Not so long ago, Rolexes with various logos on the dial were largely shunned by collectors. “Who would want a random company logo on a watch?” or “what is this?” or “why does it say Domino’s on a Rolex?” were frequent comments on watch forums. Today, Rolex logo dials are some of the rarest, coolest Rolex watches floating around.
Rolex has made logo dials in three broad categories: corporate logo dials, government logo dials, and sports logo dials. As of today, Rolex no longer seems to be putting other company or entity logos on its watches at all. In this article, we cover the history of Rolex logo dials, pricing generally and review the three main categories of Rolex logo dials in existence.
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Timeline of Rolex Logo Dials
Rolex logo dials for companies and sporting events began appearing in the mid-1950’s, but the heyday of Rolex logo dials was the 1960’s-1980’s. Custom dials for government organizations picked up steam around 1970. Rolexes with Domino’s logo dials–probably the most well-known and desirable type of Rolex company logo dial–were awarded to store managers starting in the early 1980’s until 2004, when the Domino’s logo moved to the bracelet instead of the dial.
This practice of dial customization tapered out in the 1990’s, and by the early 2000’s it was apparently only offered for noteworthy special requests. A 2009 Rolex Day-Date II has been seen with a Nigerian coat of arms on the dial, and that seems to be the most recent known Rolex-made logo dial. In fact, as of 2023, after a four-decade relationship, Rolex isn’t even making the custom bracelet links for Domino’s anymore.
Rolex Logo Dial Prices
Rolex logo dials with crests of foreign governments and signatures of dictators have always had their fans, but historically, many watches with logo dials sold for slightly less than typical equivalent models.
Eventually, most Rolex logo dials reached price parity with standard dials–for reference, in 2017, prominent vintage watch seller HQ Milton listed a ref. 14000 Rolex Air-King with a Domino’s dial for $3,250. As of 2023, examples of the same reference can be found on eBay between $10,000-$20,000.
Today, it is extremely unlikely you would find a Rolex logo dial selling at less than the same watch in the same condition.
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Rolex Sports Dials
Yogi Berra’s own “Yankees 1956 World Champions” Rolex is one of the very first known examples of a Rolex logo dial. The same exact font can be seen on championship dials for the Baltimore Colts and New York Jets as well, so we can be confident they came from Rolex like this.
Rolex sports dials weren’t just for major internationally recognized events (although a ladies’ Datejust with an Olympic logo does exist). There are Rolex dials for obscure events like the “Lafayette Oil Tourney” and the “1985 Denver Petroleum Golf Classic.” The last time Rolex was known to make a sports logo dial was when Standard Liège won the 2009 Belgian football championship.
For pics of every known Rolex sports dial: Collector’s Guide to Rolex Sports Logo Dials
Company Logo Dials
In the 1950’s-1960’s, Rolex still lagged behind Omega in sales, and furthermore, they were terrified of Bulova. Rolex’s ubiquitous dominance was not always a foregone conclusion. Rolex was happy to drive sales any way they could, especially in the US, where their brand was getting a late start. Due to an agreement with Gruen (an American watch company that bought movements from the same supplier), Rolex didn’t have an official US sales presence until at least 1950!
A company logo dial program was one plan to drive sales. Rolex took out print ads in the US with pictures of a Rolex next to the words “your company logotype can be inserted here,” with copy imploring the reader to “look at service awards from the employee’s point of view.” Not many people work for the same employer for 25 years anymore, and fewer still get awarded Rolexes for doing so. But 60 years ago, it was not uncommon.
Although the majority of Rolex company logo dials are for American companies, Middle Eastern oil companies are heavily represented. In total, there are logo dials for more than 20 companies from the oil and gas industry!
For pics of every known Rolex company logo dial: Collector’s Guide to Rolex Company Logo Dials
Government Crest/Signature Dials
Rolex made dials with crests or signatures from at least 15 different governments! The two rulers with the most well-known affinities for these dials were surely Qaboos bin Said Al Said, who was Sultan of Oman from 1970 until he died in 2020; and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, a royal from the UAE who rules Dubai as of 2023. Saudi dials can be found with signatures from at least 3 different kings and 3 different governors, among others.
For pics of every known Rolex government insignia dial: Collector’s Guide to Rolex Government Logo Dials
In general, these government crest/signature dials get more attention from collectors than random company dials. While Rolex logo dials are coveted in part for their rarity, it’s worth nothing that the rarest logo dials–with only one or two known examples–are generally not the most desirable. To reach a certain level of collectability, there have to be enough examples floating around to create buzz. For example, Rolex Khanjar dials are rare and often fetch a large premium, while even rarer dials like Kuwaiti army dials fetch smaller premiums probably because they’re so obscure.
In fact, on many past auctions of Rolexes with government logo dials, the listings only passingly mention the logo on the dial, like an uninteresting afterthought! Watches have been described with vague terms like “Middle Eastern dial,” or “Saudi signature dial,” without bothering to go into more detail, or in other cases getting details (like the country of origin) entirely wrong!
Are Logo Dials All Aftermarket?
No, Rolex provided OEM logo dials for many organizations. Some people wrongly assume that these dials were all custom-made aftermarket jobs, but many are original dials. Of course, customized aftermarket logo dials do exist. In the vast majority of cases, real OEM Rolex logo dials have no “Precision” or “Chronometer” text at the bottom, and the quality of printing is quite high. If you see significant peeling on the logo, and the dial still says “Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified,” that’s almost certainly custom. And avoid the Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and weed leaf dials you can find on eBay.
Just to reiterate to remove any ambiguity: all Mickey Mouse Rolex dials are aftermarket. Decades ago, watch collectors had to rely more on secondhand stories and assumptions. With the advent of the internet, we can disprove many of those legends and also learn the truth about new ones. For example, only five steel Submariners (and one gold one) were made with “Cigarette 1” logos on the dial, and at least two of them have been posted online. The owners knew the specific history behind the watch (they were given to the crew of Donald Aronow, inventor of the cigarette boat, for winning a fishing tournament). So with all the hundreds (probably thousands) of Mickey Mouse dials sold online at this point, if there were legit ties to Disney, we can assume somebody’s dad or grandma would’ve popped up online telling us when and how they were awarded it.
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Geography of Rolex Logo Dials
Roughly half of the 140+ known Rolex logo dials are for American organizations. It’s likely that Rolex only publicly advertised custom award watches to the USA. Almost as many logo dials come from the Middle East, but they’re predominantly for government organizations. Aside from the Middle Eastern dials, and one Filipino beer company, there are no known Rolex dials representing Asia. There are no custom Rolex dials from Australia or South America for that matter (unless you count the very collectible Panama Canal Submariner from 1999).
There are a handful of notable French and Italian logo dials, as well as a couple Canadian ones and the aforementioned Nigerian crest dial, and that’s about it. Some of you might notice the absence of the famous “Tiffany stamp” Rolexes in this article. Tiffany, like Serpico y Laino, was one of many retailers whose name was stamped on Rolex dials at some point. These aren’t generally considered “logo dials,” though. Such There are a handful of notable French and Italian logo dials, as well as a couple Canadian ones and the aforementioned Nigerian crest dial, and that’s about it. Some of you might notice the absence of the famous Tiffany dial Rolexes in this article. Tiffany, like Serpico y Laino, was one of many retailers whose name was stamped on Rolex dials at some point. These aren’t generally considered “logo dials,” though. Such double-signed dials are considered a separate kind of special Rolex dial.
Tudor: Continuing the Logo Dial Tradition
Although Rolex hasn’t produced an OEM logo dial since about 2009, Tudor has happily picked up where they left off. If you and 25-30 of your buddies want to have your own logo made on a Tudor, they’ll probably be happy to accommodate you. In addition to government insignias like the “State of Qatar” dial, there have been recent Tudor logo dials for things like the Cars & Chai meetup group, Ed Sheeran’s “Divide” tour (which he gave to his roadies), a team of Google employees, Genève-Servette HC (a Swiss hockey team). Several Tudor military watches have turned up in recent years with logos of various squadrons, too.
Whether it displays a logo for a sports team, company, military organization, dictator, or golf tournament, each one of these watches began as a meaningful personal gift in the owner’s life. Although collectors didn’t always appreciate them, logo dials are finally having their day in the sun.
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