Back on November 11, 2020 I published a story saying:
"I have some really exciting news to share with you! YouTube movies just released James Cameron's amazing DeepSea Challenge 3D documentary which you can watch below for free, which will blow your mind—especially if you are a Rolex fan."
I learned from some readers of Jake's Rolex World that unfortunately this movie is not available in all countries, but I know it is available in the United States.
I just finished watching (pun intended :-) James Cameron's DEEPSEA CHALLENGE 3D and thought I would write a brief review. Since many people don't work between Christmas and New Years, I thought it would be good to share this again as well as offer some interesting insight. If you are a Rolex-spotter you will have a field day watching this movie as there are Rolex diving models all over the place!
I discovered the image below in the movie which has special meaning for me. You see, I live-blogged James Cameron's DEEPSEA CHALLENGE event live back in 2012 on Jake's Rolex World. At the time of the dive there was zero live coverage or even photos on the internet as they were out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean near Guam, but Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen was out in the middle of the Pacific with his 414 foot super-yacht named "Octopus" following James Cameron's ship and Paul was taking photos of the event and uploading them to an online service named TwitterPick, as Twitter didn't support photo attachments at the time.
Paul Allen published the photo below live at 7:15 PST that shows James Cameron's DEEPSEA CHALLENGER Submersible as it was being hoisted back up onto the Mermaid Sapphire after its successful record-breaking dive.
In the photo below we see James Cameron in the cockpit of his Deepsea Challenger submersible and he is wearing his Rolex DeepSea Special.
It Take a Licking & Keeps On Ticking
The next image is from the movie where James Cameron looks out the viewport of his submersible and points at the Rolex prototype "DEEPSEA CHALLENGE" and says "It's still ticking", even with 16,500 pounds of pressure per square inch."
Below we get a close-up view of the DEEPSEA CHALLENGE Prototype that is pictured above.
Experimental Rolex DEEPSEA CHALLENGE from 2012 Pictured above
Contrast the side profile view of James Cameron's experimental Rolex DEEPSEA CHALLENGE (pictured above) with its grandfather, the DEEPSEA SPECIAL Prototype which is pictured below. Rolex designed the original DEEPSEA SPECIAL prototype in the early 1950s.
Rolex DEEPSEA SPECIAL Prototype from 1960 Pictured above
This next photo shows James Cameron shaking Don Walsh's hand after a successful dive. Don Walsh set the all-time depth record in 1960 with August Piccard in the U.S. Navy Bathyscaphe Trieste. Ironically, one of the most outstanding characteristics about this amazing documentary is that it is the ONLY time in my life I have witnessed an explorer wearing a Rolex tool watch while really pushing the envelope of what is possible. I highly recommend 👆🏼watching this free documentary on YouTube which you can see at the top of this story.
“They may have introduced this new model, but Rolex don’t chase whims, they don’t chase pop culture. They really like tradition, their support of exploration science is tremendous and they love the fact that being part of this exploration closed the ellipse on the Bathyscaphe Trieste expedition in 1960 (the first manned vehicle to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench), because they had a watch then that went down on the outside of that vessel too.”
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.