The replica Rolex ref. 5100 “Texano” watches for sale are precursor to the Crown’s buzzy new Land-Dweller.
Though we’re used to Rolex’s chief Testimonee rocking the brand’s newest, shiniest wares, occasionally even Roger Federer will opt for something with some more mileage on it. To wit: Here is the GOAT looking dapper at the Dior show during Paris Fashion Week, a gold Rollie clearly visible on his wrist. But this is no modern best UK replica Rolex watches—this, dear friends, is the ref. 5100 “Texano,” the Crown’s first quartz watch, first watch with an integrated bracelet, and the precursor to the still-fresh Land-Dweller from Watches and Wonders 2025.
Key to the Texano’s design was the looming Quartz Crisis of the 1970s: In response to the Japanese development of the quartz movement, the Swiss banded together to try to develop their own version via a consortium dubbed Centre Electronique Horloger. The resulting movement, dubbed Beta-21, was stuffed into all manner of early quartz perfect fake watches, including the Crown’s own ref. 5100, which debuted in 1970. Made in just 1,000 examples—supposedly 900 were in yellow gold (some with diamonds indices), 100 in white gold—the Texano was also the first luxury replica Rolex watches to boast a quickset date and a sapphire crystal.
All in all, these were one sophisticated luxury replica watches, and it featured complex case architecture to match—plus a lot of gold. Each piece was individually numbered in series on the caseback of its 39mm housing, while the business end’s aesthetics called to mind classic models such as the Datejust and Day-Date: There’s the fluted precious metal bezel, and the dial has a large outer minute track, applied indices, the Rolex coronet at 12 o’clock, a magnified date window at 3 o’clock, and the word “QUARTZ” conspicuously (and proudly) displayed above 6 o’clock. The origins of the “Texano” name are tough to pin down, but the wealth required to purchase one—it was then the most expensive high quality copy watches in Rolex’s catalog—jives well with the characterization of the Day-Date as the “Texas Timex.”
The integrated bracelet, meanwhile, looks like a cross between an old Omega Speedmaster flat-link bracelet and, well, something else. But we all know where the ref. 5100 would eventually lead: First, it birthed the Oysterquartz in 1977, which saw Rolex ditch the Beta 21 in favor of its own quartz movement. Like the top replica Rolex ref. 5100 watches, this models also featured an integrated bracelet in either an Oyster or Jubilee style. After discontinuing this model around 2001, the Crown’s catalog was devoid of an integrated bracelet sports watch…until 2025, that is. The new Land-Dweller continues the lineage of the Oysterquartz—and before it, the ref. 5100 “Texano.”
So while Federer may have his pick of the litter when it comes to new UK Swiss super clone watches, he clearly has an appreciation for horological history. Quirky as it is—and battery-powered, to boot—the “Texano” is a genuinely important piece of Rolex company history.
