Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Captian Chesley Sullenberger III: A Great Rolex Hero...


Captain Chesley Sullenberger III
A Great Rolex Hero

Captain Chesley Sullenberger is a real life hero, and with all the topsy-turvy ups and downs in our world today, we need a real hero–a true square-dealer–like Jimmy Stewart so often portrayed in the movies, but we need and sincerely appreciate the real deal. A man who rises to the occasion and is always graceful and gracious under pressure.

Captain Chesly "Sully" Sullenberger is such a man.

Captain Sullenberger was the Captain of US Airways Flight 1549 which he successfully ditched into the Hudson river in New York after both of the airplanes engines completely failed. In doing so, he saved the lives of EVERY person on-board his airplane. There were 155 passengers on his flight that all owe him a profound debt of gratitude.

In this article, we will examine what happened and how he managed to achieve what many people believe to be a miracle. By the way, he wears a stainless Rolex Datejust on a Jubilee bracelet as seen in the photo below.


Captian Chesley Burnett Sullenberger III was born January 23, 1951 and currently resides in Danville, California which is located in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Captain Sullenberger was the pilot in command of an Airbus A320 that took-off from New York's LaGuardia Airport, scheduled to fly to Charlotte/Douglas Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina. Moments after taking off Captain Sullenberger communicated to Air Traffic Control (ATC) that his airplane hit a very large flock of birds, which disabled both engines.

Sullenberger discussed with ATC attempting an emergency landing back to LaGuardia or Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.

Captain Sullenberger realized since he had no engine power whatsoever it was unlikely he could make it to either airport safely, so after some very quick thinking he decided to try to ditch the airplane in the Hudson River–which he successfully achieved–thus saving the lives of 155 passengers and crew on his airplane.

The best way to learn the details of what happened from is from Captain Sullenberger in his own worlds in the following video from 60 Minutes:









If you did not watch the 60 Minutes interview with Captain Sullenberg, located in this story, I highly recommend you watch it. Let's take a closer look at this real life hero.


The photo below appears courtesy of the U.S. Air Force Academy and shows cadet Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger. Sullenberger graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1973 and served in the Air Force from 1973 to 1980. During his service in the U.S. Air Force he flew F-4 Phantom II fighter planes.


When asked if Captain Sullenberger considered himself to be a hero, he responded by saying, "I am not a hero, I simply did the job I was trained to do." The 155 passengers whose lives he saved and their families and friends probably would respectfully disagree with Captain Sullenberger.

Of course, I believe Captain Sullegberger is a real life hero. So what exactly is the definition of a hero? I would say that if a person can rest their head better when they sleep at night because of something somebody did to help them, that makes them a real hero, and that is certainly the case with Captain Sullenberger.

On a Rolex note, Air Force Pilots like Chuck Yeager have been wearing and depending on Rolex watches for as long as they have been flying planes. Many commercial and airplane pilots also rely on their Rolex watches. Is it a coincidence that Captian Sullenberger has been wearing a Rolex for many decades and achieved absolute flawless excellence by saving 155 lives? I will let you answer that question.



Ultra-Rare Rolex Custom Enamel Watch...


Questionable Authenticity

Alert: It has come to our attention after publishing this story that the authenticity of the enameled dial on this watch is questionable. This information comes from one of our resident experts, and author of 100 Superlative Rolex Watches, John Goldberger who said:

"This dial was manufactured in the 1990's in Switzerland and the original cloisonné dial was supplied in the 1950's from Cadran Stern Frerés company and they never manufactured a dial with the American Eagle. I think also there is a mistake in the Latin "motto" on the dial! A few of these watches appared in some European Auctions, one of these had a letter from Rolex , but the truth is Rolex doesn't know anything about the provenance of the dial. The quality of the dial is very good but it's 100% fake."

John Goldberger is one of the foremost experts on vintage Rolex watches on planet earth and I trust his evaluation. I did notice the misspelling of "E Pluribus Unum" with the second "U" in "Unum" being an "I" but I assumed it was because the enamel had fallen off.

American Eagle Rolex

I have never been a big fan of watches with hand enameled dials, but I must say this Rolex completely blew me away when I first saw it. According to the owner "It is a super rare Eagle Logo made for a U.S. General and it has all the paperwork and provenance from Rolex."

Many years ago Rolex used to do custom work, but I don't think they offer custom services anymore. The watch was probably made before 1956 because the watch has the Seal of the United States that says, "E Pluribus Unum" which means "Out of Many, One." The reason it must be pre-1956 is because the U.S. changed the seal in 1956 to say "In God We Trust."

The design of this Rolex is very interesting because it has a definite 1950s Populux vibe, with the unusually interesting dauphin hands with the missing lume. I assume the lume disintegrated over the years, but it makes the hands look even cooler.

Also, the juxtaposition between the eagle and the Rolex crown is fascinating because they are both internationally renowned symbols of distinction.

What an amazingly masterpiece!!!


Photo Credit: Tuscanyrose