Roger Federer returned to Arthur Ashe Stadium for the first time since 2019, and he did it wearing the loudest watch Rolex has put in a shop window all year.
The Swiss is playing a US Open Fan Week exhibition at Flushing Meadows on August 25, a one-set singles match against Andy Roddick followed by doubles alongside John McEnroe against Roddick and Andre Agassi. It is his first appearance at the venue since a five-set quarter-final loss to Grigor Dimitrov seven years ago, and it comes four days before his induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport.
On his wrist is the new Oyster Perpetual with the multicoloured Jubilee dial, caught and posted by watch account @niccoloy. It is the most visible outing the reference has had on a Rolex testimonee since Geneva in April.
The dial is a revival rather than an invention. Rolex first used the Jubilee motif in the 1970s, spelling the brand name repeatedly across the entire dial surface, and brought it back this year to mark 100 years of the Oyster case, patented in 1926.
The 2026 execution renders that lettering in ten distinct colours applied to the dial in sequence. Where the vintage versions were tonal and restrained, this one reads closer to an Alighiero Boetti tapestry.
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Underneath sits the calibre 3230, Rolex’s no-date automatic, with a Chronergy escapement and roughly 70 hours of power reserve. Water resistance is 100 metres and it arrives on an Oyster bracelet. It also carries the updated 2026 Superlative Chronometer certification, which folds in fresh criteria around magnetism, reliability and sustainability.
The dial comes in 41mm, 36mm and 31mm. The 36mm reference 126000 carries a catalogue price of US$6,750, a shade over AU$10,000 at current rates, making it the cheapest way into Rolex’s centenary year.
The dedicated “100 Years” references are a separate release. Those are the yellow Rolesor pieces with slate dials, green accents and the anniversary line printed at six o’clock, running from US$7,700 to US$9,650. Both sit inside the 2026 collection Rolex unveiled in Geneva.
Federer’s own collection runs to six-figure Daytonas and off-catalogue gem-set pieces, yet he keeps circling back to the entry-level Oyster Perpetual. He wore the yellow-dial 41mm ahead of Wimbledon in 2021, then swapped to the green one for the press room after losing in the quarter-finals.
The timing is not an accident. Federer is reportedly paid around $8 million a year by Rolex, and his second ten-year contract with the brand expires in 2026.
Putting the most photogenic and most attainable watch in the range on the most popular man in tennis, on the night he comes home to New York, tells you where Rolex wants the attention in its anniversary year. It is the same play that turned a Jannik Sinner wrist shot into a Daytona talking point, and it lands while Rolex’s certified pre-owned programme is reshaping the second-hand market.
