It's easy to call Rolex a traditional Swiss watch, as they invented (and borrowed) many of the features and styles that 100s of watch companies have used in the past century. Sometimes, this tradition causes them to lag behind in quality. Rolex sells every watch they make. They do not have any public shareholders to answer to. They can do what they want. Rolex only recently beefed up their end links. In the past, they have been a stamped piece of metal that often seemed a little flimsy. Their new solid end links first appeared on the new Yachtmaster models in the mid 1990s...They didn't start putting the solid end links on their Sport models until about 2000... We recently sold a 2004 Datejust with the old style end pieces. ... The sapphire crystal was also phased in slowly... The Oysterquartz, President, and Submariner all sported sapphire in 1977, but some models still had plastic up to the late 1980s.

• 1926 : Oyster Case (Water Resistant)
• 1927 : Serial Numbers Engraved On Oyster Case
• 1931 : Oyster Perpetual (Automatic movement)
• 1938 : Bubble Back
• 1938 : Oyster Bracelet (Steel)
• 1945 : Datejust
• 1945 : Jubilee Bracelet
• 1947 : Oyster Bracelet
• 1950 : Mercedes Hands
• 1953 : Submariner
• 1953 : Explorer
• 1954 : GMT-Master
• 1954 : Date Cyclops on Crystal
• 1954 : Ladies Oyster Perpetual
• 1956 : Day-Date (President)
• 1956 : President Bracelet
• 1959 : Crown Guards
• 1961 : Oyster Cosmograph
• 1962 : Cosmograph Daytona
• 1970 : Submariner Date
• 1971 : Sea-Dweller
• 1971 : Explorer II
• 1972 : Hacking Movement
• 1977 : Quick-Set Date Feature
• 1977 : Oyster Quartz Day-Date
• 1977 : Oysterquartz
• 1977 : Sapphire Crystal
• 1980 : Sea-Dweller 4000
• 1983 : GMT-Master II
• 1988 : New Daytona (Utilizing Zenith movement)
• 1992 : Yachtmaster
• 1994 : Yachtmaster Ladies & Medium
• 1998 : Solid End Links (SEL)
• 1999 : Luminova (luminescence)
• 2000 : New Daytona (Utilizing Rolex caliber 4130 with 72 hour power reserve)
• 2001 : Laser Etched Hologram in Crystal
• 2003 : "Green" Submariner Date