Saturday, June 11, 2016

Dalai Lama Rolex Keeping The Time Of His Life



What Kind Of Man Wears Rolex?

I recently wrote a story titled, "The Rolex Woman", which explored the Evolution Of The Female Rolex Archetype. So when we think about the male Rolex archetype, many different people come to mind. Macho-men, that are really cool, like Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Steve McQueen. In modern times you might think of Michael Jordan, Brad Pitt, or James Cameron. 


When you think of Political figures who wear a gold Rolex you might think of U.S. Presidents, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson or Bill Clinton, or even former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. When people think about Civil Rights Leaders who have worn yellow gold Rolex watches, they might think about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., or Jesse Jackson. One man who might surprise people with wearing a Yellow Gold Rolex President, is no other than His Holiness, The Dali Lama of Tibet.

I recently published a story on Jake's Rolex World that showcases a story I wrote that was published in Rolex's paper magazine named, "The Rolex Magazine." The name of my story was "The Rolex Precedent", which is a play on the widely used nickname of the Rolex Day-Date, which is is know as "The Rolex President." The Rolex President gained this name and notoriety as it has been worn on the wrist of many powerful politicians, and political figures. U.S. President, Lyndon Johnson was probably the first figure that not only wore a Rolex Day-Date, but wielded it as the ultimate "Political Tool Watch." In other words, Rolex's Sports Models, which have commonly been referred to as Professional Models by Rolex, are commonly referred to by collectors as "Tool Watches." So many people are surprised to learn that the ultimate "Political Tool Watch" have historically been the Yellow Gold Rolex Datejust and Day-Date models.


...Nobel Peace Prize Laureate...

Dalai Lama
Rolex Keeping The Time Of His Life
 Blue Sunburst Dial

The Dalai Lama is considered to be the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, and he is renowned for his wisdom diplomacy, kindness, smile and peaceful nature. It is difficult to discover what kind or watch he wears, because he always wears his watches, rotated 180 degrees around his wrist. When a watch is worn backwards on the wrist, it serves to camouflage the watch, which makes it difficult to observe.


In the photo above, we see The Dalai Lama wearing his Yellow Gold Rolex Day-Date as he stands next to South African President and Civil Right Leader, Nelson Mandela.




As mentioned, The Dalai Lama typically goes out of his way to make certain his watches never appear to be fancy or ostentatious. His holiness does so, by typically putting them on inexpensive stretchable Speidel Twist-O-Flex watch bands. In this recent photo, we see the Dalai Lama with Prince Charles, and the Dalai Lama is wearing a yellow gold Rolex Day-Date with a cobalt blue dial. 


The photo below shows a cobalt blue Rolex sunburst dial which I believe is the same one on the Dalai Lama's Day-Date.


In this next photo, we see the Dalai Lama wearing a two-tone Rolex Datejust on a jubilee bracelet, as he meets with the Head Rabbi of Israel Meir Lau, in Jerusalem, Israel.



Apparently, His Holiness, The 14th Dalai Lama is not only a big watch collector, but works on his own watches, as seen in the photo below. It turns out that former U.S. President, Franklin Roosevelt was apparently responsible for infecting Dalai Lama with WISitus when he was only seven or eight years old!

During World War II , the Allied Powers wanted to build a road through Tibet, from India that continued to China. In 1943, two American agents from the Office Of Strategic Services delivered a package to the young Dalai Lama from U.S. President Roosevelt, which contained a letter and a complicated yellow-gold Patek Phillipe Reference 658 Pocket-watch model. This story first came to light in the Patek Philippe Magazine, Issue Number 8, from Fall of 2000.



The Dalai Lama once recounted his experience as a young boy while working on watches: "I have always enjoyed repairing watches. But I can remember a number of occasions as a boy when, completely losing my patience with those tiny, intricate parts, I picked up the mechanism and smashed it down on the table. Of course, later I felt very sorry and ashamed of my behavior—especially when, as on one occasion, I had to return the watch to its owner in a condition worse than it was before!" [Dalai Lama, Ethics for the new millennium].