Thursday, September 29, 2022

1966 Asprey Rolex Add Rolex Submariner Reference 5513


1966 Asprey Rolex Ad
Rolex Submariner Reference 5513

This 1966 Rolex Magazine Ad shows the rare 3-6-9 Explorer dial Rolex Submariner being offered by Asprey which is located on Bond Street in England. One of the most interesting details in this add is that the Rolex Submariner was selling for 69 British Pounds, which in today's dollars would be $77. Today this same Rolex Submariner would be worth close to $200,000 in U.S. Dollars!!!


Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Jerome Powell Federal Reserve Chairman



A Federal Case





Jerome Powell


Federal Reserve Chairman

Rolex Submariner
Reference 16610

Jerome Powell has been in the news a lot lately as the Federal Reserve has recently hiked up interest rates again to try to fight inflation, so I thought it would be a good time to take a look at Powell.





Some people believe the President of the United States is the most powerful man in the world, and some would say the Chairman of Federal Reserve is actually more powerful. Certainly, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve is one of the most powerful people in the world of finance as they control fiscal policy for the United State Economy, which is the largest in the world. In the video below from September 21, 2022 we witness Jerome Powell announce a 0.75 precent rate rise, where he talks about his goal to curb inflation and bring it back down to 2% annually.



Below is a video from September 23, 2022 that features Chairman Powell on the subject of "Transitioning to the Post-pandemic Economy" with the full board of governors for the first time in 9 years.


Jerome Powell—also known by his nickname of Jay Powell—is the current Chairman of the Fed and as we see in the photo above he wears a vintage Rolex Submariner.



It is interesting to see the Chairman of the Federal Reserve wearing a Rolex Submariner for a few different reasons that come to mind. First, I've said many times before that Rolex is like its own country and Rolex watches themselves are a currency in and of themselves. So it's interesting to see Chairman Powell wearing Rolex currency on his wrist. Secondly, The Submariner is such a timeless, classic, masculine watch.




Jerome Powell has a somewhat unusual background for being the Chairman of the Fed as he does not have a degree in economics, but is a lawyer by training.

I included four detailed videos that feature Jerome Powell below, and if you watch them you will not only see him rockin' his Submariner but more importantly get a great idea of his intellectual prowess...



Warren Buffett

On Jerome Powell


"I think Jay Powell is terrific Chairman of the Fed...I've listened to what he's had to say. I love the fact Jay Powell is Chairman of the Fed...He will do what in his judgment is best for the American economy over time. There isn't any question about that...He knows what his job is and he will do it."


—Warren Buffet

Warren Buffett is an international treasure. The way he speaks reminds me of Yoda. He is like Yoda talking economics...The CNBC video below is SUPER PROFOUND!!! At around 16 minutes into the interview, Warren offers his opinion on Jerome Powell, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. 


Of course, Warren Buffett is no stranger to the crown as he has been wearing his yellow gold Rolex Day-Date for decades...

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Rolex Day-Date in 40MM



...Rolex Studio Shot of the Day...


Rolex Day-Date in 40mm

Platinum with Ice-Blue Dial

Monday, September 26, 2022

Mirka Federer: The Rolex Ambassador's Wife




FEDEX FAREWELL



Note from Jake: They say there is a great woman behind every great man...Since Roger Federer announced his retirement from professional tennis there have been a lot of people checking out Captain Danny's brilliant article he published back on May 3, 2022 on Rocking Roger's amazing wife, Mirka, so I thought I would bring his article back up to the top. In the Roger's farewell speech (below) he sums it all up perfectly...






           
Roger Federer is arguably the greatest tennis player in history and his biggest fan is his wife, Mirka Federer. 

Mirka Federer wears many different Rolex models and let's begin by looking at her wearing a Rolex White Gold Cosmograph Daytona 40, Mother-of-Pearl Diamond Dial on white leather strap during this five-set nail-biter. 


The white Daytona is very à propos for this tournament as players can only wear whites on Wimbledon courts. I love that Mirka doesn't just wear Lady-Datejusts.


Mirka Federer, who used to play tennis professionally and competed at the US Open, Wimbledon, the French Open and the Australian Open, has been married to Roger since 2009. 


...and she has been his biggest supporter. They met during the 2000 Summer Olympics on a tennis court. They were both representing the Swiss team. 


Mirka is the perfect example of men-size Rolex fitting perfectly on a woman's wrist. Below she is rocking the Rolex Yacht-Master 40 with multi-color gem-set bezel.




And finally below, Mrs. Federer is rocking probably the coolest Rolex Day-Date ever: A Day-Date with emerald bezel and diamond pavé dial.




Sunday, September 25, 2022

WatchAndWoman: Karissa Debut's on YouTube



WatchAndWoman

Karissa Debut's on YouTube


Karissa has a great Instagram page named @WatchAndWoman, and she just launched her first YouTube video where she shares fascinating insight into how she fell in love with watches and shares an amazing story about her father's Mocha GMT-Master Rolex. I am a planning to do a lot more Rolex video content soon, and I would love to have Karissa come on my show in the future. Suffice it to say, I am a big fan of Karissa on Instagram, and I know she is also a big fan of my @Rolex.Magazine Instagram page.


Saturday, September 24, 2022

Apple Ultra v. Rolex Explorer 'Orange Hand'

 

Apple Ultra

v.

Rolex Explorer 'Orange Hand'

Captain Danny texted me the photo below saying "Really impressed with the Ultra". I was kind of shocked by his image since when I first saw the Apple Ultra it instantly reminded me of the "Orange Hand" Rolex Explorer—as they both have that touch of safety orange 'Space Odyssey 2001 Retro kind of vibe. It was obviously just a coincidence Captain Danny was wearing his Orange Hand Explorer II, and took this G-Money image of it next to the Apple Watch Ultra, but Daaayuuum, this photo perfectly illustrates what I have been talking about this whole time...

Apple's first 'SMART TOOLWATCH" named The 'ULTRA' pictured above 

next to the current Rolex Explorer II 'Orange Hand'.


As Captain Danny and I talked over text he mentioned he was on a layover in Hawaii and at the Ala Moana in Honolulu and he dropped by the Apple store. I asked him why he was impressed with the Ultra? He responded: "It’s unbelievably light and comfortable." The lightweight aspect is based upon the fact the case is made out of Titanium, and the fact that it's 49MM tall, and very thick, but lightweight is fascinating.



I haven't seen the Apple Watch Ultra in person, but plan to do a detailed video review of it for Jake's Apple Watch World, and will include it here on Jake's Rolex World. When Apple first launched the Ultra model I ran a story on it, and recently I published a story about how Apple coincidentally created an image remarkable similar to a vintage 1960 Rolex Explorer Ad.


Thursday, September 22, 2022

Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative: New York 2020–2022


Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative 

New York

2020–2022 




Protégés from the 2020–2022 Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative provided a thrilling programme of premieres, performances and talks during the Rolex Arts Weekend, co-presented with the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), as part of a celebration of their mentorships with world-renowned artists. Established in 2002, the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative exemplifies the company's pursuit of excellence, symbolized by the word “Perpetual”. The programme was established to aid in the transmission of artistic knowledge and craft from one generation to the next.

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Rolex 'Orange Hand' Explorer II Polo Ad


Rolex 'Orange Hand' 

Explorer II Polo Ad

[Reference 1655]


 

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Rolex Macro Shot Of The Day... Gold Rolex Day-Date



...Rolex Macro Shot Of The Day...

Gold Rolex Day-Date


Monday, September 19, 2022

Updating the Deepsea Challenge





ROLEX SHOULD MAKE ITS MOST

CAPABLE WATCH EVEN BETTER






In 2012, when James Cameron landed at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the Earth's deepest abyss, he looked at the manipulator arm of the submersible he singlehandedly piloted and saw the Rolex Deepsea Challenge ticking. 

"Oh, I see the second hand going!" he said out loud. "Yeah baby, we are good! We have us a working watch!!!"


HMS CHALLENGER

This year marks 10 years since Cameron's historic dive to the Mariana Trench. But 2022 marks also 150 years since the HMS Challenger left on the scientific mission that first discovered the deepest point on the planet where Cameron landed his submersible—a spot aptly named "Challenger Deep," after the British vessel.



The 12,000-meter-rated Rolex watch attached to the outside of Cameron's submersible is now a decade old and should be updated.


POST-DIVE, CAMERON CHECKS ROLEX TIMEKEEPING


Since 2019, Omega on its website is claiming the No. 1 spot from Rolex: Omega says its Planet Ocean Ultra Deep Professional holds the record for the deepest dive. In 2019, Victor Vescovo piloted his submersible to the deepest point on planet Earth after having sonar-mapped the ocean floor to find the deepest spot in the Mariana Trench, deeper than Cameron's landing spot, according to depth measurements of that day. The Planet Ocean strapped to Vescovo's submersible had been tested in Omega's labs to 15,000m. 


11,900M MORE OF WR THAN THE APPLE WATCH ULTRA


A decade ago, when Rolex watchmakers were testing Cameron's Deepsea Challenge for the first time in the so-called "Mariannes" tank inside Rolex labs in Switzerland, the tension in the room was palpable. The design engineers, watchmakers and several other people involved in the project had gathered to attend the test. And when the watch came out of the tank unscathed, everyone burst into applause, a rare display of emotions for the cool-and-collected, buttoned-up Swiss company.


DEEP SEA SPECIAL (L) & DEEPSEA CHALLENGE (R)

To be sure, in 1960, another experimental Rolex, the Rolex Deep Sea Special, was attached to the exterior of the bathyscaphe Trieste piloted by U.S. Navy Lt. Don Walsh and oceanographer Jacques Piccard reaching a record depth of 10,916m. But it looked nothing like Cameron's Deepsea, which had all the updated technology, complete with a ceramic bezel, sapphire crystal and Rolex's 3135 movement.
 
Now Rolex should update further its 2012 record-setting watch. 




For starters, the watch should be equipped with the new, state-of-the-art 3230 movement, a no-date movement which is a departure from Cameron's Deepsea Challenge. No one really needs to know what date it is at 10.9km below the surface, where the bigger concern is being crushed by the pressure equivalent of six SUVs piled on top of your Rolex. Design-wise the no-date choice makes the watch dial more balanced and more pro-looking. Omega's Planet Ocean Ultra Deep Professional also eschews a date complication.




The new watch should be made entirely from titanium. A year ago, I wrote about Sir Ben Ainslie's Rolex Yacht-Master prototype in full titanium which has yet to be commercialized. Cameron's watch in 2012 was built with the heavier 904L steel and a case back in titanium. Still, the new Deepsea Challenge should be updated with the full case in ultra-resistant Grade 5 titanium.





The Swiss watchmaking industry is competing against the biggest watch seller of our days—Apple—with the four pillars untouched by smartwatches: 

1. Timelessness. Rolex uses the word "perpetual" while Patek talks about watches lasting generations
2. Cosplay. Whether it's a watch worn on the Moon, by James Bond, aviators, or in ocean's greatest depths. 
3. Heritage. Faux patina, model reissue, or just a red text saying "Sea-Dweller." Rolex's historical arc, beginning in 1905, is unmatched. 
4. Luxury. Two-tone Explorer, Rootbeer GMT, Bluesy Sub or meteorite-dial Daytona, luxury watches are still men's jewelry—a domain hardly touched by smartwatches.

While the Deepsea Challenge has timelessness, cosplay and luxury (it's a Rolex after all), it does lack the heritage angle essential to the four pillars of today's mechanical watch marketing. I would add a throwback James Cameron gradiant blue dial or a commemorative engraving on the caseback à la Speedmaster.


THIS WATCH DOESN'T EXIST

Either way, the Deepsea Challenge is an important watch in the history of watchmaking and in the history of exploration. After 1960 and for more than half a century, the Rolex Deep Sea Special remained the only watch to be tested at the deepest ocean floor in real life conditions. When James Cameron made his historic dive, fewer people had gone to the deepest point of the ocean than to the Moon. It's time for Rolex to update its Deepsea Challenge and reclaim the title of King of the Deep.


Friday, September 16, 2022

The New Yorker Rolex Ad


It Doesn't Just Tell Time


This ad featuring luminaries, visionaries and champions appeared in the May 20, 2013 edition of the New Yorker. 



 

Thursday, September 15, 2022

Rocking Roger Federer Retires from Professional Tennis

 

Roger Federer

Retires from Professional Tennis

They say that all great things must come to an end, and Rocking Roger Federer announced that he is going to be retiring from playing professional tennis soon. Roger Federer is arguably the greatest tennis player in history—basically, being the Michael Jordan of tennis. Rolex put together this AMAZING video to congratulate Federer for his incredible career achievements to date.

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

SUBMARINER: Timepiece Of Inner Space




SUBMARINER

Timepiece Of Inner Space


The photos below are of a Rolex Submariner brochure from the early 1970s that fascinatingly refers to the Rolex Submariner as "Timepiece of inner space." Inner space is an antithetical metaphor to outer space.



If you look closely at the inside of the Rolex brochure pictured below, you will notice it features a classic stainless steel Single-Red Rolex Date Submariner [Reference 1680] with Maxi Markers. Notice it does NOT feature solid end links (SEL), but the yellow gold version next to it does feature solid end links. The yellow gold Rolex Submariner was the very first Rolex sports watch to feature SEL.

Also, notice the yellow gold Rolex Submariner dial features "nipple" indices with matching yellow gold surrounds, which are much smaller than the classic "Maxi" indices, also commonly referred to as "Maxi Markers." Modern Submariner indices, or markers, evolved from these models. So today the 2019 Submariner has Maxi Markers with white gold surrounds. Nick Gould brilliantly observed: "The Gold Rolex Submariner [Reference 1680], was really the first luxury sports watch". 




Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Dark Chocolate Daytona



...Rolex Studio Shot Of The Day...


Dark Chocolate Daytona 

EverRose Gold with Ceramic Bezel


Monday, September 12, 2022

Rolex Wrist Shots of the Week: Rolex DEEP SEA Sunset



Rolex DEEP SEA Sunset

Percy, the co-owner of the German R-L-X.de forum took these superb sunset shots of his Rolex DEEP SEA.


Sunday, September 11, 2022

September 11, 2001: Todd Beamer's Rolex


...Commemorating Sept. 11, 2001...

 

The 9/11 Rolex


Let's Roll!





By Capt. DANNY CRIVELLO


"Rolex is the international mark of success," is a phrase famously said by Jake in these pages and even requoted in The New York Times. For Todd Beamer, passenger of Flight United 93, his mark of success came when he was promoted from salesman to account manager at Oracle. 




Todd's father, David Beamer, agrees. "Todd's watch was a fine watch," he said. "He was a successful guy."






We can easily recall where we were on Sept. 11, 2001. I was putting my uniform on that morning, grabbing my flight bags and headed to my '65 convertible Mustang as an airline Captain based in Washington, D.C. My neighbor saw me outside and she called me. "Have you seen the news? I don't think you'll be flying anywhere today." I immediately went back inside and followed the horrific events on live TV. 


Todd Beamer


For Todd Beamer, it was a different story. He and his wife had traveled through Italy on a trip paid for by Oracle. The couple returned to the U.S. on Sept. 10, and Todd rose early the following morning to catch Flight 93 out of Newark airport for San Francisco.




Todd's story on that fateful flight is well known. "Let's roll!" were his last recorded words as he and other passengers attempted to storm the cockpit and retake the plane from the hijackers. The slogan subsequently became a battle cry for American forces during the War on Terror. 




In a Nov. 8 address from the World Congress Center in Atlanta, President George W. Bush invoked Todd's words: "Some of our greatest moments have been acts of courage for which no one could have been prepared. But we have our marching orders. My fellow Americans, let's roll!" He used them again in the 2002 State of the Union address: "For too long our culture has said, 'If it feels good, do it.' Now America is embracing a new ethic and a new creed: 'Let's roll.'"




Todd's watch is frozen in time, the date window permanently stuck on "11." It is a two-tone Rolex Datejust Turn-O-Graph with a champagne dial on Jubilee bracelet. The Turn-O-Graph is essentially a Datejust with a rotating bezel. Unfortunately, the model is no longer sold by Rolex; in fact, it hasn’t been since 2011.


Todd's Rolex is charred, smashed, fragmented, missing the crystal, the second hand, and what would appear to be the minute hand and also the bracelet. The Rolex has been through hell, there is no other way to put it. But the coronet logo is unmistakable. Every Rolex tells a story and, in a sense, this one still tells the story of one day, one date. Still displayed in the window.

 


After the hijackers took over the plane, Todd saw the dead co-pilot laying in the aisle near the cockpit with his throat slit. He reached for the phone on the seat back in front of him and tried to call his wife, but could not get through. 


Screenshot from the movie "United 93"


He instead got a G.T.E. operator. He told her what was happening, and she connected the call to F.B.I. agents. The phone remained connected for fifteen minutes while Beamer and several others organized to overtake the terrorists. 


Moments after Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania


He had the flight attendants boil water and assemble whatever could be used as a weapon. He said the Lord's prayer and the Psalm 23 with the G.T.E. operator, others joined in. He then told her to call his wife and kids and tell them he loved them. The last words the operator heard Todd Beamer say were, “Are you guys ready? Let’s roll.” 




We know that Flight 93 was destined for Washington D.C., near where I lived, making this story extra personal. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, at 9:55 am—as I was getting ready for work—the terrorist pilot Ziad Jarrah dialed in the frequency for the navigational aid at Washington Reagan National Airport, clearly indicating that the attack was planned for the nation's capital.

And Todd Beamer, a Rolex on his wrist, said, "Let's roll!" He helped stop the hijackers' plan from unfurling while saving countless lives on the ground.