There is nothing the Swiss watchmaking industry likes more than reissuing watches from its archives to mark anniversaries or simply remind customers of their historic back catalogues.
Rolex is the master of this continuity, with re-treads of Submariners, Daytonas and DateJusts barely deviating from design signatures laid-down in the middle of the 20th century.
However, when it comes to promotions and marketing, the world always wants something new and shiny to get excited about.
Which makes Rolex’s unimaginative approach to the backstage Green Room at this weekend’s Oscars ceremony something of a disappointment.
Its association with the creative industries, particularly the movies, stretches back decades, and has become even more important moving forward since the jewel in the crown of the watchmaker’s marketing was its global partnership with Formula 1, which has now been snatched away by LVMH and its raciest brand, TAG Heuer.
Rolex even rammed home its alignment with Tinseltown this week by revealing its latest ambassador Leonardo Di Caprio as a brand ambassador and frontman for its Reach for the Crown promotion.
Rolex describes the inspiration behind its 2025 Oscars Green Room as the restoration of the natural world, taking its inspiration from Rewilding Chile and Rewilding Argentina and supported by Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative.
“The room depicts landscapes devoid of fences where native species are returning to the wilderness, and nature is restoring their habitat. With an eye on sustainability, Rolex has employed textiles and light materials in its design. Layers of airy tulle have been imprinted to reveal the fluid contours and soft palette of a mountain landscape set off by lighting diffused through sheer curtains,” the firm describes.
Adding: “A grid of fine wood frames tulle that has been stretched across walls of the Green Room, including the ceiling, in an elegant pattern. Across one side of the room, there is a sequence of cut-outs representing native species, while the earthy colours and textures of the sofas, chairs and tables complete the canvas.”
Spot the difference
Of course, backstage at the Oscars is hardly a place where the great and good of Hollywood will be spending much time contemplating a change from a green to a red curtain or Rolex’s switch in theme from a “spotlight on the vegetal world” in 2024 to 2025’s “restoration of the natural world”.
With an opportunity to impress some of the most influential tastemakers on the planet, I would have thought it important for Rolex’s ideas and creativity to at least get an airing at the Oscars.