SHANGHAI – The evening of June 9, 2026 opened – as all memorable evenings should – with an aria.

Sonya Yoncheva, the acclaimed Bulgarian soprano and a Rolex Testimonee, stepped onto the stage at West Bund Dome Art Center in Shanghai and performed Hymne a l’amour, Edith Piaf’s enduring ode to love, before an audience of collectors, journalists and watch enthusiasts gathered from around the world.

Welcome to Oyster Story, Rolex’s landmark exhibition marking the 100th anniversary of the Oyster, the watch that laid the foundation for everything that followed.

Staged at West Bund Dome Art Center in Shanghai’s Xuhui District from June 10 to 28, the exhibition is open to the public free of charge, with advance reservations required.

The venue is an inspired setting for the exhibition. Set along the Huangpu riverfront, it occupies China’s first cement factory, a relic of Shanghai’s industrial past reimagined by Danish architectural firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects as a striking cultural space spanning nearly 9,000 sq m, and anchored by a vast 3,000 sq m central dome.