I was just checking out Rolex's Instagram account an noticed this post on the new white gold Pepsi GMT-Master, which features a blue dial. For some reason, I am still getting used to the blue dial and I think it is growing on me...
Just for frame of reference I am including a side by side comparision image that shows the stainless steel Pepsi GMT-Master next to the white gold Pepsi GMT-Master:
The aforementioned ABS-CBN story pointed out, according to a 2015 Forbes.com storythat O'Leary owns a huge collection of more than 30 watches. The ABS-CBN article quotes Shark Tank superstar, Kevin O'Leary as making the profound point to his audience at ANC's Leadership Forum last Monday:
"This asset class (high-quality collectable watches) outperformed everything in the last 5 years, growing at least 400 percent."
During the ANC Leadership Forum Kevin O'Leary was wearing his stainless steel Rolex Daytona on his Red Rubber B Strap paired with his skull cufflinks as seen in the photo above and below, which appear courtesy of ABS-CBN. Kevin O'Leary was the headliner for ANC's Leadership Series for the fourth year in a row.
The ABS-CBN article quotes Kevin O'Leary as saying:
"Now, everybody's into collecting watches because the appreciation is phenomenal! It's just one of those crazy asset classes and you get to wear them. That's also good."
"I like competing. I like kicking ass. I like being successful. The monetary rewards are interesting and I buy all the watches, that makes it more interesting."
"Every time I close a deal, I buy a watch and I remember that deal with that watch. It's always great to remember the deal with the watch".
THE SHARKER
Several days ago I published a story about Robert Herjavec who is one of the six members on Shark Tank, so I thought it was fitting to share this story on one of his fellow sharks, Kevin O'Leary. Kevin O'Leary is commonly referred to by his nickname of Mr. Wonderful as he typically very skeptical and cynical in the way he hazes participants on Shark Tank. Kevin O'Leary is pictured below wearing his two-tone Rolex Submariner.
Kevin O'Leary is one of six sharks on Shark Tank, as we see below from top left to bottom right: Daymond John, Mark Cuban, Roger Herjavec, Barbara Corcoran, Kevin O'Leary, & Lori Greiner.
So it looks like Kevin O'Leary is back to Rolex, which he put on his trademark red strap and it looks great. Below is another photo of Kevin wearing his two-tone Submariner.
Kevin O'Leary is pictured below with his friend and fellow Shark Tank member, Daymond John as they enjoy some O'Leary wine.
I could not help but notice in the video above on Good Morning America, that Michael Strahan was wearing the exact same stainless steel Rolex Daytona that Mr. Woderful showed on his Instagram post.
Let's begin at the end. The screen grab below which we will see again later in the story was taken on board Apollo 14 on its way back to earth from its highly successful moon mission. You are looking at the first conclusive photographic evidence that NASA Apollo 14 Astronaut Stuart Roosa (pictured above) wore his Pepsi GMT-Master (pictured below) to the moon and back!!!
In the photo below we see the prime crew of the Apollo 14 lunar landing mission. From left to right we see Commander Stuart Roosa, Alan Shepard Jr., and lunar module pilot Dr. Edgar Mitchell.
In the photo above we see Dr. Edgar Mitchell putting two Pepsi Rolex GMT-Master models on his wrists as he prepared to go to the moon.
In the photo below taken by Dr. Edgar Mitchell, we see Alan Shepard just after he stepped foot on the moon for the first time.
Years ago I published the three images below onboard the Command Service Model (CSM) Kitty Hawk.
In the photo above we see NASA Apollo 14 Astronaut Alan Shepard on the right. Alan Shepard in pictured below in between his fellow Apollo 14 crewmates, Dr. Edgar Mitchell (left) and Stuart Roosa (right) in front of the Apollo 14 at Cape Canaveral.
In the photo above and below we see Alan Shepard wearing his Pepsi GMT-Master.
In the photo below we see Dr. Edgar Mitchell on the left in the Apollo 14 command module on February 6, 1971, at 18:48:42 UT, and notice he is wearing his Pepsi GMT-Master on his right wrist.
In the next image, we see Dr. Edgar Mitchell reaching out to Alan Shepard to shake his hand.
The newly discovered screenshot below was originally filmed on February 7, 1971, as the CSM Kitty Hawk made its way back to earth. This photo shows Stuart Roosa wearing his Pepsi GMT-Master. It is a fact that all three Apollo 14 crew members wore Pepsi Rolex GMT-Master models, but this appears to be the first evidence that shows and confirms Roosa doing so!!!
In the video below titled "Apollo-14: heat flow and convection experiment." if you watch carefully at 0:29 seconds, you will see Stuart Roosa's GMT-Master. This video footage was shot in the Apollo 14 Command and Service module named "Kitty Hawk." We also know it is Stuart Roosa's wrist as he had much lighter skin that Mitchell or Shepard.
NASA Apollo 14 Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa is pictured below wearing his Pepsi GMT-Master on his right wrist. Despite the fact I had seen this footage before I was never able to make an up-close positive ID on his Pepsi, but now we have uneqivocal evidence that support this fact.
The video below that shows both Dr. Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa wearing their Pepsi GMT-Master models on board Kitty Hawk on their right wrists. So basically, they are wearing Omega Speedmasters on their left wrists and Pepsi GMT-Master models on their right wrists.
So there you have it! All three NASA Apollo 14 Astronauts wearing Pepsi GMT-Master models!!!
If you want to learn much more on the about the lineage of the GMT-Master, including its role in outer-space, be sure to check out my story titled, "The Complete History of The Rolex GMT-Master."
The history of the Single Red SEA-DWELLER models has always been a bit enigmatic. Original Single Red SEA-DWELLER models are extremely rare and some of them were made with helium release valves, and some were not. Bob Bradley's Single Red is pictured below and we see it lacks a helium release valve.
In the photo below we see Robert-Palmer Bradley standing next to the DEEPSTAR 4000 Submersible which was designed by the famous Rolex Submariner Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Notice the "NEL" logo on the Submersible which stood for the U.S. Navy Electronics Laboratory. Today NEL has been renamed to "NUC" which stands for Naval Undersea Center.
In the photo below, taken in 1966, we see the complete crew of the Westinghouse DEEPSTAR 4000, posing with Walter Cronkite.
In the next photo, we see Bob Bradley wearing his Rolex Submariner while tracking DEEPSTAR 4000 form the ocean surface.
Jose and I have been working on the History Of The Rolex SEA-DWELLER timeline poster pictured below on the all-new 12.9 inch iPad. Jose recently updated the poster to add in the DEEPSTAR 4000 information.
This is where this story gets really profound. Jose, while doing research on the history of the Rolex Sea-Dweller discovered a Rolex brochure from 1975 that documented the fact that Rolex formally introduced the Sea-Dweller in 1971. This was four years after Robert-Palmer Bradley began testing the Single Red Sea-Dweller prototype.
Robert Palmer Bradley is pictured below earlier in his career when he was a U.S. Navy Fighter Pilot. He was staitioned on U.S. Navy Aircraft carriers and traveled all over the world.
Robert "Bob" Palmer Bradley developed a love of the sea and scuba diving while in the Navy, which led to his involvment with Jacques-Yves Cousteau and DEEPSTAR 4000. In the future I hope to share more insight into his career achiements.
The Rolex Chronograph pictured below was made in 1957 and features dual scales on the dial in red and blue. It is amazing how many different looking models Rolex has made in its history!
Stan Lee, the American comic-book writer, editor, actor, publisher, and film producer passed away today at age 95. Earlier in his career, Stan was the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, as well as the Chairman. Stan is probably most famous for creating Spider-Man.
Stan Lee wore a stainless steel Rolex Datejust on an Oyster braclet and in the photo above we see his white dial with Roman numerals.
Stan Lee created and launched Spiderman with Steve Ditko's illustrations in August of 1962:
As a child I spend many afternoons watching the Spiderman cartoon on the Boob Tube...Talk about a Deja Vu sandwich!!!
Stan Lee and Marvel Comics (MC) launched The Incredible Hulk Comic Book in May of 1962.
The Incredible Hulk was adapted into a TV show in the late 1970s that featured Lou Ferigno as The Incredible Hulk. Notice in the old-school photo that Stan was wearing his stainless steel Rolex Datejust...
Marvel Comics and Stan Lee launched The Iron Man Comic Book in March of 1963.
The Marvel Comic portfolio over time has grown into a multi-billion dollar empire.
There is a Confusious proverb that says, "A single conversation with a very wise man is worth more than ten years of study", and whenever I listen to Wek Koh, I know I am in for an amazingly deep intellectual conversation. In the interview below, Wei Koh interviews Geoffrey Hess who is the CEO of AnalogShift.com and they have a really deep conversation in the current state of collecting vintage watches.
In the video Geoffrey Hess says one of the most profound things I have ever heard on the subject of watch collection:
"The average vintage watch collector is searching for an equilibrium between passion and investment. Passion is what drives us to buy these watches. It’s what gets us excited. We make sense of the world through narrative; through stories; through objects and events that connect to our aspirations. That’s what passion is. That’s what keeps you up at night. That’s what drives you to buy a watch."
...Lume Shot Of The Day... Single Red SEA-DWELLER Palace Of Fine Arts San Francisco, California
I took the Rolex Lume shots seen below in front of the Palace Of Fine Arts in San Francisco, of the Single Red SEA-DWELLER. I could not make up my mind as to which image I like better, so I am sharing both. The first image shows only the markers, hands and bezel pearl glowing, and the lower photo shows much more dial detail.
There are so many times when I see photos of famous people with other people in the photo, I don't recognize—and I naturally wonder who they are? This happened when I published the photo below of Rolex Founder, Hans Wilsdorf. I assumed the man standing in the photo below was a Rolex watchmaker or executive, but as they say, "Never Assume!"
I am excited to share the standing man's identity. He is J. Farren-Price, and the photo was taken in late 1953 at Rolex global headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. It turns out J Farren-Price was Australia's original Rolex agent—in a relationship that began back in the early 1950s. J. Farren-Price has also been the longest standing Patek Philippe agent in Austrailia, which goes back to 1977. The Rolex advertisement below was featured in The Sydney Sun-Herald Newspaper on Sunday December 13, 1953. The ad is fascinating as we see a Tudor Aqua, and a stainless steel Rolex Triple Date Moonphase [Reference 8171] for only 74 Pounds!!! That same watch today could easily be worth $150,000, if not closer to a Million dollars!!!!
The most interesting part of this revelation is not so much in discovering the identity of J. Farren-Price, but in the way, I learned about it. You see, Jake's Rolex World has readers all over the world who regularly conduct their own investigations into Rolex history and write-in to share their insight with me— and that is exactly what happened with this story. Alan, who is located in Asia regularly researches Rolex history and writes in to share his findings with me, which in-turn I pass along to you—my readers.
This never ceases to amaze me—that we have developed an international network of Rolex history investigators that slowly and methodically keep putting together disparate pieces of the Rolex history puzzle!!! Thank you very much, Alan, for researching and sharing your valuable insight with us!!!
So who exactly, is J. Farren-Price? It turns out J Farren Price is a Luxury Jeweler and Watch Store located in Syndey, Australia which remains a Rolex authorized dealer to this day. J. Farren-Price founded his namesake store in 1942, and in the video below we see his son, J Farren-Price talking about how they celebrated their 75 year anniversary in 2017.
Historically Rolex has always been extremely secretive and discreet, and no journalists in the past have ever been invited "INSIDE ROLEX" to explore and report on all four Rolex Manufacturing faclities in Switzerland.
In November 2013, this changed when Rolex invited Jake to take an unprecdented journey into the heart of Rolex to learn and report on everything he witnessed and learned.
This Super-Detailed 3 Part Story is a "MUST READ" story for anybody who wants to understand what really makes Rolex tick.
The Hans Wilsdorf Story: Founder Of Rolex
Rolex is one of the most recognizable brands on earth, but very little has been known about its real history. If you really, really want to understand what makes Rolex tick, I very highly recommend you read the fascinating story of Rolex's amazing founder–Hans Wilsdorf.
Support Jake's Rolex World
Jake's Rolex World is supported by viewers like you. Please donate by clicking on the Patreon button below:
