Could the Rolex Land Dweller change the face of mechanical watches? [Digging into the new watches of 2025]

We take a deep dive into the Oyster Perpetual Land-Dweller, announced by Rolex in 2025. The watch's new escapement, the Dynapulse escapement, is a must-see. What exactly is this escapement, and how has it transformed mechanical watches? Masamasa Hirota, editor-in-chief of Chronos Japan and webChronos, provides a detailed and easy-to-understand explanation.

A Deep Dive into Rolex's 2025 New Oyster Perpetual Land-Dweller

　The 2025 Watches & Wonders Geneva watch fair was held in April. One of the hot topics was undoubtedly the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Land-Dweller. With a bracelet integrated into the case, a first for the company in a long time, a slim case just 9.5mm thick, and a high beat rate of 36,000 vph, it is certainly distinctly different from previous Rolex watches. However, what is even more remarkable is the heart of this watch, which is brimming with potential to change the very definition of mechanical watches.

"It may change the way mechanical watches are made" Cal. 7135

　The Caliber 7135 used in the Land-Dweller is a new generation Rolex movement that achieves a high frequency of 36,000 vph, a long power reserve, and a slim design. The basic structure is the same as the Caliber 7140, which was released in 2024. However, the escapement, the heart of a mechanical watch, is equipped with the completely new Dynapulse escapement. Don't think that it's just the heart that's different. Its design and structure will dramatically boost the standard of mechanical watches to date.

A watchmaker that has explored escapements other than the Swiss lever

　Currently, most mechanical watches use the classic Swiss lever escapement. Although this has a large drive loss, it is highly safe, suitable for mass production, and can be adjusted to achieve high accuracy. In addition, in recent years, attempts have been made to reduce drive loss by using lightweight silicon materials and escapements made by UV-LIGA. Good examples are the silicon escapements from Patek Philippe and Breguet. These have the same basic shape as a Swiss lever escapement, but by using lighter materials, they are able to achieve a long power reserve and high vibration.

　Meanwhile, some watch manufacturers began turning their attention to new escapements other than the Swiss lever. One such escapement is the detent escapement used in old marine chronometers. This escapement is (theoretically) highly efficient, and is known for its ability to maintain the accuracy of a watch (high isochronism) even when the torque of the mainspring decreases and the balance wheel oscillation angle decreases. However, detent escapements have issues such as a low balance wheel oscillation angle and vulnerability to shocks, as well as the difficulty of the watch starting automatically after winding the mainspring. This is why many manufacturers attempted new detent escapements in the 2000s but failed to incorporate them into mass-produced watches. Examples include Audemars Piguet's AP escapement and Jaeger-LeCoultre's Ellipse Isometer escapement. While these escapements were theoretically excellent, they were completely unsuitable for mass-produced mechanical watches.

　There have been three successful new escapements. One is Omega's Co-Axial escapement. This combines the high efficiency and isochronism of a detent escapement with the safety of a Swiss lever escapement and the feature of automatically starting when the mainspring is wound. However, this escapement, which consists of multiple overlapping gears, had the drawback of being heavy. As a result, when the balance wheel frequency was increased, the escapement's rotational movement could not keep up with the balance wheel. This is why Omega today has reduced the frequency of some of its Co-Axial escapements from 28,800 vph to 25,200 vph and strengthened the torque of the mainspring with double barrels and other mechanisms. Incidentally, while previous Co-Axial escapements had a design closer to a detent, the latest versions are closer to a Swiss lever.

　Another successful example is Grand Seiko's Dual Impulse escapement. While similar in mechanism to the Co-Axial, it is more efficient, and the use of a UV-LIGA escapement further reduces torque loss. Despite the theoretically heavy escapement, Grand Seiko models equipped with this escapement are able to achieve a high frequency of 30,600 vph and a long running time of approximately 80 hours.

What is the natural escapement chosen by Rolex?

　The escapement that Rolex chose as the base for this movement is the natural escapement, which, in theory, is the most efficient. It was invented by the famous Abraham-Louis Breguet. He was the one who finally perfected it, and in theory, this escapement was extremely efficient, resistant to oil shortage, and should have maintained high isochronism even when the mainspring unwound. However, even Breguet, who developed it, gave up on developing a natural escapement. The main reason was that the use of two escape wheels resulted in too much drive loss in the mainspring. Furthermore, the trade-off for being less susceptible to oil shortage was that movements equipped with this escapement would not start automatically even when the mainspring was wound. Furthermore, if the escapement was not precisely machined, it would not even work. This would have been difficult to achieve with the machine tools of the time.

　It wasn't until Ulysse Nardin that this escapement saw the light of day. The company introduced the dual direct escapement, a modern version of the natural escapement. Later, by changing the material to lightweight silicon, it dramatically improved its performance. Kari Voutilainen, then Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini followed. Their new escapements were, if you like, the perfection of the classic natural escapement. FP Journe's new EBHP escapement can also be considered a modern interpretation of the natural escapement.

　The reason the natural escapement has only recently come into the spotlight is due to advances in materials and manufacturing techniques. The use of lightweight materials such as UV-LIGA parts and silicon not only eliminated the weight that was a drawback of the natural escapement, but the high manufacturing precision of the latest machine tools also provided the precision that is essential to a natural escapement. In fact, Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini, who completed the natural escapement for Laurent Ferrier, asserted to me, "Without new materials and technology, the natural escapement would not have been revived."

　New materials and processing methods have brought about a revival of the natural escapement. However, it was not perfect as a mechanism for use in a wristwatch. This is because it was difficult for the watch to run automatically even when the mainspring was wound. This is why many watchmakers say, "To get a watch with a natural escapement to work, first gently shake it."

The problems with the natural escapement that Rolex solved

　Now, onto the main topic. Rolex's Dynapulse escapement is based on this natural escapement. What's more, Rolex has theoretically overcome the problems inherent in previous natural escapements. Namely, it offers high efficiency and isochronism, and like a Swiss lever escapement, the movement starts automatically when the mainspring is wound.

　Judging from the documents that have been made public, it appears that Rolex initially envisioned an extremely simple escapement. Indeed, the simpler the escapement, the more efficient it becomes. However, Rolex changed the design almost every year, eventually arriving at the Dynapulse escapement, which could be described as a "magically modified natural escapement." The reason for such frequent design changes was likely due to a desire to perfect the automatic movement function when the mainspring is wound, as well as to provide the safety of a Swiss lever.

　There are several possible reasons why Rolex evolved the natural escapement, a mechanism not suited to mass production. One is thinness. Assuming it is well designed, the natural escapement does not require as much thickness as the co-axial escapement. This makes it suitable for thin movements. The other is high efficiency. As expected from Breguet, this escapement has excellent performance in theory. However, on the other hand, it also had many drawbacks.

　The major improvement that Rolex has incorporated into its new escapement is the "slip" function. One of the reasons why the Swiss lever escapement remains the industry standard is because of its slip function. One of the reasons why the Co-Axial and Dual Impulse escapements were successfully mass-produced is because they were able to incorporate slip into the escapement. The same is true for the new Dynapulse escapement.

　Looking at the gears of this escapement, you can see that the tips of the teeth have a complex shape. Rolex uses silicon, which is lightweight and has an extremely high level of surface processing precision, as the main material for the escapement. And by devising the tips of the teeth, they have succeeded in achieving smoothness, something that was previously thought to be difficult with a natural escapement. This is purely speculation, but it would probably have been difficult to achieve this function with the similarly light UV-LIGA. In fact, with the Cal. 7135 equipped with this escapement, simply by lightly winding the mainspring, it begins to run as smoothly as a movement equipped with a Swiss lever escapement.

　Incidentally, the action of disengaging the escape wheel and "scooping" it up with the tips of the teeth is something that has never been seen in natural escapements before. However, the trade-off is that the shape of the escapement is extremely complex, and the precision of the meshing of the parts is probably far more precise than in previous escapements. This new escapement may be difficult to assemble by hand. At the very least, it would be impossible for an average watchmaker to assemble it. However, Rolex has chosen to modify the natural escapement, a path that is theoretically brilliant but extremely difficult to put into practice.

　If you take a cynical view, it's possible that the Dynapulse escapement was brought about by two Grand Seiko models. One was a model equipped with Spring Drive, whose accuracy surpasses that of any mechanical watch equipped with a mainspring. The other was a new mechanical watch equipped with a Dual Impulse escapement. Despite their heavy escapements, these movements, with their high vibration rate of 36,000 vph and long power reserves of approximately 80 hours, must have been a major inspiration to Rolex's engineers. This is purely my own speculation, but it's hard to imagine any other reason why the design has evolved to this extent.

Will this become the base movement for the "Daytona" in the future?

　In any case, the long-awaited Dynapulse escapement and its slim Cal. 7135 movement have been announced. For now, it's only being used in the Land-Dweller. However, its size and high performance make it a perfect base movement for the new Cosmograph Daytona. In fact, its flat bridge is ideal for mounting a chronograph.

　As always, Rolex doesn't give any hints about the future. However, there's no doubt that the new movement with the Dynapulse escapement will become the core caliber of Rolex's new era. And if its high performance and reliability are recognized, the future of mechanical watches will surely change dramatically.