The Story of Elvis Presley's Rolex King Midas [Part 1 or 4]

I originally published this story back in 2008. This week represents the 40th Anniversary of Elvis Presley's passing, so I thought it would be great to get in the Rolex Time Machine, and explore the wonderful world of The King.

The King's King

Elvis Presley 

Rolex King Midas

I would like to thank Graceland for their extremely kind and gracious assistance with taking the exclusive photos of Elvis Presley's Limited Edition Rolex King Midas for Jake's Rolex Watch Blog. I would also like to thank my pal Leo (The Idle Swede) for not only being such a great friend, but also for his invaluable contribution with this story.

Elvis Presley is known as The King of Rock & Roll. Elvis Presley changed the world with his amazing music. Elvis was extremely handsome, charismatic and ultra-talented. Elvis is pictured below with his pal, Bobby Darin, and Elvis is wearing his iconic Hamilton.

Very few people knew Elvis wore a Rolex, but it was not just any Rolex. Elvis wore a limited edition Rolex King Midas (Model Reference Number 9630) which Rolex only made 1000 examples of. The King Midas at the time was the most expensive Rolex money could buy. As a matter of fact, in 1970 a Rolex Day-Date retailed for $1825 and a King Midas retailed for $2500. In 1975 a Day-Date retailed for $3300 and a King Midas retailed for $5500.

This very, very rare limited edition Rolex King Midas was given to Elvis as a token of appreciation for playing 6 days of sold-out concerts in 1970 at the Houston Astrodome Livestock Show & Rodeo.

Elvis is pictured above with his Rolex King Midas in his right hand along with the special Rolex King Midas case that was shaped like an urn.

The following photos were recently taken by a Graceland photographer exclusively for Jake's Rolex Watch Blog. This first image has Elvis Presley's Limited Edition Yellow Gold Rolex King Midas on top of Elvis & Priscilla Presley's wedding bible. Lisa Marie Presley is in the photo with her father, Elvis Presley kissing her head. All the artifacts in these Graceland photos personally belonged to Elvis.

The Return of The King

As always, you can click on the images to get a better view.

Elvis' beautiful Limited Edition Rolex King Midas is pictured above with matching trademark custom Sunglasses. His custom 50th Anniversary Limited Edition Colt 45 is pictured on the left. In the photo below you see Elvis' Diamond TCB (Taking Care of Business) pendant and on the far right you see Elvis' Denver Police Captain's badge next to his Hamilton watch.

In the 1970s Elvis became obsessed with Kung Fu and collecting badges. In Part 3 of The Story of Elvis Presley's Rolex King Midas we will explore Elvis' obsession with badges.

Elvis wore his Limited Edition Rolex King Midas quite a bit and it appears he wore it swimming or in a hot tub because it appears to have water damage on the dial. The King Midas was a hand wound watch that was not an Oyster.

Rolex made 1000 Original King Midas watches and Elvis owned and wore number 343, which ironically was a left handed special for south paws. The back in engraved and reads "To Elvis Presley From The Houston Livestock Show Officers 1970."

The original Limited Edition King Midas was NOT a Rolex Cellini. It had a standard Rolex Midas designation. The words King Midas were engraved on the side of the watch as seen below, and had a winding crown that was shaped like the sun.

When Rolex originally introduced the King Midas in the early 1960s it was the heaviest gold watch money could buy. Years later, Piaget came out with a model named the Piaget Polo that was three grams heavier.

The clasp had KING MIDAS BY ROLEX OF GENEVA etched into the clasp as seen below on Elvis' watch.

In Part 2 of The Story of Elvis Presley's Rolex King Midas, we will look closer at the design details of the Rolex King Midas.

I am currently researching some other Rolex watches that may have been owned by Elvis, but I am not certain they exist. I have some good leads, but I cannot confirm any of them yet. The watch below is a Rolex that Elvis' manager, Colonel Tom Parker allegedly gave Elvis as a Christmas gift, but I cannot confirm its authenticity. If you have photos of Elvis wearing a Rolex, please send them in and I will put them up.

In Chapter 2 named, The Midas Touch we will take a closer look at the Rolex King Midas Limited edition watch and discover its ethos.

Table Of Contents

Chapter 1: The King's King

NEXT>>> Chapter 2: The Midas Touch

Chapter 3: The King's President

Chapter 4: The King, The Prime Minister & The President

Wrist Shot Of The Week: Rolex Cookie Monster!!!

...Rolex Cuteness...

Rolex Cookie Monster!!!

Looks like Martin's adorable daughter thought his yellow gold Ceramic GMT Master II Supercase with the forest green dial was edible!!! This photo is so cute!!!!!

Stefano Mazzariol Cream Colored Explorer II...

Stefano Mazzariol

Cream Colored Explorer II

This excellent photo from Stefano Mazzariol is of a first generation stainless steel Rolex Explorer II with a cream colored dial and white gold applied indices and matching hands. All later generation versions of this watch have a white dial with black applied indices with black hands.

Blade Runner 2049 Trailer 2

 Blade Runner 2049 
Trailer 2

Blade Runner 2049, which is the highly anticipated sequel to the original Blade Runner will be hitting movie theaters in just a few months. Back in May, 2017 I wrote a huge story when the first BladeRunner 2049 trailer was released. Warner Brothers recently released the second official trailer, which you can watch below:

ALL Single Red SEA-DWELLERS

EVERY Single Red SEA-DWELLER

Side-By-Side

All-New Article From Perezcope.com

My good friend and fellow historian, Jose from Perezcope just published an amazing new article named, "ALL SINGLE RED SEA-DWELLERS, SIDE BY SIDE", which is exactly that, a detailed comparison of every known Single Red SEA-DWELLER. Jose and I have been talking about this article for some time now, and to finally see it and read it, is AWESOME!!! Below is a graphic from Jose's article, that shows the 11 known examples of Single Red SEA-DWELLER models, along with Philippe-Pierre Cousteau's Double Red SEA-DWELLER which likely began its life as a Single Red, but received a replacement dial from Rolex. These 11-12 models are so rare, today they are probably worth around $750,000 each. Are there undocumented Single Red prototypes out there? Probably, and you can bet that if and when they surface, Jose will add them to his growing database.

A Dozen Known Examples Of Ultra Rare Rolex Single Red SEA-DWELLER Prototype Models Pictured Above

Jose and I worked together extensively on his most recent poster titled, "History Of The Rolex SEA-DWELLER: Rolex's Conquest Of The Ocean", which can be seen below in its finished form. Just to be clear, I contributed all of my knowledge, and a great teal of feedback on the layout details, but Jose did 100% of the graphics on the poster, so I really played a small role compared to Jose.

In working with Jose, I have learned so much from him. Jose is basically what I call a "Horological Forensics Expert", and I remember the first time he told me "Data never lies". As a matter of fact, the reason Jose began making detailed timelines, was not because he wanted to make the most awesome Rolex and Panerai poster, but because he wanted to plot all of the data he had collected on these watches. Some of his findings in his article are really deep and insightful.

Since Jose is an advanced graphic artist who tends to pay a tremendous amount of attention to detail, he quickly noticed how beautiful his timelines were, and realized he really was created a work of art, as seen in the poster above. Be sure to check out Jose's story that features and documents all known Single Red SEA-DWELLERS...

On a side note, I have been keeping a diary of observations on the all-new 2017 Single Red SEA-DWELLER, which is an homage of sorts to the original Single Red SEA-DWELLER. I say 'homage of sorts', as Rolex is quick to point out the all-new model is not an homage, per se, but a modern interpretation of the SEA-DWELLER which has a historical nod to The 50th Anniversary of the Rolex SEA-DWELLER.

Watchfan 1's Yellow Gold Yachtmaster Mother Of Pearl Dial with Ruby Indices

Rolex Macro Shot Of The Day

Yellow Gold Yachtmaster

Mother Of Pearl Dial with Ruby Indices

I never owned a yellow Rolex Yacht-Master with this mother of pearl dial, with ruby indices, but I totally remember them. They were so cool looking and seeing this photo Deja Vu's me out really hard...

The French Connection: French Rolex Presidents...

French Rolex Presidents

When I think of the term, the Rolex President, I typically think about American Presidents wearing Rolex, but in this case we are going to take a look at French Presidents wearing Rolex. The 1964 Rolex ad showcases Rolex's worldview at the time.

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing

French President 1974-1981

First we see Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, wearing a two tone Rolex Datejust on a Jubilee bracelet. Jacques Chirac was the Prime Minister of France under Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.

François Mitterrand

French President 1981-1995

I am fairly certain François Mitterrand wore a Rolex, but I have not been able to find a photo of him wearing one. That being said, in the photo below taken by Marc Riboud in 1974 we see François Mitterrand looking at Michel Rocard's Rolex at an event in Paris. Michel Rocard served as François Mitterrand's Prime Minister from 1988 to 1991.

Jacques Chirac

French President 1995-2007

Next we see Jacques Chirac, sporting his stainless steel Rolex Datejust on a matching jubilee bracelet. Jacques Chirac served as the President Of France from 1995 to 2007.

The photo below shows Jacques Chirac in 2014 at age 81, still wearing his stainless steel Rolex Datejust.

Nicolas Sarkozy 

French President 2007-2012

In the 1981 photo below, taken long before either was elected president of France, we see Jacques Chirac with his young protege, Nicolas Sarkozy, who went on to become a future President of France from 2007 to 2012.

I remember when Nicolas Sarkozy was elected President of France, and I noticed he wore a black dial and a white dial Rolex Daytona as seen below. I though he was really cool. I also noticed that Nicolas Sarkozy wore a white gold Patek Philippe [Reference 3940], which I wrote a story about on Jake's Patek Phillips World. I simply thought the Sarkozy had great taste in watches.

Nicolas Sarkozy's taste in watches caused a huge controversy in France, when one of his close friends named, Jacques Seguela was quoted as saying: "If you don't have a Rolex by the time you reach 50, then you have clearly failed in your life.." 

I am NOT an expert this subject, but I think it is worth exploring. Basically, in February 2009, while Sarkozy was the President of France, apparently some of Sarkozy's advisers told him to tone down his 'bling' image by refraining from wearing Rolex watches and Ray-Ban sunglasses in public. this was just after the huge worldwide economic downturn that had a strong effect on France. 

Somebody created a FAKE Rolex advertisement that featured Sarkozy wearing a yellow gold GMT-Master on his wrist, along with matching gold Ray-Ban Sunglasses.

This FAKE Ad is interesting as Sarkozy has never been seen wearing a yellow gold watch. He only wears stainless steel or white gold watches. 

This false internet meme caused a lot of commotion. Nicolas Sarkozy's friend, Jacques Seguela was asked what he thought about Sarkozy taste in wearing expensive jewelry, and Seguela responded, "So what if he owns a Rolex, we can't blame him for that. Everyone has a Rolex. If you don't have a Rolex by the time you reach 50, then you have clearly failed in your life."

After Jacques Seguela made this statement, all hell broke loose in France. The President of Sarkozy's own UMP party responded by saying "It's ridiculous to say owning a Rolex is a mark of success in life." A French newspaper named 'France-Soir' responded by saying, "There is a global financial crisis and people are struggling to make ends meet. Most workers will find this highly offensive."  A French news website responded by saying, "This remark is obscene. We would like to shove Seguela's own Rolex down his throat." This statement was kind of ironic in the fact that Seguela does not own or wear Rolex watches. 

It is a fact that Jacques Seguela played matchmaker by introducing Nicolas Sarkozy to his gorgeous wife, Carla Bruni, who is a famous singer.

In retrospect it is clear to see the big deal that was made at the time about Nicolas Sarkozy's excellent taste in watches, was, as Shakespeare put it, "Much ado about nothing." At the time, the worldwide economic downturn was very real and I don't mean to discredit the way many people felt at the time. My point is that I think Sarkozy is handsome and looks cool with his Ray-Bay Aviators. To me he typically looks like he just stepped out of a GQ photo shoot.

As far as Rolex being the International Mark Of Success, I think it is all relative. Speaking of successful men who wear Rolex, Warren Buffett's notion that "Success is getting what you want, while happiness in about wanting what you get."

In the photo below, we see Nicolas Sarkozy wearing a non-chronograph Rolex with a black dial, which appears to be either a vintage Milgauus, or a Datejust.

In the next photo we see Nicolas Sarkozy wearing a stainless steel Rolex Datejust which appears identical to the one Jacques Chirac wears.

1985 Rolex Talking Points from Minus4Plus6.com

1985 Rolex Talking Points

from Minus4Plus6.com

My good pal Sheldon Smith is the editor and publisher of Minus4Plus6.com and he just sent me a note to let me know he just put up a superb story that has all the pages from a 1985 Rolex Talking Points Brochure. A Rolex "Talking Points" brochure is published by Rolex and it is for the sales people to educate them about the Rolex brand. You can see all the pages from this fascinating 1985 Rolex Talking Points, but be pre-warned, you will have a hard time not clicking on each page and reading it carefully.

Sheldon, profoundly points out:

"Although this particular Talking Points brochure was printed in 1985, much of the details revealed are still relevant today."

Rolex Macro Shot Of The Day White Gold Rolex Daytona ...Oh The High Art Of It All...

Rolex Macro Shot Of The Day

White Gold Rolex Daytona

DJ Khaled Buys Team Members Rolex Watches

...Rolex RapMaster...
DJ Khaled

Buys Team Members Rolex Watches

DJ Khaled is a top DJ, Record Producer, Radio Personality, Record Label Executive, and Author. 

DJ Khaled's most recent album, titled "Grateful" recently went Platinum and was the best selling album. As a result, DJ Khaled, rewarded his team members with some fresh new gold Rolex watches, or as DJ Khaled refers to them as a, "Rolly". Speaking of Rollies, this reminds me of Ayo & Teo's song, "Rolex", which says, "All I ever wanted was a Rolly." Be sure to hit the play button below in DJ Khaled's Instagram video to see him giving out Rolex watches to his dedicated team members.

🙌🏽👏🏽🙏🏽 @djkhaled bought new ROLIES for his team! #BossOfTheYear

A post shared by Power 105.1 (@power1051) on Jul 13, 2017 at 9:40am PDT

Below is a DJ Khaled video with a bunch of famous rappers including Lil Wayne, Quavo, Chance the Rapper and Justin Bieber, and this video has almost hit 600 Million views on Youtube.



DJ Khaled loves giving gold Rolex watches as gifts, as we see in the photo below, as he is giving fellow rapper 'Future" a gold Rolex.

DJ Khaled is featured below on the Ellen show talking about his career achievements, and notice not only are they both wearing Rolex watches, and Ellen DeGeneres is wearing a beautiful Pepsi GMT-Master.