Is Two-Tone Rolex Back in 2025?

Rolex patented the term Rolesor in 1933, pairing stainless steel with gold in a single watch. The first executions were modest: steel Oyster cases capped with gold bezels and crowns. It wasn’t until the launch of the Datejust in 1945—complete with the Jubilee bracelet—that the two-tone look we know today took shape. Steel outer links with gold down the center quickly became a signature Rolex combination, marketed as both practical and luxurious.

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For decades, this balance made sense. All-gold watches carry a level of opulence that isn’t for everyone, while stainless steel can feel plain for someone spending a significant amount of money on a watch. Rolesor gave customers a middle path. In the 1950s and 1960s, two-tone was aspirational without being showy—a way to wear a little gold on the wrist without the price or flash of solid yellow metal.

The Age of Flash (1980s–1990s)

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By the 1980s, two-tone had moved far beyond the Datejust. The Submariner ref. 16803 arrived in 1984 as the first official two-tone Sub. A two-tone Daytona followed in 1988. Soon, nearly every Rolex line offered a Rolesor option.

This was the era when luxury itself changed. Dana Thomas, in Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster (2007), points to the 1980s as the start of globalization and mass marketing in fashion. Luxury goods shifted from discreet symbols of wealth to visible markers of success. Two-tone watches fit perfectly into that cultural moment.

Outside Rolex, brands like Tag Heuer and Omega produced their own steel-and-gold offerings. The aesthetic became synonymous with suburban prosperity, Wall Street bravado, and 90s dad watches. If you picture a yellow gold and steel Datejust on Jubilee next to a champagne glass in Miami, you’re not far off. Two-tone was everywhere.

Falling Out of Favor (2000s–2010s)

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The turn of the millennium brought a backlash. As luxury became more accessible, the true elites turned to understatement: all-steel sports models, minimalist dress watches, even platinum pieces with subtle external cues. Collectors increasingly dismissed two-tone as dated.

In Rolex’s own catalog, stainless steel models became the hardest to get, while two-tone languished in cases—or more accurately, in styrofoam “skeleton” boxes tucked away in drawers. Collectors gravitated toward no-date Subs, black-dial Daytonas, and, once released with a ceramic bezel, the “Pepsi” GMT-Master II. Rolesor was relegated to a “halfway” option: neither as pure as steel nor as bold as full gold.

A New Era of Rolesor

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The past two decades changed how Rolex built its watches, and those changes altered two-tone’s appeal. Hollow and gold-capped center links gave way to solid gold. Ceramic bezel inserts replaced aluminum. Polished case flanks and broader bracelets added weight and flash.

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Modern Rolesor is not the compromise it once was. On the wrist, a current two-tone Submariner or GMT feels every bit as substantial as its full-gold counterpart—just less overwhelming in price. The same people who dismissed two-tone watches in decades past walk into a Rolex boutique, see and feel these changes in quality and design, and the pendulum swings back.

That said, there are plenty of bad two-tone watches out there. But Rolex executes Rolesor with a level of refinement that feels like a choice rather than a compromise.

Attainability and Appeal in 2025

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There’s another side to two-tone: availability. At authorized dealers, two-tone models are often easier to buy than their steel equivalents, and far less expensive than all-gold. That middle positioning has always been part of Rolesor’s identity, but today—when many Rolex watches are difficult to attain at retail—it makes them particularly interesting.

Take the two-tone Explorer, released in 2021 (ref. 124273). Historically, the Explorer only came in steel, sticking to its mid-century roots as a practical watch. Returning it to its classic 36mm case and offering it in Rolesor was unexpected, but for me, it works. The watch feels a bit elevated without disrupting the Explorer’s simplicity.

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A personal favorite is the GMT-Master II 126713GRNR. Stainless steel and yellow gold, paired with a black and grey ceramic bezel and a Jubilee bracelet. It looks and feels similar to the now-discontinued GMT-Master II 116713LN, with its all-black bezel and two-tone construction, but the Jubilee bracelet harkens back to those mid-century Datejusts that made two-tone cool in the first place. The Jubilee also changes how the watch sits on the wrist—on mine, it’s more comfortable.

Is Two-Tone Back?

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Two-tone Rolex never disappeared, but its reputation has swung with culture. In the mid-20th century, it was aspirational. In the 80s and 90s, it was flashy. In the 2000s, it was passé. Today, in 2025, Rolesor can have a moment.

Part of that is Rolex’s own evolution. Solid links, ceramic bezels, and refined finishing have made modern two-tone watches feel substantial and luxurious. And part of it is pragmatic: two-tone is often the most attainable path into a Rolex sports watch.

The result is that two-tone Rolex isn’t a halfway choice anymore. It’s a category worth considering on its own terms—and in the current catalog, there are some genuinely compelling options.