past
If, in the general
stampede for
Sea-Dwellers and Subs,
you’ve found yourself
skipping over the Rolex
Sky-Dweller, that needs
to change. The watch is
an underappreciated
gem, and the newest edi-
tion comes in steel (with
a white-gold bezel),
making it less than half
the price of its precious-
metal predecessors.
Much of the Sky-
Dweller’s charm lies in
the deceptively simple
readout for its nifty com-
plications. It’s both a
GMT and an annual cal-
endar. But while many
watches with such fea-
tures load up on visual
bells and whistles, the
Sky-Dweller hides the
complexity tastefully
under the hood.
The GMT function
displays a second time
zone on an asymmetri-
cally placed 24-hour
wheel, read off against a
fixed marker on the dial.
The calendar will auto-
matically tell you the
date and month without
fail—until February
comes along to mess
things up. But the most
conversation-worthy
thing here is the patented
bezel system, which al-
lows you to adjust sev-
eral functions in seconds
with the single crown.
For a watch with many
complications, it’s
refreshingly uncompli-
cated. —N. S.

Oyster Perpetual Sky-Dweller
watch ($14,400) by Rolex;
jacket ($3,925) and trousers
($700) by Hermès; shirt
($495) by Brunello Cucinelli.

32 Winter 2020_Esquire photograph: Jeffrey Westbrook