One name over work already under way
In 2019 Rolex put a name on things it was already doing. The Rolex Awards for Enterprise had run since 1976. The partnership with the National Geographic Society dated from 1954 and had been officially enhanced in 2017. Support for Sylvia Earle's Mission Blue had begun in 2014.1 None of these was discontinued. What changed was that the company's own documents began to describe them together, under one name, as the Perpetual Planet Initiative.2
Neither the Perpetual Planet backgrounder nor the National Geographic and Mission Blue backgrounders give a launch day; all say only 2019.1 The earliest dated public use of the words found in the accessible record is a National Geographic Society release of 11 April 2019, which announces that "Under the banner of a Perpetual Planet, Rolex is joining forces with key individuals and organizations" and states that "the era of pure discovery is changing to one of exploration as a means to preserve the natural world".3 The expedition it announced installed five weather stations on Mount Everest, including the world's highest, and the data has resulted in the publication of 30 scientific papers.1
Source: Rolex Youtube
The awards came first, in 1976
André J. Heiniger, then Chief Executive Officer of Rolex, set up the Rolex Awards for Enterprise in 1976 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Oyster. It was meant to happen once. Rolex's account is that the response was large enough to turn a commemoration into a standing programme, and that more than 35,400 people have applied since.2 Heiniger's stated reason, which Rolex still publishes, reads:
"We initiated the Rolex Awards for Enterprise out of a conviction that we had a responsibility as a company to take an active interest in improving life on our planet and in the desire to foster values we cherish: quality, ingenuity, determination and, above all, a spirit of enterprise."
Five Laureates were chosen in each biennial edition.2 By 2026 Rolex counts 165 Laureates across more than 67 countries, renames the programme the Rolex Awards, moves it to an annual cycle for its 50th anniversary, and states its fields as environmental conservation, science, health and technology.4 Exploration and cultural heritage were listed among five eligible areas as late as March 20225 and no longer appear.4
How Rolex describes the change
Rolex's Perpetual Planet backgrounder carries a section headed From discovery to protection, and the page's opening copy states the change directly: "For nearly a century, Rolex has supported pioneering explorers pushing the boundaries of human endeavour to help them achieve countless historic feats. Over time, the company has moved from championing exploration for the sake of discovery to protecting the planet."1
Announcing the 2021 Laureates on 21 June 2021, Arnaud Boetsch, Rolex Director of Communication and Image, says: "Rather than venturing into the unknown and discovering uncharted lands, the new breed of explorers is committed to protecting the planet."6
Rolex describes the people the name covers as "explorers, scientists, entrepreneurs or citizens committed to the common good" who "explore our world to study and protect ecosystems".7 Sylvia Earle has been a Rolex Testimonee since 1982 and founded Mission Blue in 2009, five years before Rolex began supporting it. The company has supported the Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year award since its creation in 2011 and the National Geographic Explorers Festival since 2017.1
The portfolio has grown to more than 30 partners.1 The 2026 release describes the portfolio as active in three main focus areas, Oceans, Landscapes, and Science, Health and Technology.4 Its cumulative figures move. For the Laureates' projects the 2026 release gives more than 50 million trees planted and 137 endangered species and 32 major ecosystems protected.4 The backgrounder that was live on the same day gives 37 million trees and 48 species.1 The exploration backgrounder puts Mission Blue's Hope Spots at 50 when the partnership began and more than 165 now; the Mission Blue backgrounder live on the same day gives more than 145.1
The architecture around it
Perpetual Planet does not stand alone. Rolex runs two named initiatives under a Perpetual Initiatives umbrella, the second being the Perpetual Arts Initiative, which it describes as a global framework encompassing architecture, cinema, dance, literature, music, theatre and visual arts. The Rolex mentoring programme was founded in 2002.7 The word Perpetual is engraved on every Rolex dial and names the self-winding rotor the company introduced in 1931.7
Rolex publishes no figure in the documents cited here for what the initiative costs it. It states that it released its first sustainability report internally in 2017 and made that report public in 2023.8 Both dates are the company's own.
Rolex Awards - Year 2019. Source: Rolex Youtube
Written with AI assistance, edited by a human. Find out more about our Use of AI.
1. Rolex, "Rolex and exploration, Perpetual Planet Initiative" backgrounder, Rolex, "Rolex and National Geographic", and Rolex, "Rolex and Mission Blue", all retrieved 19 September 2026, for the Rolex Awards running since 1976, the National Geographic partnership from 1954 and its official enhancement in 2017, Rolex support of Mission Blue from 2014, Sylvia Earle as a Rolex Testimonee since 1982 and Mission Blue founded in 2009, support for the Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year award since its creation in 2011 and for the Explorers Festival since 2017, the 2019 Everest expedition with five weather stations including the world's highest and 30 resulting scientific papers, the portfolio of more than 30 partners, the exploration backgrounder giving Hope Spots as 50 at the start of the partnership and more than 165 now against the Mission Blue backgrounder's more than 145, the figure of 37 million trees and 48 endangered species, the section headed From discovery to protection, the opening passage quoted in the body, and the absence of any launch day in these documents, which give only 2019. https://newsroom.rolex.com/world-of-rolex/perpetual-planet/rolex-and-exploration/rolex-and-exploration/news-33/rolex-and-exploration-perpetual-planet-initiative, https://newsroom.rolex.com/world-of-rolex/perpetual-planet/national-geographic/national-geographic/news-1/rolex-and-national-geographic and https://newsroom.rolex.com/world-of-rolex/perpetual-planet/mission-blue/mission-blue/news-1/rolex-and-mission-blue
2. Rolex, "Perpetual Planet Initiative, the Rolex Awards for Enterprise" backgrounder, retrieved 19 September 2026, for the statement that Rolex launched the Perpetual Planet initiative in 2019 and for its description of the programmes it embraces, for the founding of the Awards in 1976 by Andre J. Heiniger, then Chief Executive Officer of Rolex, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Oyster, for the statement that they were intended as a once-only celebration and became an ongoing programme, for more than 35,400 applicants since 1976, for five Laureates being chosen in each biennial edition, and for the Heiniger quotation reproduced in the body. https://newsroom.rolex.com/world-of-rolex/perpetual-planet/rolex-awards-for-enterprise/2021/news-1/perpetual-planet-initiative-the-rolex-awards-for-enterprise
3. National Geographic Society, "National Geographic Society launches 2019 Everest expedition", 11 April 2019, for the earliest dated public use of the words Perpetual Planet found in the accessible record, for the phrase about work done under the banner of a Perpetual Planet, and for the formulation about the era of pure discovery, quoted in the body from mid-sentence: the full sentence reads "As the 21st century unfolds; however, the era of pure discovery is changing to one of exploration as a means to preserve the natural world." The Society is a Rolex partner, so this is a joint statement rather than independent reporting. https://news.nationalgeographic.org/national-geographic-society-launches-2019-everest-expedition/
4. Rolex, "The Rolex Awards 2026", retrieved 19 September 2026, for 165 Laureates across more than 67 countries, for the renaming of the programme to the Rolex Awards and the move to an annual cycle for its 50th anniversary, for the fields of environmental conservation, science, health and technology, for exploration and cultural heritage no longer appearing among them, for the portfolio being described as active in three main focus areas, Oceans, Landscapes, and Science, Health and Technology, and for the cumulative figures attributed to the Laureates' projects of more than 50 million trees planted and 137 endangered species and 32 major ecosystems protected. Rolex's own live pages carry 155, 160 and 165 Laureates simultaneously; 165 is the figure in the most recent release. The same pages carry two competing sets of cumulative figures, which the body reports rather than reconciles. https://newsroom.rolex.com/world-of-rolex/perpetual-planet/rolex-awards-for-enterprise/2026/news-01/the-rolex-awards-2026
5. Rolex, media note opening applications for the 2023 Rolex Awards for Enterprise, Geneva, 17 March 2022, for the five eligible areas then in force, science and health, the environment, applied technology, exploration and cultural heritage. https://newsroom-content.rolex.com/-/media/project/rolex/newsroom/rolex/rolex-newsroom-int/world-of-rolex/perpetual-planet/rolex-awards-for-enterprise/2022/document-rae-2022/rae_2023_openapplications_notemedia.pdf
6. Rolex, Rolex Awards for Enterprise press release, Geneva, 21 June 2021, for the quotation from Arnaud Boetsch and for his job title, which the release writes as Rolex Director of Communication & Image rather than with the word and. https://newsroom-content.rolex.com/-/media/project/rolex/newsroom/rolex/rolex-newsroom-int/world-of-rolex/perpetual-planet/rolex-awards-for-enterprise/2021/rae_2021pressrelease.pdf
7. Rolex, "Perpetual Initiatives", Rolex, "Perpetual Planet", Rolex, "Perpetual Arts Initiative", Rolex, "Our signature", and Rolex, "History 2000-2013", all retrieved 19 September 2026, for the two-initiative architecture under the Perpetual Initiatives umbrella, for the description of the people the initiative covers as explorers, scientists, entrepreneurs or citizens committed to the common good who explore our world to study and protect ecosystems, for the arts initiative described as a global framework encompassing architecture, cinema, dance, literature, music, theatre and visual arts, for the Rolex mentoring programme founded in 2002, which Rolex does not place inside that initiative, and for the word Perpetual being engraved on every Rolex dial and naming the self-winding rotor introduced in 1931. Rolex publishes no date for the introduction of either initiative name. https://www.rolex.com/en-us/perpetual-initiatives, https://www.rolex.com/en-us/perpetual-initiatives/perpetual-planet, https://newsroom.rolex.com/world-of-rolex/perpetuating-arts-and-culture, https://www.rolex.com/en-us/watchmaking/our-signature and https://www.rolex.com/en-us/about-rolex/history/2000-2013
8. Rolex, "Sustainability", retrieved 19 September 2026, for the statement that Rolex released its first sustainability report internally in 2017 before making it public in 2023. https://newsroom.rolex.com/about-rolex/sustainability
