...Rolex Super-Coolness...
Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone
Keeping The Time Of His Life With Rolex
Celebrates 80th Birthday
Legendary actor, Sylvester Stallone celebrated his 80th birthday today and he's pictured above in a photo that appeared in a Hollywood Reporter article back in 2022 that shows Sly rocking a Paul Neman Daytona.
It’s always fascinating to reflect on how time has passed. When I was ten years old, Rocky was released in 1976, which also marked the bicentennial of the United States. When Stallone debuted Rocky, he was thirty, and I was ten. The United States was two hundred years old at the time. Now Stallone is eighty, and I’m sixty. The United States is now two hundred fifty years old. Funny how time flies.
Speaking of my childhood memories, it felt like a magical and iconic era. The Six Million Dollar Man was already a huge hit on TV, and every kid wanted to be Steve Austin. Then in 1976 the legendary Farrah Fawcett red swimsuit poster exploded in popularity—it seemed like that poster was hanging in half the bedrooms in America of every red-blooded young man, and then it took off like crazy when Charlies Angles debuted. That same year, Jaws had just come out the summer before and was still everywhere, followed by Rocky in December of ’76. The next year brought Star Wars with the incomparable Harrison Ford, in May of 1977, THE DEEP that June, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind in November.
Ironically, the Rolex Oyster was also celebrating its 50th anniversary in 1976—still five years away from me discovering the brand and what it would come to mean. Now I look in the rearview mirror of my life and it's super bizarre to see how I have blogged non-stop about Rolex for the past 19 years straight, and at the same time Rolex watches were all over the place back in the mid to late 1970s, in front of my young eyes, without me being able to yet see or understand their significance, nor the role they would eventually play in my life.
Sly is pictured below sporting his yellow gold Rolex Submariner with the black dial and bezel in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Since the yellow gold Rolex had no nickname I officially nicknamed it the "Sylvester Stallone Submariner back in 2016."
The incredible original soundtrack from Rocky was composed by Bill Conti, and its theme "Gonna Fly Now" became a number one Billboard hit in 1976. Click play below and you’ll see exactly why: Maynard Ferguson charges onto The Michael Douglas Show in 1977 like a fired-up elephant, stomps his left foot, then his right, and bellows "three, four!" — launching the band at full throttle from the very first beat. As Chilly Gonzales once put it in his ultra energetic song "Never Stop," "I don't judge you if you're part of a true scene." And that's exactly what this explosive '70s performance is — a magnificently true scene.
Rocky
Rocky is considered to be one of the best sports films ever made, and it debuted in 1976 to critical acclaim, which among other things inspired a worldwide fitness craze. Rocky is the story of Rocky Balboa who goes from being a small-time club fighter who gains the opportunity to fight for the world heavyweight championship. Rocky was made in 28 days, for a budget of a little more than $1 Million. It became the highest grossing film of 1976, and won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Rocky grossed $5 Million on its opening weekend, and for the North American box office did a total of $117 Million, which adjusted for inflation would be close to $500 Million at 2016 prices. Rocky did just as well internationally In 1976, having grossed $107 Million. Rocky was a "Knockout" success!!!!
Rocky has had six sequels to date, with Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982), Rocky IV (1985), Rocky V (1999), Rocky Balboa (2006), and most recently, Creed (2015). Sylvester Stallone wrote the first five sequels and played Rocky Balboa in all six sequels.
Rocky III
The Photo below was taken during Rocky III in 1982, and in it we see Sylvester Stallone wearing his yellow gold Rolex Submariner. When Stallone was younger, he tended to wear his Rolex Submariner on his right wrist, Steve McQueen style. In later years, would switch to wearing his Rolex watches on his left wrist.
Speaking of Mr. T and Rolex; below is a photo of Mr. T wearing his blinged-out Rolex President.
Stayin' Alive 1983
The Photos below of Sylvester Stallone and John Travolta were taken during the filming of Stayin' Alive, which was the follow-up sequel to the mega-hit, Saturday Night Fever. Sylvester Stallone wrote and directed Stayin' Alive.
Rockin' A Rolex President
In the following series of photos below, we see Sylvester Stallone wearing a Yellow Gold Rolex Day-Date "President."
In the photo above, we see Sylvester Stallone with legendary boxer, Ray "Boom-Boom" Mancini."
Ronald Reagan & Sylvester Stallone
Two California Classics
Sylvester Stallone is pictured below with his wife at the time, Briget Nielsen at a White House party with then U.S. President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan.
Who You Callin' Girlyman!?!
Sly is pictured below with the Gubernator, and notice Arnold Schwarzenegger is wearing his yellow gold Rolex Mocha GMT on a Jubilee. Rolex seriously needs to bring back the brown bezel and dial on the yellow gold GMT Master–it was a superb color combination!!!
The photo below shows Sylvester Stallone holding his wife, Bridgette Nielsen up in the air on Long Island in 1987. The photo was taken by Herb Ritts, and if you look closely you can see Sly is wearing his Rolex Submariner.
The Contender
2005-2007
2005-2007
Sylvester Stallone co-starred in an early reality TV show named The Contender, and in the photo below we see him wearing a stainless steel Rolex Submariner while standing next to his brother, Frank Stallone, and boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard. I remember former Rolex USA executive, T. Walker Lloyd talking about his relationship with Sylvester Stallone, as well as his brother Frank Stallone in a podcast interview I did wit him back in 2008. "T", as his close friends referred to him was a Rolex USA executive, and he told me how he personally got Sylvester Stallone his yellow gold Rolex Submariner and Rolex President. He also told me that he thought Sylvester Stallone got carried away as he wanted Rolex watches for his entire pose, including his brother, Frank Stallone.
Sugar Ray Leonard is pictured below wearing his Platinum Rolex Day-Date, and he also wears a bunch of other Rolex models.
Sly's Black-Out Concept Rolex Daytona
In the below from 2011, we see Sylvester Stallone wearing his customized Black-Out Concept Rolex Daytona.
Sly's Rolex DEEP SEA
In the recent photos below, we see Sylvester Stallone wearing his Rolex DEEPSEA SEA-DWELLER.
CREED 2015
Sylvester Stallone recently starred in a new movie named CREED, which is based on Rocky, and Stallone is currently up for the Academy Award for Best Costar. He also won the 2016 Golden Glob Award for Best Supporting Actor. In the first photo below, we see Sylvester Stallone with Mr. T in a photo shot during Rocky III.
In this next photo from 2015, we see Sylvester Stallone wearing the same vintage yellow Gold Rolex Submariner he was wearing in the photo above.
The photo below shows boxer Oscar De-La-Hoya with Sylvester Stallone, and if if you look closely at Sly's Rolex, you can see the Nipple indices that confirms it is a vintage Rolex Submariner.
White Gold Pepsi Rolex GMT-Master
In the photos below we see Sylvester Stallone in recent photos showing off his White Gold Pepsi Rolex GMT-Master.
The photo below shows the bejeweled white gold Rolex GMT-Master model that Sylvester Stallone is wearing.
