Rolex

Consistency. It's something I have always admired.

Perhaps it is because I am not particularly good at it myself.

I am patient with both myself and the swirling causes and effects around me, but consistency? That's something else.

Perhaps I amuse myself with inconsistency as a counterbalance to patience. Who knows?

As branding experts, we honour consistency. We endlessly search for and fervently develop the things that are capable of being unmistakably owned. Unique product features, colours, fonts, shapes, jingles, flashing images—almost anything that can live within a ringfence. As long as it is sensible and repeated consistently, it fills the magical chalice of brand equity to the brim.

I have a modest watch collection. Although time is everywhere in my life—from my wrist to my phone, laptop, fridge, oven, washing machine, scooter and car—a good watch accompanies my mood for the day and the style I have in mind. Having a few options, I do admit, is a luxury I have always enjoyed.

My grandfather was a watchmaker. Seeing him tinkering at his secretary desk with his loupe and sleeve garters, patiently working with tiny cogs, wheels and springs, left me with a lasting and somewhat nostalgic impression of mechanical watches.

However, all of that, no matter how personal, fades into insignificance when I think about the impression Rolex has had on me. I only have one in my collection, and I bought it sometime in my early thirties. I recall all too well that it marked a very particular occasion.

Business was going well, and I felt that I had achieved something. Somehow, I had won; I knew it,  and it was time to get a trophy.

In fact, a crown.

Something I could wear regularly, when the mood took me, that would confidently telegraph success.

Needless to say, for nearly two decades—primarily throughout the 2000s, 2010s and into the early 2020s—Rolex consistently reinforced this feeling with one of its most memorable taglines: A Crown for Every Achievement. It was used to position a Rolex not simply as a watch, but as the ultimate symbol of personal success and milestone recognition.

Like the steady tick-tock of its watches, Rolex placed this exceptionally powerful tagline alongside images of Roger Federer lifting the Wimbledon trophy whilst wearing his Rolex. And it wasn’t only with Roger and Wimbledon. Rolex purposely partnered with major tennis, golf, sailing and equestrian events, keeping the brand firmly associated with an exclusive world of elite winners.

Not only did this "crowning achievement" platform captivate me—and countless others who wanted a little of that golden light—but we were then, and we still are now, living with a branding masterclass from Rolex. 

The brilliance goes even further. The crown is the name of the watch component used to wind the movement or adjust the hands. On a Rolex, it is beautifully finished with an embossed Rolex logo that is, of course, a crown itself.

The Rolex product range looks remarkably similar to the Rolex range it has always been. The flagship model families are astonishingly old, with most collections spanning between 60 and 80 years of continuous production. Rather than chasing novelty through new product lines, innovations and marketing fashions, Rolex has built its strategy around consistency and taking ownership of a powerful human emotion.

Truth be told, I rarely wear my Rolex. It is probably twenty-five years old now, still looks remarkably new, and, take note, it is a model that is still in production with very few modernisations.

On the right day, I now prefer a vintage 1960s Omega De Ville Seamaster Ref. 166.020—better known as the "Don Draper" from Mad Men—or a classic Heuer Carrera (yes, pre-TAG Heuer), or even my rather bizarre Cartier Drive with its moon phase complication.

I can only conclude that "achievement"—the emotion Rolex has so masterfully ringfenced—belonged to a particular chapter of my life. It wasn’t that the watch was better built than another brand or kept better time, which, for the record, they do, and they are superbly built. It was the emotional proposition that firmly got me to hand over my hard-earned money without any question or regret. 

Today, when I see Jannick Sinner lifting that same Wimbledon trophy, wearing his Rolex Daytona and beneath his image the brand's new, from 2025, tagline, Reach for the Crown, I know for certain that there will be an endless stream of ambitious 30-year-olds packing into Rolex boutiques across the world, all seeking a bit of

golden light and a chance to wear that crown.