This year, Revolution turns 20. Two decades of chronicling watches, people and ideas have given us a front-row seat to a remarkable story: how an age-old craft has both preserved its soul and reinvented itself for the 21st century. To celebrate, we’ve chosen over 100 names and milestones that, for us, define the era so far. From leaders to watches, you can see the whole list here.

It would be impossible for Rolex to launch a watch like the groundbreaking and potentially era-defining Land-Dweller without Jean-Frédéric Dufour at the brand’s helm. Think about it from this perspective: Rolex is known for taking small incremental steps, minute yet powerful advances in making the perfect watch that much more perfect. To think so radically out of the box as to create an all-new fully industrialized escapement, something not achieved in Switzerland since 1999, would normally be unheard of at the brand. But that is until you realize that Dufour is not just the current CEO of the brand, but also someone who was, for many years, developing watch movements himself, as he did ably at Chopard L.U.C where I first met him.

Rolex Land Dweller 40 in Oystersteel and White Gold and Platinum (©Revolution)

Understanding this, witnessing his creation of one of the industry’s and Rolex’s most revolutionary timepieces, beating at 5Hz and boasting a hybrid double-wheel escapement with impulse lever all crafted out of silicon, then makes sense. This is incidentally a cap on this first phase of Dufour’s leadership, which has taken Rolex to an all-time high of 10.1 billion Swiss francs in turnover in 2024, with an implied 15.1 billion turnover at retail. What is impressive is that Dufour has achieved this not by radically increasing production, but by increasing the average price of his watches to 12,200 Swiss francs, while also massively increasing their quality.

The Dynapulse escapement

In 2023, most of the brand’s novelties were precious metal and even gem-set versions of existing watches, often with craft-based dials from materials like mother-of-pearl. This was a very clear statement that Rolex has no intention of remaining a steel sports watch brand, but has already come to dominate the gold and platinum sports watch category, across both genders as well. While Rolex strongly believes in partnerships with retailers, in 2023, it acquired one of its largest retail partners, Bucherer, which allows the brand for the first time to control the end-client experience with the same level of excellence that it creates watches and is a sign of greater things to come.

Rolex DayDate with white Mother-of-Pearl dial

That Dufour has done all this while remaining the model of discreet elegance and Genevois humility makes him the perfect leader for Rolex, for now and for the indefinite future.