Rolex Oyster Perpetual 41 '100 Years' Review: A Little Gold For The Oyster

Rolex marked the 100th anniversary of the Oyster case this past April with the launch of a two-tone version of its simplest watch. The Oyster Perpetual 41, Reference 134303, puts a yellow-gold bezel and crown on a steel case and keeps the entire Oyster bracelet in steel. There’s a slate dial with green printing, a small “100 years” inscription at 6 o’clock, and the same automatic Caliber 3230 as the standard Oyster Perpetual 41. It costs $9,650. 

The Oyster Perpetual, aka the OP, is where a lot of people start with Rolex, and for good reason. It has the logo, case, bracelet, and automatic movement that make up much of what many people want from the brand in the first place, and in steel it’s priced right at the ground floor of the Rolex lineup. This one’s a little dressier, in a way that reminds me of the slate-dialed “Wimbledon” Datejust, but with plenty of classic OP charm and a couple of good nods to the history of the line.

Rolex introduced the Oyster case in 1926. The bezel, caseback, and winding crown screwed down against the middle case to keep water and dust out, sealing the watch up like its namesake. At a time when the wristwatch was still finding its place, that was as good a reason as any to wear an Oyster watch every day. In an era of generally fragile watches, you could keep this one on in the rain or around water without thinking much about it.

Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf knew a swim would do more to sell the Oyster than a description of its case. In 1927, Rolex gave the English swimmer Mercedes Gleitze an Oyster watch to wear during an attempt to swim the English Channel, then took out a front-page ad in the Daily Mail to publicize it. A century later, putting a watch on an athlete and giving people a reason to pay attention is still very much part of Rolex's strategy. The Gleitze campaign helped set the pattern for the kinds of sports partnerships we see in the watch business today.

The “Perpetual” part came in 1931, when Rolex filed patents for its automatic winding system. A few years earlier, a watchmaker called Fortis had started making a self-winding watch designed by John Harwood, a British watchmaker working on the Isle of Man. Harwood’s watch had no crown at all, and you set the time by turning the bezel. Rolex kept the Oyster’s screw-down crown and added a rotor that could spin all the way around. The watch wound itself as you wore it, so most days you could leave the crown alone.

Photo: Antiquorum

Rolex has done plenty of two-tone OPs before. In the 1940s, the “Bubbleback” came in steel and pink gold on references like the 3372, and in steel and yellow gold on the 6050. By the 1960s, the 34mm OP was starting to look more like the watch we know today, and references like the 1002 and 1008 “Zephyr” (above) were both available in steel and yellow gold. That combination carried into the 1990s on models like the smooth-bezel 14203. Steel is still the OP most people know, though Rolex has made solid-gold versions over the years and still does today.

The 41mm size came along in 2020. Rolex revised the case and slimmed down the clasp in 2025, and both carry over to the anniversary model.

On a typical Rolex in yellow Rolesor — the watchmaker’s term for a two-tone combo of yellow gold and steel — the gold runs down the center links of the bracelet. Here, Rolex stopped at the bezel and crown, leaving the Oyster bracelet in its usual all-steel form. The smooth, domed bezel does most of the work, with a raised “100” on the end of the screw-down Twinlock crown as the case’s one explicit nod to the centenary.

As on the standard OP, the case has a sapphire crystal and a solid, screw-down back, with water resistance rated to 100 meters. The triple-link bracelet closes with a folding Oysterclasp and has the usual Easylink extension. It gives you an extra 5mm without tools, which is handy when a bracelet that fit in the morning starts to feel a bit tight in the afternoon.

For regular wear, I prefer the OP at 36mm or even 34mm. If you like a larger watch, though, the 41mm is a classic, arguably more legible choice. Rolex also makes the centenary model in 36mm as Reference 126003 (above, right) and in 31mm as Reference 277203.

Rolex calls this dial "slate," but gray has been part of the OP palette for years. The 39mm Reference 114300 had a dark rhodium sunray dial with little blue accents back in 2015. This one has a glossy sunray finish, with applied baton markers, doubled at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock. Rolex prints its name in green below the gold coronet and puts a little square in the same color at every five-minute mark. The hands and batons glow blue with Rolex’s Chromalight. At the 6 o’clock position, “100 years” takes the place of “Swiss Made,” marking the second direct centenary nod for the watch. 

The slate and green immediately make me think of the “Wimbledon” dial, which Rolex introduced on the two-tone Datejust II in 2009. The yellow-gold bezel makes the resemblance even stronger. This one has some of the same dressier feel, but it looks a little cleaner with batons in place of those big Roman numerals and no date window. The smooth bezel helps, too, though Rolex did offer an all-steel "Wimbledon" with one on the Datejust 41 Reference 126300.

I like that Rolex got a little cheeky on the dial with the green here, though I’m less sold on the lettering. It’s very "modern Air-King," which feels fitting given how close the old Air-Kings were to the OP, but the little green squares on the minute ring are right up my alley. They remind me of the contrasting accents on the olive-green and Red Grape versions of the 34mm reference 114200. I’ve always liked those dials and wouldn’t be surprised if more people came around to them in a few years.

The Rolex Caliber 3230 has been in the Oyster Perpetual 41 since it debuted in 2020 and powers the entire current 36mm and 41mm OP lineup. It’s an automatic three-hander with stop-seconds, Rolex’s Chronergy escapement, and an antimagnetic blue Parachrom hairspring. With about 70 hours of power reserve, the watch should still be running Monday morning if you take it off on Friday evening.

Rolex rates the watch at −2/+2 seconds per day after casing. It carries the brand’s Superlative Chronometer certification, which Rolex expanded in 2026 to cover resistance to magnetism, reliability, and durability. Put simply, the 3230 is a dependable everyday movement, and when it does need a service, there’s a worldwide Rolex network to turn to.

The centenary OP 41 costs $9,650, or $2,600 more than the steel 41. The standard model does much the same job day to day, but I can see getting hung up on this particular one. The gold bezel dresses it up just enough, and the slate dial looks right with the steel bracelet. It’s an unusual piece of Rolex history, though I’d find it just as interesting without the anniversary markings. 

The 36mm costs $8,450, and the 31mm is $7,700. Whichever size you like, if this one calls to you, it’s about as good as an OP gets. More info on rolex.com.