Very Early Rolex Submariner coming to Auction

Serpico Y Laino

Very Early Submariner

This is an amazing story that showcased one of the earliest known Rolex Submariner serial number known to scholarship with a Serial Number of 949,197. The beauty was made in the second quarter of 1953, and appears to have been retailed in South America by Serpico Y Laino, which not only has their logo on the dial, but also features the ultra-rare split SUBMARINER PERPETUAL dial logo designation, an it up for auction at Christie's Auction house.

The photo below shows the inside engraving on the caseback and we see not only the Reference 6204 number, but also the "2.53" manufacturing date stamp. The first thing I thought of when I saw this watch was the fact that when it was sold in Caracas, Venezuela, is how at the time, André-Jean Heiniger was the head of sales in South America. Serpico Y Laino was a retailer in Caracas with a fascinating history.

The Lot Essay from Christie's reads:

Amongst the rarest and most historically important early Rolex sports watches, this Submariner reference 6204 represents the very beginning of the Submariner lineage, when Rolex was experimenting with their diving watches. Produced in 1953 and retailed by the famed Venezuelan jeweler Serpico y Laino, the present watch features the coveted and exceptionally rare “Split Logo” text, in which the 'Submariner' and 'Perpetual' text is divided on each side of the center pinion.

The watch further distinguishes itself with its gilt dial, “pencil” and "lollipop" hands, both being hallmarks of the earliest Submariners. Unlike later printed matte dials, gilt dials were produced through a galvanic process that left the text and minute track shimmering warmly, creating remarkable depth and richness. The elegant pencil hands, used before Rolex adopted the Mercedes handset, underscore the experimental and highly collectible nature of these first generation diving watches.

Furthermore, the dial is signed Serpico y Laino at the lower half and is furthered with 'S&L ACERO' to the caseback. The present reference 6204 stands among the most desirable, rare, and historically significant early Rolex Submariners to survive today.

As mentioned earlier this Submariner features the second earliest know serial number, with the earliest one belonging to the Submariner owned by Lord Admiral Mountbatten, who is pictured below in 1952 with Pierre Vanlaer, Lord Mountbatten, and the man who assisted Rolex with designing the Rolex Submariner, Dimitri Rebikoff. 

Mountbatten and Rebikoff were also close with Henri Broussard, who was the head of Club Alpin Sous Marin diving club in Cannes, France which he started in 1946, where a lot of early Rolex Submariner testing occurred. Admiral Mountbatten was also an accomplished scuba diver. At the time, Admiral Mountbatten was the Commander-in-Cheif of the Allied Forces in the Mediterranean.

Lord Mountbatten was featured in the 1957 Rolex Magazine ad campaign titled "Men who guide the destinies of the world wear Rolex watches."

Lord Mountbatten is pictured below in the Oval Office in Washington DC with President Kennedy, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the American Military, Lyman Lemnitzer.

In the next image we see Lord Mountbatten with his nephew, Prince Charles who is now King Charles.

Lord Mountbatten is pictured below with his family on vacation in Scotland, many years later and he is still rocking his Submariner.

Dimitri Rebikoff is featured on the cover of one of my upcoming books on the history of the Rolex Submariner and in the photo below we see him rocking his prototype Submariner which he co-developed with Rolex back in the early 1950s.

Below is a letter written from Rolex Marketing Director René-Paul Jeanneret to Admiral Mountbatten mentioning Dimitri Rebikoff role in the development of the Rolex Submariner, and as we see Rolex gave Lord Mountbatten a very early Submariner to test, which explains why it has the earliest know serial number of 949,120, which is only 3 digits earlier than the one being offered at auction at the top of this article.

Below we see a copy of the Dimitry Rebikoff's Rolex Submariner Trial Report that Renè-Paul Jeanneret included with his letter to Lord Mountbatten:

The copy of the Trial Report was published in the Club Alpin Sous-Marin Number 8 in 1956, and is from the personal collection of Frédéric Dumas, who was the dive leader aboard the RV Calypso and co-authored the book with Jacques-Yves Cousteau, The Silent World in 1953.

Captain Nemo tells the three men when they board his Nautilus Submarine:

"You will not regret the time spent on board my vessel

You are going to travel through a wonderland.

Astonishment and stupefaction will probably be your normal state of your mind.

You will not easily grow tired of the spectacle constantly offered to your eyes. 

I am going to embark on a new underwater tour of the world...

and revisit everything I have studied on my many travels; and you will be my study companion."

— Jules Verne (1870)

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea