...but if I hurt you, I'd make wine from your tears..
INXS
Michael Hutchence
Lead Singer
1960-1997
When I nostalgically think back to the 1980s and 1990s there are few bands that epitomize that time more than INXS which was an Australian band. INXS's often upbeat fleeting rock ballads remain haunting and ephemeral to this day in the strangest of ways...
Michael Hutchence was the lead singer of who reminded me of Jim Morrison from THE DOORS, not only because of their common long wavy hair, or amazing singing style, or great looks, but because they both died young. Michael Hutchence is pictured below on a train posting for the camera and notice he is wearing a Rolex Submariner.
Michael Hutchence is pictured below with Jimmy Barnes who was a songwriter for INXS and notice Barnes is wearing his Rolex Day-Date.
Below we see one of INXS' last live concerts before Michael Hutchence passed away.
I've recently began publishing RFKUSA.com and JFKMagazine.org, so I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at this story on JFK Jr. rocking his Rolex Submariner.
...Rolex Super Coolness...
John F. Kennedy Jr.
1960-1999 Rolex Submariner
@ Studio 54 in New York
It took me many years to find, but on November 24, 2016, I finally found a photo of JFK Jr., wearing his Rolex Submariner! I knew he wore one as I had discovered a photo years ago that showed him wearing what was clearly a Rolex Oyster Bracelet with a flip-lock clasp. Today, when I was doing some research for an upcoming story on Rolex @ STUDIO 54 in New York, I discovered this photo of JFK Jr. wearing his Submariner, where you can see it from the front, so we finally have a true positive ID.
The AP photo seen above and below was taken in front of Studio 54 on December 13, 1979, and shows John F. Kennedy Jr, as he attempts to evade the paparazzi photographers. I think he is wearing a K-Swiss Rugby shirt in the photo.
Prior to publishing the photo above of JFK Jr. in a New York Taxicab in front of Studio 54, sporting his Rolex Submariner, a close friend of JFK Jr., read this article and contacted me to share the supposed story behind the photo above.
JFK Jr.'s friend told me that the watch was a Paul Newman Exotic Dial Daytona, which Aristotle Onassis gave JFK Jr., when he married his mother, Jackie Kennedy. He told me that JFK Jr. wore a Paul Newman Daytona with an Exotic white dial...He took the Rolex Daytona for servicing to Rolex in New York, and they replaced the riveted bracelet with a new Rolex Oyster bracelet with the flip-lock clasp, as seen above. Of course the photo at the top of this story refutes this fact, unless JFK Jr., had and wore two Rolex sport watches?
In the photos below, we see young JFK Jr, with his mother Jackie, and his stepfather, Aristotle Onassis.
JFK Jr's pal went to high school with him is named David, and as the story goes (As David shared with me in an interview), David had a really cool Canon telephoto lens on his 35MM camera. JFK Jr., really liked the lens and offered to trade him his Rolex Daytona for the lens, which at the time was worth about the same amount of money.
David accepted, and was the one who had the bracelet replaced by Rolex in New York. One day, JFK Jr's mother, Jackie-O, asked JFK Jr., where his Rolex watch was that Aristotle Onassis gave him, and he told her he traded it to David for a Camera lens. Jackie freaked out, and made her son trade it back. She said, "That was a gift from your step-father. You are not to trade it or give it away."
Note: In the photo above of The First Family, JFK with Jackie, Caroline and JFK Jr., pose on August 4, 1962 at Hyannis Port.
JFK Jr, and Caroline Kennedy in 1976 @ Andover Boarding School in New England
In the past, I published photos of other Kennedy relatives wearing Rolex watches, including JFK Jr's sister Caroline Kennedy (also pictured above and below wearing her Rolex Datejust) as well as his cousin Maria Shriver.
Years ago I heard a rumor that said President Kennedy's brother Bobby Kennedy Sr. wore a Rolex Submariner, but I have not been able to find a photo of him wearing a Rolex. So in 2023, I reached out to RFK Jr, through a friend of his who asked him if his father wore a Rolex? Bobby Jr. replied by saying, "Not that I am aware of. As a matter of fact, I don't recall ever seeing my father wear a watch on his wrist!?!!"
JFK Jr's cousin, Ted Kennedy Jr. wears a Rolex SEA-DWELLER as seen below.
Ted Kennedy Jr.'s father, Ted Kennedy, who was JFK's youngest brother is pictured below at the White House in Washington D.C., with their brother Bobby Kennedy.
The next three images of JFK Sr., and JFK Jr., appear courtesy of the estate of Stanley Tretick. Stanley Tretick was a Look Magazine photographer.
JFK Jr. is pictured below with his wife Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and if you think about it, JFK Jr., is the closest thing The United States ever had to having a prince. I remember once watching a Charlie Rose interview with author Pete Hamill who was talking about JFK and JFK Jr, and how much as a society we idolized them, and how unfortunate that both father and son left this world long before their full potential could be realized.
Peter Hamill quoted Irish Poet, William Butler Yeats 1919 poem named "In Memory of Major Robert Gregory", which he argued was on-point for JFK and JFK Jr, with the last line in the 11th stanza which read:
"What made us dream that he could comb grey hair?" –William Butler Yeats (1919)
Charlie Rose interviewed Peter Hamill on July 22, 1999 and Pete Hamill, as I mentioned above, talked about the passing of JFK Jr. I remember watching this when it originally aired in 1999. Pete Hamill got super-deep in the interview and he cited the famous William Saroyan line from 1939, which was from "The Time Of Your Life" which said:
"In the time of your life, live–so that in that wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite delight and mystery of it."
French Star, Singer, Songwriter Michel Sardou Wears Rolex... en chantant !
By DANNY CRIVELLO
I've always felt that one of the most wonderful things about growing up in France is to be able to understand its music. The richness of French lyrics and the soul of their love songs are unfortunately un-translatable. We are far here from the She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah.
To understand French talent in music making is to be reminded that probably the most famous melody in the world, "My Way" sung my Frank Sinatra, started as a French song ("Comme d'Habitude"). The song came out in France in 1967 and was sung by Claude François, pictured sitting below, right, before the rights were bought for the American market and released in the US in 1969.
In a previous story in these pages I wrote about Johnny Hallyday, "the French Elvis," after he passed away in 2017. He is pictured above, center. Michel Sardou, the subject of my story today, is on the far left.
Michel Sardou and Johnny Hallyday are both trans-generational giants of French music. Your mom would hum their tunes, but you also took your petite-amie to their concerts. To give you an idea, Michel Sardou's first No. 1 hit ("La Maladie d'Amour")came out in 1973 while his 2004 album Du plaisir went straight to the number one spot on the French album charts.
And just like with Johnny, I often saw Michel's portrait adorn the front pages of the French press and teen magazines. Posters were hung on bedroom walls; marriages and divorces were thoroughly chronicled. Some of the pictures of Michel Sardou I found wearing a Rolex are very rare because they date back from the 80s. Theyare nowhere on the Internet in the digitized format. Please indulge me. I decided to post them even if you see the aging and crease on the paper as they highlight his stardom; they are a piece of Rolex history.
In one of my favorite songs, "La Maladie d'Amour" (The Love Disease), he describes the symptoms of being in love and compares it to a beautiful disease. Elle fait chanter les hommes et s'agrandir le monde (It makes men sing and make the world bigger) / Elle fait parfois souffrir tout le long d'une vie (It sometimes makes one suffer for an entire life) / Elle fait pleurer les femmes, elle fait crier dans l'ombre (It makes women weep, it makes us cry in the shadows) / Mais le plus douloureux, c'est quand on en guérit (But the most painful is when we are cured from it).
Michel was a romantic and always felt the best part of a relationship is the beginning. There was also a rebel side to him. He sang against French colonialism; another song talks about the rights of women in Islamic countries ("Musulmanes"). Though France had abolished the death penalty, he sang a song called "Je Suis Pour" (I am for it). But to understand Michel Sardou is to know that his own son had been taken from him.
He also had a song called "Les Ricains," the nickname French give to Americans. Si les ricains n'étaient pas là / Vous seriez tous en Germanie / A parler de je ne sais quoi / A saluer je ne sais qui / Un gars venu de Géorgie / Qui se foutait pas mal de toi / Est v'nu mourir en Normandie / Un matin où tu n'y étais pas
(If the Ricains hadn't been here, you'd be all in Germany / Talking about who knows what / Saluting who knows whom / A guy who came here from Georgia / And though for you personally he didn't much care / He came and died in Normandy / One morning when you weren't there.)
...Rolex NASA Coolness... THE REAL TOP GUN Scott "Scooter" Altman U.S. Navy Test Pilot & NASA Astronaut
What is more exciting that discovering another NASA Astronaut who wore his Rolex in Space? Scott "Scooter" Altman is one of the most experienced U.S. Navy Test Pilots and NASA Astronauts in history as he flew on four Space Shuttle Missions.
Top Gun
Scott Altman was enrolled at the U.S. Navy's Topgun School located at Air Station Marimar. Scott worked as one of the lead stunt pilots in the movie 1986 movie Top Gun, which starred Tom Cruise. Scott stunt-doubled Tom Cruise's character 'Maverick' as he flew an F-14 fighter jet during the aerobatic flight sequences. We see Scott 'flipping the bird' in the video excerpt below from Top Gun, which makes Scott one of the most famous middle finger flippers in history.
In a 2000 NASA interview just before his spaceflight aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-106 Scott Altman said:
"Well, Top Gun was a real thrill. I still remember that so vividly. The word was going around town that Hollywood was coming to Miramar, where I was stationed, and they were going to do a movie, and we were all kind of excited. My squadron had just gotten back from a seven-and-a-half-month cruise about a week and a half before, so our airplanes were at home, we were available, we weren't too highly tasked. And it turned out they picked my squadron to supply the F-14s.
Then the skipper got together and tried to pick four guys that he thought, were mature enough, I guess, to handle, you know, the capability that they were being given in working with the movie, and all the things that were required. And the director wanted to have a small cadre of people that he could work with so you develop an understanding of what the movie folks want versus what we can do and how to try and balance those two requirements.
The flying was incredible. You know, most Navy pilots don't get to buzz the tower like in the movie – if you did you could just peel your wings off and, throw 'em at the door because you probably wouldn't be flying anymore – but, since it was Hollywood, you know, they wanted the scene. I had to buzz the tower. And, of course, they wanted nine different takes – so we did it nine times!"
I Feel The Need...
...The Need For Speed!
Val Kilmer is pictured below in the original Top Gun movie and we see him rocking his GMT-Master.
Tom Cruise recently reprized his role as Maverick in the Top Gun Maverick which is scheduled to be released in June 2020.
Scott Altman was a Top Gun in the U.S. Navy where he flew fighters off the deck of aircraft carriers. He went on to become a NASA Astronaut and flew on four different Space Shuttle Missions.
Scott was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2018. In 1998 he flew as a pilot on Space Shuttle Atlantis aboard STS-90, which was a 16-day mission for the European Space Agency's Spacelab Laboratory. In the photo below taken aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia we see Scott Altman orbiting earth as seen out the Space Shuttle cockpit window, and notice he is playing with his Rolex Submariner.
In 2000 Scott served as a Pilot aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-106, which was an 11-day mission that flew to the International Space Station, which prepared for the arrival of the first Expedition. This mission successfully delivered close to three tons of payload cargo from the Space Shuttle to the International Space Station and it the photo below we see Scott Altman rocking his Root Beer GMT-Master. Nick Gould discovered this image and sent it to me after I published this story. The caption reads:
STS106-388-025 (8-20 September 2000) — Astronaut Scott D. Altman, STS-106 pilot, works on a laptop computer in the SPACEHAB Logistics Double Module onboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis.
In 2002 Scott served at the Commander of Space Shuttle STS-109 which serviced the Hubble Space Telescope, and completed a series of spacewalks while setting a new record at 35 hours and 55 minutes.
In 2009 Scott was again the Commander of Space Shuttle Atlantis for the STS-125 (pictured below) which was the final Hubble Space Telescope service mission.
The 2009 photo below shows Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-125 taking off as she heads for the heavens.
In the photo below we see the Hubble Space Telescope docked inside the cargo bay of the Space Station Atlantis after it was captured and locked-down in the bay as it spins above earth which we see in the background.
In the photo below we see NASA Astronauts at they prepare to elevate the Remote Manipulator Arm (RMS) to the top fo the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in order to install protective covers on the magnetometers.
In the photo below we see Space Shuttle Atlantis crew members working on the Hubble Space Telescope with earth in the background.
In this next photo we see the Hubble Space Telescope after it was released back into space after being repaired and updated aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis.
In the photo below we see Scott Altman successfully landing Space Shuttle Atlantis after the STS-125 mission.
In the next photo below we see the Space Shuttle Atlantis which is perched on top to a modified Boeing 747 which is flying it back to Florida from California after it landed at Edwards Air Force Base.
The NASA photo below of STS-125 Commander, Scott Altman was taken on January 1, 2010 as he spoke at a press conference and notice he is wearing his stainless steel Rolex Submariner.
The photo below of the Orion Nebula was taken in January 2006 by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope which was successfully repaired and updated as part of the Scott Altaman's STS-125 Mission.
Special thanks to Philip from MoonWatchUniverse for sending in this photo of Scott rocking his Root beer GMT-Master while piloting the Space Shuttle.
Philip wrote: "Spaceflight & wristwatch fans know that astronaut Scott "Scooter" Altman loved his Rolex watches... wearing several Rolex watches on each of his 4 spaceflight missions!"
"18 years ago... March 2002, Commander Scott Altman gives thumbs up in the cockpit of space shuttle Columbia during mission STS-109, the 4th Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.
Note he wore his personal Rolex GMT-master Rootbeer pilotwatch, together with the NASA-issued sleep-wake monitor actiwatch at his left wrist."
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.
