I would like to begin this article by thanking Eagle Eyed horological researcher, Nick Gould @Niccoloy for his invaluable contribution to this story. Below we see Fulgencio Batista wearing a Rolex Prince dress watch back in 1942. The Rolex Prince was an extremely popular dress watch for Rolex from the time it was introduced up until the 19660.
The photo below shows a similar Rolex Prince model to the one Batista is wearing in the photo above. The photo above was taken in 1942 when Batista visited President Roosevelt in Washington D.C. at the time.
1936 Italian Rolex Prince Ad
The Italian Art-Deco Rolex ad below was originally published in 1936.
Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro is pictured below back in the 1950s wearing his Big Crown Rolex Submariner "Reference 6538" that he wore when he overthrew then Cuban President Fulgencio Batista during the Cuban Revolution which which was a coup d'état.
In the photo below we see Fidel Castro wearing his Rolex Datejust with a Rolex President Bracelet.
Raul Castro
Many members of the Castro family wear Rolex. In the photo below we see Raul Castro who was Fidel Castro's brother wearing a Rolex Oyster Perpetual model which was also discovered by Nick Gould.
In this next photo below we see Raul Castro wearing his Pepsi GMT-Master standing next to fellow Cuban Revolutionary, Che Guevara.
Che Guevara
Speaking of Che Guevara and Rolex GMT, we see him pictured below wearing his GMT-Master.
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.
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.
It had to happen sooner or later. Fidel Castro passed away in Cuba recently, which marks a turning-point in Cuba's future. It has always been amazing to me how polarized people are on their love or hate of the man. Below are some photo of Fidel Castro wearing some of his Rolex watches.
Fidel Castro took control during his Cuban revolution, while wearing a Rolex watch and went on to wear many different Rolex watch models during his reign as head the Prime Minister/President/Dictator of Cuba. In the photo above, we see Castro in 1964 wearing an early Coke Rolex GMT-Master with no crown guards [Reference 6542]. Castro is smiling, and perhaps for good reason. After all, he made JFK stand-down during the Cuban missile crisis, and he was on a role.
In the next photo below we see him years later wearing a GMT-Master with Crown Guards.
In the photo below, we have visual confirmation that Fidel Castro's second GMT-Master was a Pepsi, v. the one above which is a Coke!
The Fidel Castro photo below is a trip if you thing about it!?!! He is driving around with his Rolex GMT-Master Coke on his wrist, which is a reference 6452, and he has a Soviet Kalashnikov AK-47 just behind him in the storage bin, and he is giving an interview!!! What a crazy life being a revolutionary must have been for him.
Rolex El Presidente
Fidel Castro is pictured below in 1959 wearing his yellow gold Rolex Day-Date, which has an unmistakably iconic Rolex President bracelet—easily recognizable from across a room. The irony in this photo that the Rolex Day-Date had just been introduced to the market place several years before this photo was taken.
Castro Rockin' Rolexes in The Kremlin
Years ago, I noticed the fact Fidel Castro was regularly wearing two Rolex watches on his left wrist, I wondered why he would do such a thing? I think it was symbolic, because he wanted everybody to know he was keeping local Cuban time as well as the time at the Kremlin, in Moscow. In the photos below, we see Castro meeting with Nikita Khruschev at the Kremlin.
By the way, that is Karl Marx's portrait hanging on the wall, who was also a bearded fellow...It's kind of ironic Castro is smoking a Cuban Cigar and wearing two Rolex watches in the Kremlin while he chats with Khruschev, in front of a Karl Marx picture :-)
The non-verbal body language in this photo is absolutely fascinating! Notice everybody in the room is staring at Castro's cigar, and everybody sitting is smiling with their hands folded in front of them on the table, and the three guys standing below the portrait of Marx, have their arms behind their backs.
Che Guevara
Che Guevara was Fidel Castro's right-hand-man, and we see him pictured below holding a magazine with Fidel Castro pictured on the front. Che Guevara also wore a Rolex GMT-Master, as did Castro, and we see it on his wrist in the photos below.
The photo below of Che Guevara sporting his beret with the star is perhaps the most iconic photo of the Cuban revolutionary.
The photo below, shows President Obama on his recent historic trip to Cuba, standing in front of a mural in Havana, Cuba of Che Guevara! It really is amazing how far the world has come in recent years!!!
This next photo taken on March 20, 2016 is profound as it shows Air Force One descending down toward landing in Havana with President Obama and his family on board.
This next photo shows President Obama with Cuban President, Raul Castro, who is Fidel Castro's brother.
Over the years, I have written extensively about, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara and their Rolex watches. Today, I am really excited to share many new images with you that help put together more pieces of the Fidel Castro and Che Guevara Rolex collection puzzle, and at the same time, I decided to consolidate all Fidel Castro and Che Guevara content into this one story on Jake's Rolex World.
We begin by examining this all-new, stunningly high-resolution image of Fidel Castro. This photo is arguably "The OG G-Money shot" of Fidel Castro. On Jake's Rolex World, we are so used to seeing lower resolution historical photos, that when you see something this high-resolution it almost looks like CGI, but it is real. This image is also significant, because as we put together the pieces of the Fidel Castro Rolex puzzle, we learn more about which Rolex watches he wore and when.
In the past I have published many images of Fidel Castro wearing his Rolex GMT-Master Reference 6542 with no crown guard, but in this image Fidel is clearly wearing a Rolex GMT-Master Reference 1675 with crown guards. It also has an all-black bezel insert.
Castro Took Cuba While Wearing His Rolex
Fidel Castro wore a sport Rolex Submariner when he overthrew dictator Fulgencio Batista during the Cuban Revolution in 1959.
In this first 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.
In both the images you clearly see Castro wearing his Rolex and if you click on the images you can see more detail. In this next photos of Castro, also taken in 1959 in Cienfuegos, Cuba you see Castro being cheered by crowds on his victorious march to Havana after successfully ousting Batista. One unanswered question, is what Rolex sport model was Castro wearing when he took Cuba? I have spent much time evaluating this image, and it appears to be a Rolex Submariner, but it could also be a GMT-Master.
Fidel Castro
Stainless Steel Rolex GMT Master
In the images below, we see Fidel Castro wearing a no-crown guard Rolex GMT-Master Reference 6542. This first image was taken in 1964, and we clearly see Fidel is wearing a "COKE" GMT-Master.
When Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista on January 1, 1959 in Cuba, Rolex had some kind of headquarters in Cuba. You see "Habana" on many magazine ads prior to 1959. It is not clear what kind of presence Rolex had in Cuba before Castro overthrew Batista? It could have been anything between having an AD, to having their South American headquarters. It has been suggested, Castro looted Rolex headquarters and confiscated all the Rolex watches, but I have never seen any direct proof of this.
Communism for the masses. Capitalism for the bosses.
I kid around and say "Communism for the masses and capitalism for the bosses" but it makes sense that in 1959 and through the 1960s that Fidel Castro and Che Guevara wore their Rolex watches as sturdy tool watches, because they were precise timing instruments. Remember this was before quartz watches. Also, in the early 1960s Rolex watches were not nearly as much of a status symbol or "Luxury Watch" as they are today.
"I'm the one who is going to tell you how it is going to be!!!"
Below, is an interesting photo of Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize winning author, Ernest Hemingway, meeting with Fidel Castro in Cuba. Hemingway lived in and had a home in Cuba from the 1930s to 1959.
Fidel Castro
Rolex Watch Fanatic
Is Fidel Castro more of a Rolex Fanatic than you? He must be, unless you also regularly wear a Rolex Day-Date and a Rolex Submariner on the same wrist at the same time...
But my obvious question is, why wouldn't he just wear a GMT Master since it can keep time in two places? Maybe he was keeping time in 3 places!?! Maybe the dude is just confused!?!
Castro Rockin' Rolexes in The Kremlin
When I first noticed the fact Fidel Castro was regularly wearing two Rolex watches on his left wrist, I wondered why he would do such a thing? I think it was symbolic, because he wanted everybody to know he was keeping local time as well as the time at the Kremlin, in Moscow. In the photos below, we see Castro meeting with Nikita Khruschev at the Kremlin. By the way, that is Karl Marx's portrait hanging on the wall, who was also a bearded fellow...It's kind of ironic Castro is smoking a Cuban Cigar and wearing two Rolex watches in the Kremlin while he chats with Khruschev, in front of a Karl Marx picture. The non-verbal body language in this photo is absolutely fascinating! Notice everybody in the room is staring at Castro's cigar, and that everybody sitting is smiling with their hands folded in front of them on the table, and the three guys standing below the portrait of Marx, have their arms behind their backs.
A Communist President
Rolex: The International Mark Of Success
Communist President sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it? I imagine that the supreme irony is that Rolex also becameThe International Mark Of Successin the Communist world as well!!! For instance, the father of the Chinese Communist RevolutionMoa Zedongwore yellow gold Rolex watches!!! So did fellow Cuban revolutionaryChe Guivara, and even Russian PresidentBoris Yeltsin.
It appears that Fidel Casto is wearing a Rolex Datejust on a President bracelet in the photo below. I don't recall ever seeing this combo before, but I can't see the day wheel?
Smoking Cuban takes on a whole new meaning with this next image. What a life!!! Hanging out as the King of Cuba, smoking the best Cuban cigars, having a harem of Rolex watches. Does not get much better than that. Communism for the masses, Capitalism for the Bosses. Viva La revolución!!!
Fidel Castro Documentaries
These two full-length documentaries offer a superb overview of the history of Fidel Castro, and the Cuban revolution.
Che Guevara & Fidel Castro
Revolutionary Brothers In Arms
Che Guevara and Fidel Castro were fellow revolutionaries and long-time friends. After the Cuban revolution Che became the economic controller of Cuba before he wandered off to Bolivia. The photo below is the earliest known of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara together, and neither of them have what would later become their trademark beards. Fidel Castro was a lawyer, and Che Guevara was a doctor.
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.
