A reader from Washington D.C. named Chris has been a reader of Jake's Rolex World for many years and recently shared this amazing Rolex story with me.
Good Things Come to Those Who Wait
My first watch was a gift from my grandfather. In 1976 I was six years old, and I was spending some weeks with my grandparents during the summer. It wasn’t my birthday, but my grandfather must have thought, the boy needed a watch, so he and I drove to the jeweler in the next town, and – in the middle of the quartz crisis – he bought me a hand-wound dive watch with a black bezel, a small second, and the most gorgeous metallic green dial. I loved this watch and wore it throughout my childhood. This watch started my love of watches.
Then I saw Roger Moore in Moonraker save the day, the lady, and himself by means of a digital watch, and quartz caught up with me. I had to wait a bit, and I did not get that Seiko, but something that looked similar. Boy, it felt cool, wearing that watch!
Then Magnum, P.I. happened. It is hard to overstate the effect this show had on the 80s, the perception of the war in Vietnam and its veterans, and on pop culture in America and beyond. As a teenager, it also had an effect on me. I learned about values, friendship, sacrifice, and life in the military.
Season 4, Episode 1 came on, “Home from the Sea”. In that episode we learn about Magnum’s father, a Naval Aviator. And we see that man’s watch up close: It is a Rolex GMT-Master Pepsi.
He tells young Magnum that he will get him a watch, the same he has. Later in the episode, we learn that Magnum’s father did not return from the Korean War, and we see young Magnum at his father’s funeral.
He honors his father with a military salute, and we see his father’s watch dangling on Magnum’s child-sized wrist.
I was mesmerized. I had never seen a watch like that. The red, white, and blue bezel, showing the American colors, captured my attention and imagination, and to this day never let go. Some watches can trigger an emotional reaction in us. They pull on our heart strings in ways that are hard to explain. The GMT-Master does that for me. Over the years, I read and learned more about this watch: Its popularity among pilots and astronauts, its journeys to the moon.
Whenever I spotted one on someone’s wrist, I sighed quietly, sometimes audibly. My fascination with the GMT-Master consistently grew over the years. As a young Air Force Lieutenant in the early 90s, I came close to buying one once, but ultimately shied away from the expense. A friend of mine was smarter and bought his. He wears it to this day. As time went by, I bought, wore, and sold other watches, but the GMT-Master was always in the back of my mind and always just out of reach.
One day I visited my friend John in Pennsylvania. I wore my Tudor Black Bay GMT that day, and John commented on how similar it looked to his watch. What? My ears perked up. He shared with me that as a cadet at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs in 1969, he purchased a GMT-Master at the Academy’s cadet store. He said he wore it during training, during his year in Vietnam, and after. At some point he stored it and wore other watches. I asked, if I could see it. He walked to a metal lock box, opened it, but the watch was not in it. He was certain, it was somewhere in the house, although he had not seen it in years. On and off, for the next two years, we kept talking about the missing watch.
Then one afternoon we sat together in his living room, and I said: “John, should we go to the basement and look for the Rolex?” He said: “Sure, let’s do it.” In the vast basement, there were about 100 cardboard boxes, filled with mementos of John’s and his wife’s life, after several moves. If you know about the Catholic faith, you may know that we are invited to call on certain Saints, asking for their prayers for certain causes. Saint Anthony of Padua has a long track record when it comes to lost items. So, I am asking for Saint Anthony’s intercession, and pull the first box from a shelf. John starts on the other end of the shelf. In that first box, I see a smaller box that contains all of John’s military decorations, including his Vietnam Service Ribbon. I’m thinking: “We could be close.” I pull the second box from the shelf, and immediately see a green cardboard box with a golden crown on top. My heart skips a beat. I open it, and I see the inner box, also proudly bearing the golden crown. I open it, and there it is, the GMT-Master Pepsi, Reference 1675, Mark 1, long E. The hands and hour markers are cream-colored, the red of the bezel has turned into a solid fuchsia, and the case is covered with dings, dents, and scratches. It is on an aftermarket bracelet. The Plexiglas crystal also has a lot of scratches and a big dent at 10 o’clock. This is what a GMT-Master should look like after a year of service in a war zone. Battle scars? You bet! I imagine what John and this watch must have been through. The watch is lying on the soft inner case material, with the hang tag lying next to it. And it is, as if it talks to me: “Finally! It’s about time, someone brings me back to life!” I turn to John and say: “John, I found it.” He smiles and says the words I can still hear in my head: “It’s yours.”
[Pause. Time stands still.]
After I regain my composure, I ask him: “Are you sure?” He says: “Yes, of course. It’s yours.” An Airman is handing a GMT-Master down to a fellow Airman of another generation, and that Airman is me. Pinch me, I must be dreaming.
After a big bear hug, we climb up the stairs. I need a chair, and maybe a drink. I take a few photos of the watch in its box, with the hang tag and Chronometer certificate arranged around it. What a happy day! I wind it, and it immediately starts running. John says, it has never been serviced. After years of wear, followed by decades in a box, it just runs, consistently off by about 5 seconds a day. Rolex, you truly deserve the crown!
I have wanted this watch for 40 years. Sometimes good things do come to those who wait. As I write these lines, my GMT-Master is being serviced for the first time.
When I receive it back, I will have an engraving put on the back: “Thank you, John and Saint Anthony!”
