Legacy Magnified: The Evolution of Rolex’s Cyclops Lens

Love it or loathe it, but the fact remains that the Cyclops is an irrefutable Rolex hallmark. When we think of Cyclops, the one-eyed giants of ancient Greek mythology immediately come to mind. Although named after the mythical creatures with one large eye in the middle of the forehead, Rolex Cyclops has a different story altogether. It is said that the Rolex founder, Hans Wildorf, created the Cyclops magnifier lens when his second wife, Betty Wilsdorf-Mettler, found it difficult to read the date on the Datejust model, which was launched in 1945. In other words, the Cyclops was conceived as a feature that improved the legibility of the date aperture by magnifying the normal Rolex date display.

Rolex patented the Cyclops in early 1953, and featured it on the Datejust. This curved lens, put on the crystal at 3 o'clock (or at 9 o’clock in the case of GMT Master II) above the window, made viewing the date easier.

In no time, the Cyclops appeared on all Oyster models including a date display. It was incorporated into the GMT Master and Day-Date when they were first released in 1955 and 1956 respectively. The Deepsea models were the sole outliers in this regard, thanks to the technical considerations necessitated by the shape and thickness of the crystal.

How does the Cyclops lens work?

Originally, the Cyclops lens and crystal constituted one piece of Plexiglas. In the 1970s, watchmakers began to outfit timepieces with scratch-resistant sapphire. As a result, the Cyclops evolved into a distinct piece of sapphire that was attached to the crystal. Since 2005, it has also had a double-sided anti-reflective coating to reduce glare. Rolex once advertised 2.5x magnification for the lens on their website, but this is no longer the case.

This magnification announcement sparked debate among die-hard Rolex enthusiasts, who already seem to be in two minds about the aesthetics and utility of the Cyclops. At first glance, it may not appear to be an extremely technical feature. However, it has been constantly improved upon to ensure maximum effectiveness. Today, it is made of nearly scratch-proof sapphire crystal, and has a multilayer anti-reflective coating; indeed, this lens does bring the date into a sharper perspective.

Cyclops or no Cyclops?

As mentioned above, currently, the only Rolex watch with a date but no Cyclops lens is the Deepsea. This is because its 3,900-metre water resistance and ultra-thick crystal on top are a barrier to constructing the magnifier over the date; Rolex is yet to reveal a solution to this. But other models with a date display continue to feature the magnifier. 

Should Rolex discontinue the Cyclops legacy? The debate continues.