Everything you want to know of the Rolex watch box
The evolution of Rolex watch boxes from 1940 to 2025 showcases a fascinating journey in design, materials, and branding strategy. Here's a look at the key periods:
1940-1950: The era of irregular boxes
The design of the watch boxes during this period is very unique, mainly made of wood, artificial leather, gilded embossing, brass hinges, removable inserts, and cardboard. The interior is made of wood and the outside is covered with gilded embossed cloth. Although it looks a bit retro, this design was very popular at the time.
1950-1960
Early 1950s
Made of wood, gilded with embossing, spring hinges, the lower half of the lining is a cardboard insert with a fixed watch mouth, and the upper half is gilded artificial velvet.
Asymmetrical watchbox from the early 1950s
The first tower box: wood, gilded and embossed, spring hinged, with a cardboard insert with a fixed watch mouth in the lower half and gilded artificial velvet in the upper half. The top of the watch box is a five-sided raised platform top cover. The box is decorated with gold thread all around.
The second tower-shaped box
Made of wood, gold-plated embossed cloth, and spring hinges, the lower half of the lining is a cardboard insert with a fixed watch mouth, and the upper half is gold-stamped artificial velvet. The upper part of the watch box is also a five-sided raised platform-shaped upper box cover, but the convexity is lower, the top surface area is larger, and the side area is smaller. There is a gold-stamped Rolex logo on the side of the box. The side of the box is supplemented with gold-stamped lace decoration.
The third tower box
Made of wood, gold-plated embossed cloth, spring hinges, the lower half of the lining is a cardboard insert with a fixed watch mouth, and the upper half is gold-stamped artificial velvet. It has a lower convexity than the second type, and the top cover is smoother. The side of the watch box is the Rolex Logo lace gold-stamped pattern.
The first type of coffin box
The outer layer is covered with artificial marble texture leather, the lower part of the lining is a cardboard insert with a fixed cover, and the upper part is gold-stamped artificial velvet.
The second type of coffin box
The difference from the first type is that it is covered with artificial lizard skin.
The third type of coffin box
The outer cover is canvas
Late 1950s to early 1960s
The first Tiffany color box
This box is very beautiful, inspired by the popular ladies' makeup box at the time, with a hard shell Tiffany blue-green artificial ostrich on the outside and soft cotton cloth on the inside.
The second green leather box
The biggest difference is that it is covered with traditional Rolex artificial green leather.
The first special-shaped watch box
Nicknamed the pyramid, with wooden interior, artificial leather exterior, removable inserts, paper upper liner, felt lower cotton liner, raised pyramid front, and gold-painted edges.
The second type of special-shaped watch box
Nicknamed the gem box, the opening is designed to be an oblique angle, with a raised polygon, and is called a gem box by some watch friends. It feels like the cut edge of a jewel.
The third type of special-shaped watch box
Nicknamed the color matching box, the biggest difference is the combination of the glossy black surface and the leather green surface.
The fourth type of special-shaped watch box
The main feature is the symmetrical trapezoidal tower-shaped hard top.
Soft top watch box
The most distinctive feature is the external concentric rectangular soft top, which is divided into two circles, inner and outer.
Late 1960s to early 1970s
Soft-top watch box
The biggest feature is the artificial green leather covering the soft top, and the brass nameplate base inside is also very distinctive.
Hardtop watch box
This is the square hardtop box that we often see now.
Tower-shaped watch box
Covered with the then popular bubble dot style artificial green leather, some people also called it the moon crater.
Hardtop box from the early 1970s
Internal color matching design Wood grain and Rolex green color matching
Hardtop case from the late 1970s
Gray velvet and Rolex green colorblocking
Mid-1970s
Bukfor soft-top box, the most distinctive feature is the double liner design
Late 1970s to early 1980s
Soft-top watch box
Double-layer soft-top design, not as thick as the old concentric soft-top
1980s
Hardtop watch box
Covered with green leather in the bubble dot style that was very popular at the time, also known as the lunar crater.
1990s to 2005
There is a flannel pillow inside. This should be very familiar to everyone. It was used until 2005.
2005
In 2005, the familiar water wave watch box appeared.
2025
Rolex may need to replace the watch box with a new one. Recently, it has been reported that Rolex is preparing to ship new packaging boxes to its authorized dealers and has submitted the design of the new packaging boxes to the Swiss Federal Intellectual Property Office.
According to the information and pictures released by the Swiss Federal Institute for Intellectual Property, it can be seen that there are some slight changes in the appearance and interior of Rolex's new packaging box.
Firstly, the wavy grooves on the top of the new box have become horizontal instead of irregularly rising from left to right. The new design is described as bolder and more modern. The Rolex name and crown logo are more prominent on the exterior, rendered in gold against the green background. The previous design had a more subtle gold outline of the crown on the white exterior.
Secondly, the beige lining inside the new box is no longer inclined towards the headrests on all sides, but rather towards one side from top to bottom. The half moon gap that helped pull down the small partition at 12 o'clock has also disappeared from the new watch box, but judging from the picture, it is estimated that this is still where the instruction manual and warranty card are stored.
The new boxes are reportedly made from sustainable plywood and recycled cardboard, covered with recycled leather. This reflects a growing emphasis on environmental responsibility.
Finally, the outer box cover of the new Rolex also changed from cream color to paint green. The new 2025 Rolex watch box features a significant shift to an all-green, more modern, and sustainable design, while still maintaining the quality and attention to detail expected from the brand's packaging.
It is currently uncertain when Rolex will launch the new watch box, but based on the publicly available Rolex design by the Swiss Federal Office for Intellectual Property Research, it should be confirmed.
Through the evolution of these years, we can see that Rolex watch boxes are not only a tool for storing watches, but also a favorite of collectors and watch lovers. Each watch box has its own unique historical and cultural background, which is worth our careful appreciation.
