Tuesday, February 27, 2024

David Sarnoff: 1950 Rolex Datejust Ad

...Rolex Pioneer...
General David Sarnoff
1950 Rolex Datejust Ad
Founder Of NBC

This Time Magazine Rolex magazine ad for the Rolex Datejust appeared in the September 18, 1950 edition and features David Sarnoff. David Sarnoff was and amazing pioneer in American commercial radio and TV and founded NBC (National Broadcasting Company) in 1925 which was the first radio network in the U.S.A.

At the beginning of World War II, David Sarnoff served on General Eisenhower's communications staff and arranged expanded radio circuits for NBC to transmit news from the invasion of France in June of 1944. Once in France, Sarnoff restored the Radio France station in Paris, which had been destroyed by the Germans and replaced it with a powerful radio transmitter that was able to reach all allied forces in Europe, and this all-new station was dubbed Radio Free Europe. General Eisenhower rewarded David Sarnoff by appointing him a Brigadier General and giving him a star for his participation in World War II.

When Rolex published this ad in 1950, David Sarnoff was in the process of pioneering the all-new color TV standard in the U.S.