Rolex?s long-held adherence to discretion and conservatism seemingly came to a sudden end this year with the release of the Day-Date 36 ?jigsaw puzzle? dial and Oyster Perpetual ?Celebration? collections (which I have affectionately begun referring to as the ?Puzzles & Bubbles? watches). Taking a watch so associated with buttoned-up elegance and prestige that it earned the moniker of the ?Rolex President? and repurposing it as the ?Emoji Rolex? sends a loud and clear message from the brand: don?t take them so seriously and don?t try to box in their creative vision. 

We all know watches are as much about expressing our tastes and personalities as they are about function or practicality but there was a certain acceptance that a brand like Rolex exists on a plane incapable of acknowledging this, let alone embracing it. Throw that preconceived notion out the window because, like any of us, Rolex contains multitudes. Like the puzzle on the dial, an abstraction of colors and styles can co-exist in harmony. The same brand can release a titanium Yacht-Master alongside the ?Puzzles and Bubbles? watches without being any less of a Rolex. There are three iterations of the Rolex Day-Date 36 ?jigsaw puzzle? dial: Everose gold with orange dial (ref. 128235), yellow gold with turquoise blue dial (ref. 128238), and the one I got to see hands-on which is white gold with turquoise blue dial (ref. 128239). They are all classic Day-Dates with the President bracelet and the Superlative C...