1936 Italian Rolex Prince Ad

1936 Italian Rolex Prince Ad

This super cool Italian art deco Rolex Magazine ad is from my story titled, "The Complete History of The Rolex Prince & Princess." I included this super-cool 1936 Art-Deco Italian Rolex Prince magazine ad. 

Donald Trump Jr & Tucker Carlson

Weekend Watching

Donald Trump Jr & Tucker Carlson

GMT-MASTER V. DATEJUST

Two guys walk into a bar, wearing Rolex watches...Sorry, I couldn't resist. I always find conversations between to people wearing Rolex to be fascinating, and in this Tucker Carlson interview we see Donald Trump Jr., rocking his new GMT-Master, which I covered in a recent story.

Tucker and Donald Trump Jr. have a fascinating conversation about the current state of politics in the United States today, and I will say I think you are looking at a future President of the United States in the making. 

...Rolex Macro Shot Of The Day... Tiffany & Company Double Red SEA-DWELLER SUBMARINER 2000

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

Tiffany & Company Double Red

SEA-DWELLER SUBMARINER 2000

Paul Boutros took this great macro shot of his Tiffany & Company Double Red Rolex SEA-DWELLER SUBMARINER 2000. This is a very rare dial designation and a really, really cool vintage Rolex!!!!

Reggie Jackson "Mr. October"

...Rolex Super-Coolness...

Reggie Jackson


"Mr. October"

Legendary Baseball Player

Pepsi GMT-Master

Paul Boutros from Phillip's Auction House was at the U.S. Open Golf Tournament back in June of 2019 and he snapped this super picture of baseball legend Reggie Jackson (Mr. October) rockin' his vintage Pepsi GMT-Master [Reference 1675].

Seeing Reggie at the U.S. Open reminded me of this vintage Rolex ad from 1969.

As a child, Reggie Jackson was one of my heroes and great role models.

Reggie Jackson is a renowned car collector and obviously a big Rolex collector as we see him sporting many different Rolex watches. In the photos below we see Reggie waring a white gold Rolex Submariner with a blue dial and bezel.

In the two photos below we see Reggie rockin both a white and yellow gold Rolex Daytona.

Lume Shot Of The Day Sascha's DEEP-SEA Darkness

Lume Shot Of The Day

Sascha's DEEP-SEA Darkness

Liza Minnelli Yellow Gold Date Lady Datejust...

Academy Award Winner For Best Actress

Liza Minnelli

Yellow Gold Date Lady Datejust

Liza Minnelli is an absolute SuperStar! She is one of the very few people in history to win an Emmy, Oscar, Tony and Grammy Award. Liza Minelli is pictured below with Sammy Davis Jr., and she is wearing her yellow goal Rolex Ladies Date. Sammy Davis Jr., also wore many different Rolex watches.

SUBMARINER: THE WATCH THAT UNLOCKED THE DEEP BY NICHOLAS FOULKES

 

SUBMARINER 

THE WATCH THAT UNLOCKED THE DEEP

BY NICHOLAS FOULKES

Rolex in partnership with Wallpaper, just released for sale their first authorized biography book, on the subject of the history of the Rolex Submariner, which was written by Nicholas Foulkes. 

Nick Gould and I have ben micro-analyzing all the details to the Nth degree, and as time permits, I will be publishing a detailed review of this epic tome! The book is particularly fascinating as it represents the first book where the author was able to work directly with the Rolex historical archivist, so there are a number of previously undisclosed details revealed in this interesting Rolex history book...Stay tuned for much, much more, but in the meantime enjoy this preview cover image of the book...

Brooke Shields: Timeless Beauty...

...Rolex Super-Hotness...

Brooke Shields

Timeless Beauty

When I was a kid, I was madly in Love with Brooke Shields—who wasn't? I remember watching a movie she stared in 1980, named Blue Lagoon, which was amazing...at least for my then 14 year old brain... Brooke Shields also launched the Uber iconic Calvin Klein Designer Jeans revolution with this famous ad...

I originally began writing about Brooke Shields back in 2009, a few years ago, Hodinkee published an excellent episode of Talking Watches with Brooke which is fascinating.

I was mesmerized with Brooke's interview, especially the story she shares about how a man threw his Pepsi GMT-Master to her when she was in a taxi cab as it drove away and said, "Because your eyes are so beautiful!" She tried to give it back to him, but he refused, and then after the man died she tried to give it back to his next of kin which was his brother, who refused it and said "He wanted you to have it!" And today, this now vintage Rolex Pepsi is her favorite! Talk about reality being stranger than fiction!?!! It really is true that every Rolex tells a story...

Brooke Shields also had this to say on her “Really Sexy“ Rolex Pepsi GMT-Master: “I love the size of this! There is just something really masculine but really sexy about it today! You could pick this guy out. He’s like James Bond.”

Brooke Shields is like a Rolex in the sense she has always remained a timeless beauty. Brook Shields has enjoyed an amazing career as an actress and super-model. She is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful women in history. Brooke's first Rolex, to the best of my knowledge was a two-tone lady Datejust as pictured on her wrist below with her mother.

In this next photo of Brook Shields we see her hanging out with fellow actor, Patrick Swayze. Patrick Swayze was a lifelong Rolex wearer. In this image taken in the early 1980s we see Brooke Shields sporting her  yellow gold Lady Datejust.

In the next photos we see Brooke switched from wearing a yellow gold Lady Datejust which was 26mm to a 36mm Men's Rolex Day-Date on a President bracelet.

If you want to see more photos of women wearing men's Rolex watches, please click on the Label below this story named, "Women Wearing Men's Rolex Watches" which I created as a guide for women to get an idea of what these watches might look like on them. Brooke is pictured below with her husband, Chris Henchy at a football game.

In this most recent photo, we see Brooke Shields rocking her vintage Pepsi GMT-Master...

Rolex Worldwide Headquarters

Autumn Is Here

Rolex Worldwide Headquarters

Geneva, Switzerland 

1995

Summer is gone in the northern hemisphere and leaves are changing color and falling off the trees. The photo below of Rolex Worldwide Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland was taken in Fall of 1995 before Rolex increased the number of floors and changed the color from gold and brown to green. 

Under certain lighting conditions, the building could take on an orange look as seen below. If you want to learn much more about the history of Rolex headquarters architecture you can check out my story named, "Inside Rolex. Exploring What Makes Rolex Tick."

The Autumn Equinox

The autumn equinox occurs when the sun approaches the Southern Hemisphere, marking the start of the astronomical autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. The  Autumn Equinox occurs around September 22nd, during which daylight occurs everywhere for 12 hours straight.

Moondance

I love adding great songs to stories, that encapsulate and offer better contextualization. In this story I added Van Morrision singing his epic hit, "Moondance", which has some great lyrics:

Well, it's a marvelous night for a moondance

With the stars up above in your eyes...

A fantabulous night to make romance

'Neath the cover of October skies...

And all the leaves on the trees are falling

To the sound of the breezes that blow...

You know I'm tryin' to please to the calling

Of your heartstrings that play soft and low...

You know the night's magic seems to whisper and hush

You know the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush...

Can I just have one more moondance with you, my love?

Can I just make some more romance with a-you, my love?

Culture can be described as acquainting ourselves with the best the world has ever known, and that's exactly what we witness with this this virtuoso command performance. 

Keep in mind, the music video below is no ordinary version of "Moondance", as it features legendary guitarists, Geroge Benson, and Carlos Santana, rocking out with a number of amazing musicians including Dr. John, Etta James and Tom Scott. If you have never seen this version of Moondance, turn up the volume and fasten your seatbelt, as you are in for an otherworldly treat!!!

The New Day-Date

The New Day-Date

Rolex recently enriched their Day-Date range with new versions of the Oyster Perpetual Day-Date 40 and the Oyster Perpetual Day-Date 36 showcasing finely worked dials. For some reason, I can't stop thinking about how stunningly cool these new models look.

Ombré dials make their debut on the Day-Date 40. The version presented, in 18ct Everose gold, introduces slate ombré – a completely new hue for such a dial, whose surface, coloured at the centre, progresses to a deep black around the edge. 

Fashioned from 18ct white gold, a second new version of the Day-Date 40 features a dial made of pearlized white mother-of-pearl. The Day-Date 36 proposes a dial with faceted, deconstructed Roman numerals and faceted index hour markers, which were until now exclusive to the Day-Date 40. 

A new variant of the Day-Date 36 in 18ct yellow gold reveals a white lacquer dial complemented by these now-emblematic hour markers with their perfect geometrical forms and uniformly smooth and shiny surface. For the first time, the Day-Date 36 in 18ct Everose gold sports a blue-green dial which is adorned with ten baguette-cut diamonds. 

This dial of remarkable depth and intensity is notably available on a version of the watch whose bezel is set with 60 trapeze-cut diamonds. Day-Date 40 and Day-Date 36 models are equipped with calibre 3255, a movement at the forefront of watchmaking technology, enabling them to display the day and the date, as well as the hours, minutes and seconds.

Dave Brubeck The King of Cool Jazz...

Dave Brubeck

The King of Cool Jazz

1920-2012

This is a story I have been wanting to write for a long time about California born pioneering Jazz Virtuoso, Dave Brubeck. Dave Brubeck was a pioneer on many levels, and enjoyed an amazing lifetime of spectacular achievement.

Dave Brubeck was born in Concord, California and was drafted by the U.S. Army. He was fortunate as he was able to avoid combat due after he played a Red Cross show, which was a tremendous success. In 1951, Brubeck started the Dave Brubeck Quartet in San Francisco, California, with Paul Desmond on saxophone, which was one of the first racially diverse bands. Dave Brubeck's father, was of Swiss ancestry, so it's not surprising he kept the time of his life with a Rolex Datejust on his wrist as seen below.

The Classic Dave Brubeck Quartet with Paul Desmond of alto sax, Dave Brubeck on piano, with Eugene Wright playing bass, and Joe Morello on drums..

Over the years of his life, the Dave Brubeck Quartet maintained its name despite the fact that its lineup of prolific jazz musicians kept changing. The most famous and successful lineup of the quartet existed for a decade between 1958 and 1968, and recorded their seminal Jazz album in 1959 titles "Time Out". 

This most famous jazz quartet consisted for Paul Desmond who played alto sax, Eugene Wright on bass, and Joe Morello playing drums, with Dave Brubeck on piano. Time Out was Brubeck's best-selling album, as well as the first jazz album to sell more than a million copies. 

Joe Morello

Drummer King

1928-2011

Joe Morello was Dave Brubeck's drummer and was a member of The Dave Brubeck Quartet from 1957 to 1972, and as we see he also wore a Rolex Datejust.

Early 1960s Rolex PAN AM Ad [Reference 6582]

Rolex PAN AM Ad

[Reference 6582]

It is interesting because Rolex really tried to push the Rolex ZEPHYR Reference 6582 in the early 1960s, which is surprising as you would expect to see a Rolex GMT-Master. Still this is a fascinating vintage Rolex ad. It almost looks like the Good Humor President is asking the Pan Am Captain for a hand bump...

Taking A Deep Dive Inside The Rolex Submariner 3230 Series Movement

...Rolex Macro Shots Of The Day...

Taking A Deep Dive 

Inside The Rolex Submariner 3230 Series Movement

The 3230 & 3235 Movements 

Rolex mechanical movements are absolute works of art, and the latest Submariner 41MM Reference 124060 (pictured above) features the Caliber 3230 automatic mechanical movement (Pictured below) as well as the 3235 movement for the Submariner DATE model. 

In order for the newest Submariner to keep superb mechanical time it depends on Rolex's waterproof 'Oyster' case which Rolex originally patented and brought to market in 1926. Proper movement lubrication is also paramount for excellent timekeeping which is why Rolex developed its own proprietary new lubricants that were developed in-house. Rolex's special state-of-the-art lubricant is not only a trade secret but significantly increases the dependable longevity and timekeeping performance.

Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823) once responded to King Lois XVI's request for him to make a perfect watch by saying: 

"Show me the perfect lubricant and I will show you the perfect watch."

—Abraham-Louis Breguet

Automatic Kinetic Energy Winding 

Rolex developed and patented their super innovative 'Perpetual' rotor movement design in 1931, which is considered to be one of the greatest innovations in timekeeping. This free-spinning, self-winding rotor mechanism pivots on a central axle while capturing all the kinetic energy created by the wearers wrist movement, and allows the watch to constantly wind itself while being worn—all without the worry of overwinding.

This game-changing design is beautifully decorated despite the fact the movement inside the case is never seen by the owner. Methinks Rolex should consider implementing exhibition casebacks to showcase this splendor :-) I mean it really is a shame Rolex owners can't witness and enjoy the beauty of their watch movement. The bridges on the movement are satin finished, circular-grained or snailed while the gear trains and plates are circular-grained. All screw heads are mirror-polished coupled with precisely beveled edges.

The Rolex caliber 32XX Series movements feature a traversing balance bridge which isolates the oscillator from the automatic rotor and results in greatly improved shock-resistance and increased chronometric performance. The photo below brings us in for a close-up of the heart of the Rolex movement which shows the Oscillator with the Paraflex shock absorber precisely positioned on top, which is in the lower center of the photo. On the right side we see the gold 'end shake' screw which is surrounded by 7 micro-adjustment markers which remind me of a Keith Haring painting :-) Ironically, the 7 indexes are for balance height/endshake adjustment but 1/4 of a turn of the gold screw equals only .01MM, so the individual marks aren't very helpful per se.

Paraflex Shock Absorber 

The ruby red and gold Paraflex (pictured above and below) sits atop the Oscillator, which in a mechanical watch keeps precise time. The Rolex Paraflex (pictured below in detail) is an exclusive and highly precise shock absorber Rolex developed and patented in 2005. 

Rolex has fitted their movements with shock absorbers since the mid 1930s which protect the escapement and balance wheel from shock that might cause the watch to become less precise if dropped or subjected to violent shocks like if you were to swing a golf club while wearing a Rolex. Rolex developed and designed the precise Paraflex geometry with 3D modeling which guarantees it remains properly and precisely positioned without risk of distortion or deformation.

Rolex Oscillator 

The robust in-house manufactured Rolex Oscillator (pictured below) consists of three superlatively manufactured parts which result in optimal frequency response coupled with peerless reliability: 

1. Balance staff which is the skinny silver spooled part with the red ruby. A balance staff is highly subject and sensitive to shock, and thus needs to be robustly designed and manufactured.
2. Large Balance wheel which is the gold outer wheel that features adjustable gold microstella nuts (seen better in second photo below) to ensure it maintains high-precision regulating, which results in increased stability while achieving a perfect balance. 
3. Parachrom blued hairspring which is exclusive to Rolex barely measures one centimeter in diameter.  This in-house manufactured hairspring is made from a special niobium-zirconium-oxygen alloy and is made in an ultra-hot fusion furnace specifically developed by Rolex physicists and engineers for this purpose. 

The proprietary Rolex oscillator beats at 28,800 times per hour, which breaks down to 8 times per second. This results in supremely precise dependability coupled with exacting accuracy.

When I visited Rolex in Geneva in 2013 and toured all four of their factories I saw the super precise machinery that makes the beautiful cobalt blue Parachrom hairspring which completely blew my mind! The Parachrom hairspring is made from a niobium, zirconium and oxygen alloy which has a melting point of 4350.2° Fahrenheit (2399° Celsius) while maintaining a tensile strength of 330-620 MPa. 

The exclusive Rolex Parachrom is made from a paramagnetic alloy which is immune to magnetic fields which would normally effect a standard ferromagnetic hairspring, and is an order-of-magnitude more resistant to shock than normal hairsprings. The Parachrom hairspring measures 1 centimeter in diameter yet it's finer than a human hair. If you were to uncoil the Parachrom it would form a 20 centimeter ribbon that is 50 microns thick by 150 microns wide.

Rolex points out:

"The outermost coil of the hairspring is curled towards the centre to counter the effects of gravity. This allows perfectly balanced and concentric (isochronous) oscillations of the balance wheel-hairspring assembly and contributes to greater chronometric precision whatever the position of the watch."

Rolex Escapement 

The Rolex escapement (pictured below) is not only a conquest of microtechnology, but what makes the famous 'tick-tock' noise (Think 60 Minutes Stopwatch sound ;-) The 'tick' noise is made by the tooth of the escape wheel locks when they move against the pallets of the lever, then when it is released by the oscillators sweeping motion the pallet fork allows the wheel to 'escape' until is locks against the second pallet which results in the 'tock' noise.

 Rolex profoundly points out:

"The pallet fork continues its infinite pendular beat against the oblique teeth for the escapement wheel precisely 28,800 times every hour—14,400 'ticks' and 14,400 'tocks'. That's 250 Million times per year! We are at the very heart of the Rolex Perpetual movement, where its pace is distilled with chronometric precision."

In short, the current Rolex Submariner is as magnificently beautiful and precisely engineered on the inside as the outside as seen is all these highly detailed illustrative photos.

Norman Rockwell: 1954 What Makes It Tick? THE WATCHMAKERS OF SWITZERLAND

 Norman Rockwell

1954

 What Makes It Tick?

(The Watchmaker)

THE WATCHMAKERS OF SWITZERLAND

Time...what an interesting companion that is always watching you on the conveyer belt of life! Timekeeping is an age old love story of men and his tools, and—if you think about it—mechanical watches have ALWAYS been fascinating time machines as they really were the first smart personal computers!?!! And just like a smartphone, they were a constant and highly portable companion.

Normal Rockwell remains an international treasure and was one of the greatest artists and draftsmen that ever lived. Rockwell was renowned as being the artist who best captured ideal Americana and it's interesting to note that it carried over to Swiss horology, as seen in this 1954 magazine advertisement which shows a young boy who is mesmerized watching an old watchmaker working on a mechanical movement in this painting aptly named "What Makes It Tick?".

Rockwell painted this masterpiece in 1948 and Christie's Auction House sold it on November 20, 2017 for $7,287,500. 

Christie's Lot Essay seen below is beautifully written and highly educational as it exemplifies and contextualizes Norman Rockwell's essence while sharing the fascinating backstory behind this absolute masterpiece:

Norman Rockwell stated, “One of my best, I think,” in his autobiographical book The Norman Rockwell Album (New York, 1961, p. 112) of his painting The Watchmaker painted in 1948 as a commission from The Watchmakers of Switzerland, now known as the Federation of Swiss Watchmakers. The Swiss firm was seeking a marketing campaign that could elevate their brand globally, and they needed an artist who could generate maximum impact in a single image. Rockwell, at the height of his fame, fit the bill. As America's preeminent illustrator, Rockwell was one of the greatest mass communicators of the century. 

Painting a sweeping range of topics during a century of extensive technological and social change, he helped forge a sense of national identity through his art. Rockwell was witness to the height of Impressionism as well as the development of Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. He traveled to Europe to study the art of Pablo Picasso and he was aware of the move toward Modernism in America by Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, among others. Despite the trends of the day, however, Rockwell chose to pursue a career as an illustrator, producing more than 800 magazine covers. In doing so, Rockwell became as ubiquitous to the American public as the images he created. 

In addition to Rockwell’s countless Saturday Evening Post covers, he was highly sought after for story illustrations and advertisements. Virginia Mecklenburg notes that, during the post-War era, Rockwell’s “advertising commissions picked up…when corporations recognized that his images were especially appropriate for lifestyle advertising that associated a product with an activity or experience rather than providing specific information about the goods being sold.” (Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, New York, 2010, p. 127) 

The commission on behalf of The Watchmakers of Switzerland was particularly high profile as the image was to be advertised over a period of many years in the Post and Life magazine, as well as to be displayed in jewelry stores internationally. Rockwell ultimately created two paintings for The Watchmakers of Switzerland, the present work and The Jewelry Shop of 1954. 

While Rockwell’s commissioned work differed from his covers of the Post in meeting more specific needs, his approach to his subject was distinctly his own and Rockwell never strayed from his own underlying themes and artistic principles. This is perhaps nowhere more evident than in The Watchmaker, whose subject bore a deep personal connection to Rockwell. As Laura Claridge notes, "John Rockwell's father and mother—Norman's great-grandparents—were Samuel and Oril Sherman Rockwell. Born in 1810 to well-to-do farmers in Ridgebury, Connecticut...Samuel was apprenticed when he was fifteen years old to a watchmaker and jeweler in Manhattan. 

After twelve years of applying 'more than ordinary natural aptitude for the business,' the twenty-seven-year-old man bought the modest establishment and developed it into a 'flourishing and profitable business.'...Samuel Rockwell worked so hard that he was soon able to sell his watch shop in 'the crowded city' of New York to establish a real estate business in the 'pure air' of Yonkers.” (Norman Rockwell, New York, 2001, n.p.) This family history would have likely provided a meaningful backdrop to the artist’s conception of the work. 

Beyond reflecting the artist’s own specific upbringing, The Watchmaker also embodies a more universal theme Rockwell consistently explored throughout his career—the passage of time. The same year the present work was painted, Rockwell embarked on a series of seasonal images to be published as calendars for Brown & Bigelow. The imagery most often featured a young boy and his grandfather or a boy and his father, the elder of the two imparting valuable wisdom and life lessons to the young pupil. Mecklenburg writes, “In 1948, Rockwell proposed a calendar series featuring images of the four seasons of the year to Brown & Bigelow, the company that produced his Boy Scout Calendars. With the seasonal calendars, he returned to themes about the passage of time that had occupied him during his early years at the Post. 

In revisiting the motif in the late 1940s and 1950s, Rockwell approached the idea not from the perspective of a twenty-something but as a man in his fifties. The conception was Rockwell’s own. He wanted, he said, ‘to mirror the average person…leading our kind of life during each of the four seasons of the year,’ adding, ‘I prefer painting either the very old or the very young because they remain strictly themselves; neither type wants to pretty up.” (Telling Stories, p. 151) This theme of the passage of time is echoed in The Watchmaker. Rockwell depicts an earnest young boy mesmerized by a wizened old man. The boy’s face is pressed against the glass as he observes the watchmaker ply his craft, while the watchmaker is deep in concentration as he carefully makes adjustments to the interior mechanics of the boy’s watch. 

Rockwell’s work is also often autobiographical. This can be at times literally, such as with his iconic Triple Self Portrait of 1960 (Norman Rockwell Art Collection Trust), or figuratively when small clues suggest that Rockwell in some way identifies with his subjects. In the present work, the watchmaker can be interpreted as an avatar for Rockwell, whose own meticulous craft required fine tools and expert attention to detail. Rockwell labored extensively over every detail in his imagery, ensuring that the sum of the parts equals and betters the whole. 

In this way, the fine and delicate tool the watchmaker is using to examine the watch could be a synonym for the small paintbrush that Rockwell employed to achieve the mesmerizing surface of the painting. When the advertisement ran in the magazines, the copy underneath the image underscored this notion, reading: “When you listen to your watch, it speaks not only of the passing of the seconds but of the skills of all of the men whose efforts have gone into its perfection.” 

This underlying symbolism within the work perhaps derives from Rockwell’s deep familiarity with Old Master paintings and his delight in touting this understanding of art historical precedent in his compositions. This intellectual aspect of his work can be seen most overtly in paintings such as The Art Critic (Norman Rockwell Museum Collection) but also in more subtle ways, which manifest themselves in his studied compositions. Both the imagery and the meticulous manner of execution found in The Watchmaker can be seen as successor to Renaissance paintings, such as Petrus Christus’ A Goldsmith in His Shop (1449, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), where the artists have relished demonstrating their technical mastery in depicting a profusion of textures. 

The interior of the watchmaker’s shop afforded Rockwell a platform from which to highlight these skills. The depiction of glass—perhaps the hardest, most elusive surface to replicate—is here used to expert effect. The warm and subtle light from the lantern overhead also delicately bathes the surface, illuminating flecks of gold from the watches as well as the glint of the watchmaker’s glasses. As the eye dances from one part of the composition to the next, the myriad details are astounding.

To create the intricacy of The Watchmaker, Rockwell took a series of preparatory photographs, a technique he adopted in the 1940s. Rather than isolating his figure or figures against a blank background, as he had done before, he began to paint fully realized and often quite elaborate backgrounds in his best works from this period. In order to achieve the desired effect, Rockwell no longer relied solely upon professional models, enlisting them for hours on end, as he had done in his early years in New Rochelle. Rather, upon his move to Arlington, he began to incorporate photography into his creative process. This method meant he could stage elaborate tableaus as subjects and capture the various expressions of his sitters in an instant. Rarely satisfied with a single photograph, the finished illustration was often a composite of many. 

David Kamp writes of this exhaustive creative system, “First came brainstorming and a rough pencil sketch, then the casting of the models and the hiring of costumes and props, then the process of coaxing the right poses out of the models, then the snapping of the photo, then the composition of a fully detailed charcoal sketch, then a painted color sketch that was the exact size of the picture as it would be reproduced, and then, and only then, the final painting.” ("Norman Rockwell's American Dream," Vanity Fair, November 2009, p. 5) This new approach, coupled with towns around the country full of fresh faces willing to pose for the celebrity artist, meant a flurry of artistic inspiration.

Rockwell painted The Watchmaker in a small hotel room with dim light. Armed with several preparatory photographs of both the central characters, as well as the glass store front of the jewelry store, he painstakingly recreated the sanctuary of the elderly watchmaker honing his craft. Laura Claridge writes: “Throughout the spring and summer of 1948, Rockwell worked on several ads, including a first-rate oil painting for The Watchmakers of Switzerland. An old watch repairman is meticulously rendered, from his wrinkled, crepey hands, to his overgrown eyebrows…The crowded pictorial space of the work points to what will be a hallmark of Rockwell’s remarkable achievements in the next decade for the Post. 

In the ad, the total effect dramatically exceeds what corporations were accustomed to getting from the commercial artists they paid.” (Norman Rockwell: A Life, New York, 2001, p. 350) Through this consistent high level of execution throughout the room, Rockwell creates what Karal Ann Marling has described as “a kind of ‘Magical Realism,’” where the viewer’s eye can constantly move from object to object and experience every segment with “the same degree of intensity.” (Norman Rockwell: America's Most Beloved Painter, Cologne, Germany, 2005, p. 70) A similar effect has been experimented with in film. Todd McCarthy explains, “In cinematography [it] is called ‘deep focus,’ in which foreground and background objects possess an equal clarity, producing an effect that is sometimes hyper-realistic. 

This approach came into vogue in Hollywood in the early 1940s, due especially to the adventurous creativity of cinematographer Gregg Toland on William Wyler’s Little Foxes and Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane.” (in V.M. Mecklenburg, Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, p. 207)

Also as in the often idealized world of the movies, Norman Rockwell's work has been characterized as a reflection of our better selves, capturing America as it ought to be. His work is often viewed as both of a moment and simultaneously timeless, in its communication of the universal truths of human nature. "In the twentieth century, visual imagery permeated American culture, ultimately becoming the primary means of communication. Rockwell's images have become part of a collective American memory. We remember selective bits and pieces of information and often reassemble them in ways that mingle fantasy with reality. 

We formulate memory to serve our own needs and purposes. Rockwell knew this instinctively: 'Everything I have ever seen or done has gone into my pictures in one way or another...Memory doesn't lie, though it may distort a bit here and there.'" (M.H. Hennessey, A. Knutson, Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People, exhibition catalogue, Atlanta, Georgia, 1999, p. 64) Indeed, Laurie Norton Moffatt writes, "His images convey our human shortcomings as well as our national ideals of freedom, democracy, equality, tolerance and common decency in ways that nobody could understand. He has become an American institution. 

Steven Spielberg recently said, 'Aside from being an astonishingly good storyteller, Rockwell spoke volumes about a certain kind of American morality.' It is a morality based on popular values and patriotism, a morality that yearns above all for goodness to trump evil." ("The People's Painter," Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People, New York, 1999, p. 26)

In his autobiography My Adventures as an Illustrator, Norman Rockwell reminisced of his early career ambitions, “In those days the cover of the Post was (it still is, by the way) the greatest show window in America for an illustrator.” (Norman Rockwell: My Adventures as an Illustrator as told to Tom Rockwell, New York, 1979, p. 63) Beginning with his first cover published in 1916 and continuing through 1963, Rockwell entered American homes through 321 covers of The Saturday Evening Post over the course of his career as the nation’s leading illustrator. 

The Watchmaker, which literally depicts a shop window, exhibits the pinnacle of Rockwell’s achievement as a realist painter, compositional master and American storyteller. Drawing inspiration spanning the history of European and American art, and staking a case for his own position as a fine artist in the post-War era, The Watchmaker encases an exquisite range of detail and allusions for the inquisitive eye, while also presenting an image of youthful wonder and idealism contrasted with sage wisdom and expertise.