# What is the best Rolex model?

> Steel tool watches built for divers and pilots sit next to solid-gold status pieces and a few retired oddities collectors still chase. Pick the one you'd actually strap on.

*By YPB Team · Published November 8, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-rolex-model*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Datejust** — score 1000/1000
   Introduced in 1945 as the first self-winding chronometer wristwatch with a date that changed automatically in a dial window.
2. **Submariner** — score 974/1000
   Rolex's dive watch, introduced in 1953 with the reference 6204, which was water-resistant to 100 metres.
3. **Sea-Dweller** — score 625/1000
   A saturation-diving watch introduced in 1967 and fitted with a helium escape valve that releases gas built up during decompression.
4. **Land-Dweller** — score 566/1000
   Introduced in 2025 with an integrated bracelet and the calibre 7135, whose Dynapulse escapement beats at 5 Hz.
5. **Explorer** — score 500/1000
   A three-hand sports watch introduced in 1953, the year of the first ascent of Mount Everest, which Rolex ties to the model.
6. **Deepsea** — score 500/1000
   Introduced in 2008 with a 3,900-metre depth rating; the 2022 Deepsea Challenge version is rated to 11,000 metres.
7. **Day-Date** — score 500/1000
   Launched in 1956 as the first wristwatch to show both the date and the day of the week spelled out in full, and made only in precious metals.
8. **Sky-Dweller** — score 423/1000
   Introduced in 2012, it combines a second time zone with an annual calendar that needs adjusting only once a year, set through a rotatable Ring Command bezel.
9. **Oyster Perpetual** — score 423/1000
   Rolex's time-only entry model, named after the waterproof Oyster case of 1926 and the Perpetual self-winding rotor patented in 1931.
10. **Milgauss** — score 423/1000
   An anti-magnetic watch introduced in 1956 for scientists, built to withstand fields of 1,000 gauss, and discontinued in 2023.
11. **Air-King** — score 423/1000
   An aviation-themed watch whose current dial pairs large 3, 6 and 9 numerals with a prominent five-minute scale for reading flight times.
12. **Cosmograph Daytona** — score 227/1000
   Rolex's chronograph line launched in 1963; a reference 6239 once owned by Paul Newman sold at Phillips in 2017 for $17.75 million.
13. **GMT-Master II** — score 227/1000
   A dual time-zone watch with a 24-hour bezel, descended from the 1955 GMT-Master made for Pan Am crews and launched as the GMT-Master II in 1983.
14. **Yacht-Master** — score 227/1000
   A sailing-themed sports watch introduced in 1992 with a bidirectional rotatable bezel, offered in steel, precious metals and titanium.
15. **Oysterquartz** — score 227/1000
   Rolex's in-house quartz line, launched in 1977 with an angular integrated-bracelet case and produced until the early 2000s.
16. **Explorer II** — score 227/1000
   Introduced in 1971 for cave explorers and polar researchers, with a fixed 24-hour bezel and an orange 24-hour hand to tell day from night.
17. **Perpetual 1908** — score 227/1000
   Rolex's dress-watch line launched in 2023, named after the year Hans Wilsdorf registered the Rolex brand, with a display caseback.

Tags: brands, luxury, watches, switzerland, rolex