Year In Review Our Style Editor On The Year's Biggest Watch-Design Trend

Many enthusiasts and collectors would argue that it also ends with Rolex.

For this story, I spoke with a large sampling of watch lovers, most of whom confessed that no other watch brand came close to being a legitimate rival in the rainbow-colored playing field. The Daytona ref. 116598RBOW and ref. 116599RBOW kick-started the rainbow wave back in 2012, and Rainbow Mania became even more widespread with the 2018 release of ref. 116595RBOW in Everose gold. The glitz and glam of this watch has grabbed everyone from Miley Cyrus to John Mayer.

That makes a certain kind of sense. In so many ways, Rolex sets the industry agenda. But I don't think any of us expected pretty much every major watch brand to follow suit and wrap itself in rainbows. And yet that's what we saw in 2022. It happened slowly and then all at once, which is pretty much how things move in the world of watch design. By December (and actually, probably before that), rainbow had clearly distinguished itself as the year's definitive design movement.

The history of the Rolex rainbow dates back to the 1980s Cellini models (pictured below). But the real rainbow blueprint which has become the frame of reference for this entire category is the Rainbow Daytona. If you want to explore real rainbow predecessor territory then you can take a look at ref. 6269 and ref. 6270, both extremely rare, and both likely created to test the appetite for masculine gem-set watches. This was back in the '80s and it's interesting to think of this in terms of groundwork being laid for future gem-set experiments.

Eric Ku – the Bay Area-based horological expert and cofounder of online auction platform Loupe This – recently told me about a piece unique Daytona that he had previously sold, it was made in the '90s, originally commissioned by a Middle Eastern client. Which kind of makes it the OG rainbow, pretty wild considering how popular this whole trend has become.

The rainbow Daytona was initially met with overtly hostile and borderline violent reactions (see the comments section from the 2018 Baselworld release). And I get this. Before my entry into the watch space, I absolutely detested rainbow jewelry. Its popularity was rising right around the same time as the infamous ref. 116595RBOW, and I felt a strong aversion to well-known jewelry designers like Stephanie Gottlieb and Jessica Biales making rainbow tennis bracelets, necklaces, rings…rainbow everything. It was just too jarring for me, too loud (which is funny if you know me, because my personal style is anything but muted so this really is saying a lot; I am the woman who loves yellow gold). Fast forward a couple of years to the first time I held a rainbow Daytona in the metal. That's when the rainbow setting became a totally different thing for me. Rainbow was now Rolex. I couldn't unsee it and I didn't want to.

At the recent Miami Basel launch of the Code 11.59 Starwheel, John Mayer made a comment during his discussion with François-Henry Bennahmias and Ben Clymer that stuck with me. He said he enjoys a watch that can win him over after a period of time. He enjoys having his mind changed. He went on to explain how often the experts and people behind a brand can also change your feelings toward a watch. This resonated with me in the rainbow context.

Initially, I had wanted to hate the Rainbow Daytona. But after looking at it up close and seeing the quality of craftsmanship, the perfect gradient of sapphires, after trying it on, after speaking with countless vintage experts at auction previews, I simply fell in love with it.

This isn't an attainable watch by any means. Rainbow, in watch parlance, generally constitutes a gem-set watch, which limits this to a very exclusive bracket, which in turn means it's very collectible. What's more alluring to collectors than a small production run? Eric Ku called it the rich person's "ultimate status symbol watch" and he's right.

If we take the price out of the equation and focus on the increase in admiration and overall appreciation of rainbow watches, it signals a desire for more, a desire for fun, and perhaps even a desire for more gender neutrality. Here was a fully gem-set watch on what was considered to be an extremely masculine Daytona profile. It was an exchange of male and female design codes: a gender-neutral hybrid.

If you are intrigued by gem setting, this is really the top lot by traditional jewelers' standards. I spoke about this with my friend and jewelry designer Sarah Ysabel Dyne, who graduated from Central Saint Martins with a degree in jewelry design, then attended the GIA for her gemology degree, and then went on to work for NYC jewelry designer Lorraine Schwartz – so she knows her stuff, but isn't involved with watches, which makes her the perfect person to weigh in on the gems for gems' sake. "Sapphires used for that kind of work are normally heat-treated to achieve vibrant colors," she told me.

Rolex sources natural stones, hand-selecting them, and then cutting them to size, which means the watchmakers are taking this seriously. "The calibration on these stones is amazing," Dyne said. "I have nothing against the use of stones here." Horological gem setting is no easy feat, with up to 90 percent of each colored stone being disposed of in order to have them fit perfectly into a gradient setting. And all of this is done in-house.

Okay, so that's Rolex.

Until recently, I hadn't really given much thought to other rainbows. But there are many. And this year they just kept coming, to the point where rainbows seemed to be, uh, falling out of the sky. Audemars Piguet, H. Moser & Cie., Hublot, Patek Philippe, TAG Heuer, Ulysse Nardin, and Zenith all released rainbow watches – and so did even Timex, albeit with Swarovski crystals rather than sapphires.

Hublot and Audemars Piguet are two brands that know how to execute young, fun, and modern gem-set watches, rainbows aren't a far cry from their current brand DNA. To have Patek enter the chat with the release of the Aquanaut Luce Rainbow, well, that was a surprise. It signified a new level of competition. Patek Philippe making a rainbow means the stakes have been raised.

Part of what we are seeing this year is the idea of color being used as currency in the watch space. Even watches that aren't strictly rainbows seem influenced by the brightening color schemes. There's the MoonSwatch, to cite one example. But even IWC – a brand I would consider far more conservative in its approach to color – is playing the color currency game. Earlier this year, during the Miami Grand Prix, they released a Formula One watch in a vibrant turquoise.

Then there are ombre gem-set dials, notably the new Omega Seamaster Diver 300m 60 Years of James Bond Canopus Gold – a watch made in tribute to the Jamaican flag and referencing Ian Flemming's home on the island. The Patek 712/1R-001 has a two-tone gradation of cognac-colored spessartites around the bezel. The color of the stones blends nicely with the rose gold case and bracelet, it has a rich and warm feeling – more neutral than a proper rainbow. And of course, we mustn't forget the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Yacht-Master 40, a sequence of four different-colored sapphire hues and diamonds, also on the bezel; again, not a full gradation but an eye-catching set of colors, nonetheless.

If we widen the definition to feature PVD reflective coating, then we have ourselves a pretty comprehensive list.

"I don't think Patek were following a trend," said Leigh Zagoory, a VP and specialist in the watch department at Sotheby's. "I think they were trying to involve more women. They were smart to do it on an Aquanaut, even though the hype around Nautilus and Aquanaut is starting to die down, they are both instantly recognizable watches. That is what a Daytona is to Rolex." Which rings very true with my argument for Patek to make more popular modern watches for women. "It's good because it's so understated," Zagoory says. "It's not as chunky. It's not as loud. I could wear it in a more casual setting and if you change the strap it would be even more subdued."

Watch dealer Zoe Abelson loved it, too. "It's special and very un-Patek in a good way," she told me after posting about it on her popular Instagram feed. "If they're going to sell hype sports watches and not focus on their grand comps and dress watches like they used to, at least make them interesting."

For its part, H. Moser released a Streamliner Tourbillon Rainbow in both steel and 5N rose gold, pulling out all the stops with a fumé dial for the steel and a vantablack dial for the gold – oh, plus a flying tourbillon at 6 o'clock. This is a watch with a lot going on, but somehow it manages to look almost…restrained? It's a beautiful piece. Top notch.

Although I could never wear the giant 49mm Hublot MP-09 Tourbillon Bi-Axis Carbon Rainbow, it's notable as a rainbow sans gemstones. This watch features a rainbow-themed case made through the rigorous process of threading carbon composite; colored carbon bars are then inserted to fill in the gaps. A materially innovative rainbow! Similarly, the Zenith DEFY Extreme Felipe Pantone came through with a rainbow PVD-coated rotor register and hands, which all reflect a gradient of metallic rainbow tones. At three o'clock there's also a 30-minute totalizer, featuring a mini graduated scale of colors, for an extra rainbow touch.

Meanwhile, Audemars Piguet reinvented the rainbow with two sets of 10 individually unicolored gem-set Royal Oaks, in two sizes: 37mm and 41mm. Each watch is made of white gold and set with approximately 800 baguette-cut stones (861 total stones in 179 sizes for the 41mm; 790 total stones in 153 sizes for the 37mm), all of the stones were hand-selected and custom-cut to ensure uniformity. Apparently, a rainbow bezel is no longer enough: The new gold standard is a full collection of gem-set watches that make a rainbow when you line them all up. How nice for whoever can afford this.

On to the next Audemars Piguet Rainbow, the Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Music Edition. As a tribute to Audemars Piguet's ties with the music world, the tapisserie dial bears the pattern of an equalizer. This gem-set version is particularly rainbow-y; it renders the equalizer motif in colored gemstones which also continue onto the bezel.

The final Audemars Piguet rainbow on the list, and my personal rainbow watch of the year, is the Carolina Bucci 34mm Black Ceramic Rainbow Dial. At first glance, the dial appears black, but on closer inspection it reveals a reflective multi-colored spectrum tapisserie effect in the light. The combination of black ceramic and subtle rainbow on a 34mm watch is heaven to me.

"I would say, in the rainbow, our sales are 50 percent men and 50 percent women," Guadalupe told me. I was impressed with this statistic, and even more shocked by the fact that 25 percent of Hublot's overall sales are to women. At 49mm, the MP-09 Tourbillon is obviously made for men, and it's not even meant to be a big seller. "The piece will not change our business revenue," he said. "It's a run of eight watches. It's a talking piece."

And that, my friends, is why brands keep making rainbows. Nobody wants to be left out of the conversation.

"Everything is cyclical," said former Hodinkee editor Cara Barrett, who owns a Rainbow Daytona and penned an enthusiastic Hands-On review for Hodinkee in 2018. "It's just like fashion. Watches are the exact same thing – when one thing is up, the other thing is down. And then it dies. And then it comes back 10 years later. That's just how it works."

All hail rainbow, the design trend of 2022 – and, it seems, of 2032, as well.