One of my favorite things about publishing Jake's Rolex World are all the great readers all over earth, who regularly come across interesting Rolex history and share it with me, so I may share it with you!
Recently I received an interesting email that said:
Hello Jake,
I hope my email finds you well.
I’ve enjoyed reading your Rolex Magazine over the years and when I came across this image on Pinterest, I thought of you.
This is a behind the scenes photograph of Roger Moore during the filming of The Spy Who Loved Me in Sardinia. It may very well be on the beach where the Lotus Esprit S1 triumphantly emerges from the ocean judging by the suit Roger Moore is wearing.
Anyway, I thought this may be of some interest to you because if I’m not mistaken it very much looks like Roger Moore is wearing a Rolex. The bracelet, bezel and what looks like a cyclops are the usual hallmarks of stainless steel sports model from this era.
Initially, I thought it may have been a Rolex Submariner Date. Perhaps a 1680? However, I think it may be the Rolex GMT-Master 1675 ‘Coke’ you refer to on your website. I reckon there’s a good chance it’s the same one worn by Roger Moore in the publicity shot of him donning a Royal Navy Commander uniform:
It appears Roger's GMT-Master was his personal watch, as it does not seem to make an appearance in Film, but you never know, as often times people wear watches under their cuffs that stop them from being visible...
Michael is a reader who wrote-in and included the photo above of his two deeply meaningful Rolex Submariner models. Michael originally asked me not to publish his letter, but I thought it was such a nice note I reached out to him and asked his permission to publish it, to which he responded:
'I think it is a sad story and your readers would not want to read such a story, but if you think so you can publish it.'
I found Michael's letter emotionally moving in a loving way and I can relate to his story. The interesting thing is that jewelry items—including fine watches—are built to last indefinitely (if taken care of properly) but we as human beings sadly are not.
I own a bracelet that belonged to my Aunt Dora Jane who raised me, and it was on her wrist all the time. So much so, it was a trademark part of her personality.
Today, when I hold my Aunt's bracelet in my hands and look at it, two things come to mind:
First, it Deja Vu's me out in a great way as I feel her energy emanating from it! Great memories of the time we shared together come streaming back and bathe me is a tidal wave of positive nostalgia. Yes, I have some sad memories of her, but I don't tend to focus on them—kind of like Barbara Streisand's hauntingly magnificent lyrics from "The Way We Were" from 1975 which you can enjoy below:
Secondly, it trips me out, how in life we all leave behind relics of our life when we depart this existence, and it never ceases to amaze me how a piece of jewelry can so easily outlast a human, while acting as a nostalgic memento or miniature time machine that can transport us back so far on our own timeline.
So Micheal, I don't find your story to be sad. I find it to be an uplifting celebration of your parents who's memory is enshrined in your two beautiful timeless Rolex Submariner models.
Below is Michael's note he sent in:
Dear Jake,
First of all, I would like to thank you for your work with your passionate blog. I am a very big fan of your blog.
As a child, I grew up in the last years of the Cold War next to an Air Force base in West Germany. In my childhood I always watched airplanes with my father and was fascinated. This was also my first contact with ROLEX, after I got to know some pilots with their GMT MASTERS. That is why I am so fascinated by your reports on very different people.
In addition, of course, there are the James Bond films. And so I had always dreamed about my own SUBMARINER.
Unfortunately, my father died early. When I graduated from university, my mother gave me my first Submariner, as a gift and I didn't even take the watch off to shower or sleep. That was about ten years ago.
It became a 14060M. Unfortunately, my mother also died last year after a serious illness. As a reminder for all the wonderful hours with my dearly loved parents, I was able to buy my second with my own money.
My licensed dealer, was very patient with me and I was one of the first owners of a 124060. There are around 10 years between the watches and both fascinate me.
Attached is a photo of the two watches with a toy from the Cold War era, a Soviet BTR-60 tank as it can be found today. Perhaps, the quality of the picture is sufficient for your blog and you will give me great pleasure in publishing it. The letter is FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. Always wanted to write this term. ;-) Please go on with your blog!
Some of my favorite stories are from readers of Jake's Rolex World who write in to share their fascinating Rolex stories. Frank wrote in recently to share his story about his loyal and dependable lifetime companion of 45 years which is a magnificent Single Red Submariner.
Jake.
Great magazine. Just read your article on Dr. Miller and his RedSub. Like the good doctor, I wear my Rolex Red Submariner all the time. I bought it used for $700 in 1975 to celebrate my self funded MBA.
My career in technology research brought me to hundreds of places around the world and like Maurice, I found it to be a great conversation starter. Technology people consider it to be the ultimate symbol of mechanical engineering.
In 1990, my late wife bought me a very nice Cartier tank watch. I think it’s very pretty but it stays in the little red box. The RedSub is MY watch. My wife once told me she loved my RedSub and it was the only sport watch you could wear with a tuxedo.
When I acquired my RedSub, I didn't know what a RedSub was. I just wanted a Rolex Submariner. I had been a submariner in the U.S. Navy and saw many of them among the officers and crew of the boats I served on.
When I was in the Navy, I was a reactor operator on nuclear submarines. I was saving to go to college and couldn't afford the price of a Rolex. After scrimping through the Navy and college, I knew I wanted two "things" a Rolex Submariner watch and a Mercedes SL sports car. The Rolex came first (1975) and the Mercedes came in 1983 (1983 380SL). Since then, I have had six Mercedes, but only one Rolex. They last forever.
After starting in Nuclear Engineering, I got my bachelor's in Finance and Information Systems and an MBA. After that, I pursued a career in information technology in the financial services industry. I wore the RedSub every day, but it didn't get much attention until I rose to be a Senior Vice President at Anthem (insurance) and later MasterCard.
It seems more people at that level understood what it was. In 1995, I founded the global financial services research and advisory organization for Gartner Group Inc., the global leader in information technology research and advisory services. My Job included advising the CEOs and board members of financial institutions worldwide and that's when the Rolex really became a conversation piece.
As you know in many European cultures it's traditional to have coffee before talking business. Often, my client's eyes would grow to the size of silver dollars and they would ask, "Is that a real Rolex Red Submariner?"
All in all, my watch was a reliable and accurate timepiece, but most of all a conversation starter.
Fidel Castro 1959 Rolex Submariner Exclusive Photo Proves First Rolex Sport Watch Was A Submariner
If you are a regular reader of Jake's Rolex World, you are likely aware Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro wore multiple Rolex watch models. This first photo below—which is exclusive to Jake's Rolex World—of Fidel Castro was taken when he was 32 years old. It was taken in Houston, Texas in April of 1959 and it's deeply profound as is the first photo that proves, as a matter of fact (with 100% Positive ID) Fidel's first Rolex sports watch was a Submariner and NOT a GMT-Master.
In the photo above we see Fidel Castro signing a letter of intent with Texas Oil Millionaire, Frank B. Waters for the film rights to his life as the leader of Cuba. Marlon Brando was chosen to play Castro, but the movie was never made.
The photo below is a tight close up of Castro's Rolex Submariner and it reveals some interesting details. In particular, his winding crown is NOT screwed down? Castro's Rolex Submariner is an early Reference 6536, and is probably a 1956 model.
Castro Took Cuba Wearing His Submariner
Fidel Castro wore a sport Rolex Submariner when he overthrew dictator Fulgencio Batista during the Cuban Revolution in late 1958. In this image from the LIFE Magazine archives we see Fidel Castro standing on the balcony of the Hilton Hotel with friends after his triumphant entry into the Havana, Cuba wearing his Rolex Submariner.
I originally published the image seen above and below more than 10 years ago, and in the images we can clearly see Castro wearing his Rolex and at the time I assumed it was a Submariner, but realized it could be a GMT, but it was not as the first image in this story now proves unequivocally.
The Habana Hilton Hotel-Casino is pictured above in 1958 just after it opened. After taking over Cuba in late 1958 Fidel Castro made the Habana Hilton his headquarters. The photo below was taken in January of 1959 and shows the Habana Hilton Foyer filled with armed Cuban revolutionary soldiers.
In this next photo seen below of Castro, also taken in 1958 in Cienfuegos, Cuba you see Castro being cheered by crowds on his victorious march to Havana after successfully ousting Batista.
Fidelito Castro
Fidel Castro's First Son
Fidel Castro's oldest son is named Fidelito Castro, and he is pictured below with his father Fidel Castro in 1959 at the Havana Hilton Hotel in Cuba. In the photo below Fidelito is inspecting his father's Rolex what was previously assumed to be a Rolex Day-Date with an early Rolex 'President' bracelet, but Nick Gould from Quill & Pad recently figured out it was a Datejust on a Rolex President bracelet. We also see Fidel wearing his Rolex Submariner on his left wrist along with another watch that is flipped-around out of view.
The photo below is the same as the one above, just zoomed-in on Castro and we see he is wearing his Submariner with the crown in the unscrewed winding position.
In the photo below, we see Castro in 1964 wearing an early Coke Rolex GMT-Master with no crown guards [Reference 6542].
Communism for the masses.
Capitalism for the Bosses.
Fidel Castro also wore a Pepsi Rolex GMT-Master [Reference 1675] with crown guards as pictured below on the cover of TIME Magazine.
Castro's Legacy
Castro remains a highly polarizing figure in the world today. Some people see him as a hero, or David who stood up to Goliath (Batista and the Imperialist Americans). Others see Castro as being a stone cold killer and hypocrite. I received an email which include the photo seen below in response to this story from a reader who shared his insightful perspective:
Hi, Jake
I have been a fan of Rolex watches for many years and a fan of your website and therefore your post. However, I hate to see guys like Fidel Castro and Che Guevara wearing Rolex watches and given credit for wearing them despite their atrocities and crimes against humanity. These two guys, were criminals just like Hitler and lately Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. They killed thousand of peoples and destroyed thousands of families, some of them my friends families, just to please themselves and their relatives with money.
To me they are all cowards hiding behind a political ideology to become billionaires. The Castro family is well worth over 10 billion dollars at the expense of the Cuban people which still live in misery. The same is with Maduro in Venezuela. Well, Guevara didn’t get that lucky, he got what he deserved. I guess the guys who captured him were better Rolex ambassadors, perhaps and I hope they had the chance to wear Guavara’s GMT.
Jose
History is filled with all kinds of atrocities, and hopefully as mankind moves forward we can all learn from these mistakes so they are not repeated. In the Chess game of life, Che Guevara was hunted down like a dog in Bolivia and brutally executed.
Jouni is a reader of Jake's Rolex World and he recently wrote in from Finland and said: Hi Jake, Hope you've had a good year. Got my five-digit Submariner back from service about four days ago so decided to finally snap some photos of it - because of the time of the year that it is, and it being Rolex's official color I used a green Christmas ornament as the "backdrop" for the watch. I also thought it was very fitting to have my blue-dial Submariner back right on time for the 100th anniversary of Finland's independence - so this is also a bit of a tribute to my homeland; some Green for the festive season and Rolex, some Blue & White for Finland. I'm not a professional photographer but you can use the photos on your site if you wish - I noticed there aren't too many shots of the blue-dial 16613 in there so maybe they'd be a nice change for all the shots of the more modern Rolex watches. No need to use all of them but maybe you can sneak in a photo or two to give an "old" 16613 (and Finland) some love. Also added a couple lume-shots. Take care, Jouni
One of my favorite things is when a reader sends in cool historical Rolex photos. In this case, Erik sent in the images below with this nice email message:
Dear Jake
My name is Erik Twiest, and I am a longtime collector of original photos/documents of the Cuban revolution, in particular, Fidel and Che. I' am not a Rolex collector, but your story in the online magazine was very interesting.
I went through my collection to see if I could find a Rolex in the photos and I found 2 interesting early photos which as far as I know are never published.
Please see attachments;
1) Fidel in 1959 with 2 Rolex watches in Cuba, photo was taken by Korda (famous for the Che Guevara portrait). The photo is original and never published, and "forbidden" in Cuba over the years, I didn't see any similar example from Korda in books.
2) Che playing chess, probably at one of the first Capablanca Tournaments in Havana 1961/63, which he organized after the revolution.
Scott's Rolex Watches An LV Hanging with an Explorer II
Scott Shafer sent in photos of his LV and Explorer II, and said:
Hi Jake-
Just wanted to reach out and say thanks for the hard work. I'm a big fan of your work! The amount of effort you go to, to put together Jake's Rolex Magazine is tremendous. I love checking out the Rolex history as well as the general history lessons I get from you.
Here are a few pics of some of my Rolex's.
Scott
Scott, Thanks for sharing your kind words, which I genuinely appreciate very much! I feel the exact same way about the 'general history lessons', in the sense that one of my favorite things about publishing Jake's Rolex World, are the amazing history lessons I get from doing all the research!
Denise is from Germany and she is fan of Jake's Rolex World. Recently she send in these beautiful photos of her new Rolex Datejust with this nice note:
Hi Jake,
I love to surf around your site.
So much information, so much nice pics, so much nice watches - I love it.
For a couple of weeks I have a new Datejust and I love it so much.
The weather in Germany was so nice, I had to make some pics from my DJ.
Ralf, from Germany just sent it this great shot of his Rolex Submariner [Reference14060M] on a NATO strap, along with his old-school Mag-Light (pre-LED model) and his first generation Letherman Supertool. Ralf said:
A Fan From Germany
Hallo Jake.
Just want to say I'm a big fan of your great Rolex-blog and of course of Rolex watches, too.
I love to read all the great stories about Rolex, it doesn´t matter if it's about the past or the present time.
I learnd a lot about the Rolex history from your fantastic page and I hope you will not stop writing soon.
For over 12 years I've been interrested in mecanical watches and I owned a lot. But after all it always comes to Rolex.
All the things that are used for todays watchmaking were invented or developed by Rolex, like the selfwinding movement, the screw-down crown and case backs that make a watch water-resistant, and even the date shifting at Midnight and so on.
Plus the great history, from helping Panerai build a divewatch to Comex and developing the Seadweller out of the great Submariner, wich I like the most.
And that are only a few things, as you know better.
However, I just want to let you know, that I´m enjoing reading your great RolexMagazine, keep going this way .
I send you a kind of a loomeshot of my 14060M, that I´m wearing sometimes on a Nato-strap as you can see. In the back there is an old-school Mag-Light without LED-technic and a first Generation Leatherman Supertool. Famous stuff from the USA.
Greatings and best wishes to you in USA from Ralf, Germany.
Jan is a fan of Jake's Rolex World and recently he sent in this photo of his white dial Rolex Milguass on an orange RubberB strap with the following email:
Hi Jake,
I'm an avid reader of your blog, and believe you are doing a fantastic job of discovering Rolex history.
I few months ago, a reader complained that the Milguass is not mentioned often enough. I think it's a great model, and wish to share my white Milgauss with an orange Rubber B strap (just drying off). I'm a terrible photographer, so the photo does not do the real thing justice.
Michael Morgan's 1966 Meters First Rolex Submariner
[Reference 5513]
Michael Morgan sent in this photo and said:
Hi Jake,
Just wanted to share my 1966 5513 with you, that I acquired a few months ago. I love Jake's Rolex World. It's a daily read for me, kind of like my Rolex newspaper..LOL!!!"
Thanks for your time,
Michael Morgan
Thanks for sending in the photo of your really cool Rolex. I never really thought about it, but in may ways Jake's Rolex World is more like a newspaper than a Magazine, at least, in the sense that it's published 7 days a week/ 365 days a year!?!
A few weeks ago, Tommy from Italy wrote in and said:
Dear Jake,
I’m an Italian fan of your blog and I visit it every day.
I’m worried about my GV Milgauss. When I bought it, I was very happy, but today I see (maybe I’m wrong) that the Milgauss doesn’t receive any words from you and from the specialized reviews.
Milgauss is dying «again»?
This is my question to your blog…
Bye!
Tommy
Today, I received the following email with the photo below attached from Anders who said:
Hi Jake,
I'm from Denmark, but I live in London today, and I just love your blog and the fascinating stories you publish!
Recently, a fellow reader of Jake's Rolex World, Tommy, dropped you a note saying he was worried about the lack of attention the Rolex Milgauss gets.
Here in London you see them every day! It's only 9am and I've already seen two!
Michael is a daily reader of Jake's Rolex World and he recently sent in this email that took my breath away:
Jake:
Just wanted to say THANK YOU for the great job you do on your Rolex blog. I am a loyal follower and find something new every time I go on it.
I'm heading over to Afghanistan late next week for an 11 month deployment, and I'll check it over there everyday too!
I won't have my Rolex Sea-Dweller on my wrist (I'm taking my Dad's Timex for all its great functions and I gave my Dad my Sea-Dweller for him to wear everyday) so your cool photos, awesome posts and great pictures will help me pass the time and get my mind back to two things I love: Rolex and California!
In fact, your blog is so great that I've told my local watchmaker about it (Tom Doan of D's Time Service in San Diego) and he likes to post tweets about it! www.twitter.com/dstimeservice
Hope all is well Jake. And keep up the great work!
Very Respectfully,
Mike
Truth be told, the reason I have always worked so hard on Jake's Rolex World is for three reasons:
1. I realize if I did not capture this amazing Rolex history, it is likely it would be lost forever, and in my mind that would be an absolute shame!!!
2. I love it!!! I love the education I get from researching all the stories. I am utterly fascinated with history and often times I feel like Indiana Jones when I go exploring all this rich history.
3. Last but not least, I work so hard because I know my readers also like the history, photos and editorial as much as I like capturing and sharing it.
I have said many times before, if there just one reader of Jake's Rolex World on planet earth that enjoyed it, I would keep publishing it, and I know there are many people who enjoy it.
There are times, when a reader writes in, that take my breath away, and Mike I can't thank you enough. Your email not only made my day, but it made the four years I have dedicated to tirelessly working on making this amazing online Rolex archive absolutely worthwhile. Thank you!!!!!!
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.
