Though we’re used to Rolex’s chief Testimonee rocking the brand’s newest, shiniest wares, occasionally even Roger Federer will opt for something with some more mileage on it. To wit: Here is the GOAT looking dapper at the Dior show during Paris Fashion Week, a gold Rollie clearly visible on his wrist. But this is no modern Rolex—this, dear friends, is the ref. 5100 “Texano,” the Crown’s first quartz watch, first watch with an integrated bracelet, and the precursor to the still-fresh Land-Dweller from Watches and Wonders 2025.
Key to the Texano’s design was the looming Quartz Crisis of the 1970s: In response to the Japanese development of the quartz movement, the Swiss banded together to try to develop their own version via a consortium dubbed Centre Electronique Horloger. The resulting movement, dubbed Beta-21, was stuffed into all manner of early quartz watches, including the Crown’s own ref. 5100, which debuted in 1970. Made in just 1,000 examples—supposedly 900 were in yellow gold (some with diamonds indices), 100 in white gold—the Texano was also the first Rolex watch to boast a quickset date and a sapphire crystal.
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All in all, this was one sophisticated timepiece, and it featured complex case architecture to match—plus a lot of gold. Each piece was individually numbered in series on the caseback of its 39mm housing, while the business end’s aesthetics called to mind classic models such as the Datejust and Day-Date: There’s the fluted precious metal bezel, and the dial has a large outer minute track, applied indices, the Rolex coronet at 12 o’clock, a magnified date window at 3 o’clock, and the word “QUARTZ” conspicuously (and proudly) displayed above 6 o’clock. The origins of the “Texano” name are tough to pin down, but the wealth required to purchase one—it was then the most expensive watch in Rolex’s catalog—jives well with the characterization of the Day-Date as the “Texas Timex.”
The integrated bracelet, meanwhile, looks like a cross between an old Omega Speedmaster flat-link bracelet and, well, something else. But we all know where the ref. 5100 would eventually lead: First, it birthed the Oysterquartz in 1977, which saw Rolex ditch the Beta 21 in favor of its own quartz movement. Like the ref. 5100, this model also featured an integrated bracelet in either an Oyster or Jubilee style. After discontinuing this model around 2001, the Crown’s catalog was devoid of an integrated bracelet sports watch…until 2025, that is. The new Land-Dweller continues the lineage of the Oysterquartz—and before it, the ref. 5100 “Texano.”
So while Federer may have his pick of the litter when it comes to new models, he clearly has an appreciation for horological history. Quirky as it is—and battery-powered, to boot—the “Texano” is a genuinely important piece of Rolex company history.
Russell Crowe’s Rolex Cosmograph Daytona
Karwai Tang
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Russell Crowe was spotted at Wimbledon this week in a turquoise-dial Rolex Cosmograph Daytona on an Oysterflex rubber strap. Unveiled earlier this year at Watches and Wonders, it features a 40mm yellow gold case with a black Cerachrom bezel, screw-down pushers, and a bright blue dial with black chrono totalizers, 18K gold applied indices, and plenty of Chromalight lume. Powered by the brand’s in-house, automatic cal. 4131 movement, it’s a summery take on a classic tool watch that’s increasingly seen in more fun-loving colorways. (Turquoise still ranks somewhere below Rainbow and Leopard in the “fun-loving” department, however.) Crowe is definitely a Rolex guy, though he does collect other brands: He auctioned off a solid-gold Daytona ref. 16528 a few years ago.
Dwayne Johnson’s Rolex Cosmograph Daytona
Chris Unger
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It’s a Daytona kind of week, it would seem. On Dwayne Johnson’s wrist as he presented at the UFC Hall of Fame Class of 2025 ceremony was a reference 126595TBR in Everose gold with a special “Sundust” dial and factory-set diamonds throughout the indices, bezel, and lugs.