Summertime is moving full speed ahead in the northern hemisphere so I thought it would be fun to hop in the Rolex Time Machine and travel back a half-century to examine one of the great aquatic adventure movies.
Peter Benchley's 1975 Jaws movie was directed by Steven Spielberg and it was a mega-hit. Jaws prompted a slew of underwater/aquatic adventure movies and TV shows. This include movies like The DEEP, and TV shows like The Man From Atlantis. I originally published this story many years ago, but today I am very excited to update it with much new information. Special thanks Nicolas @ Adpatina.com for providing the superb Submariner Rolex Magazine ad image below, as well as updated high-res for the Peter Benchley Rolex Ads.
This next photo shows Peter Benchley rocking his yellow gold Rolex Submariner (Reference 1680) in real life.
Nick Nolte wore a Stainless Steel Rolex Submariner as he costarred with Jacqueline Bisset from the movie "The Deep" from 1977, as seen below. I remember tripping on The DEEP when I was a kid. It was a great diving movie.
The DEEP featured an all-star cast including Nick Nolte and Jacqueline Bisset, as well as Robert Shaw, Louis Gossett Jr, and Eli Wallach. Robert Shaw (pictured below in center) also starred previously in Jaws in 1975. Robert Shaw had previously also starred in From Russia With Love (1963), A Man For All Seasons (1966), The Sting (1973), and Force 10 From Navarone in 1978. Eli Wallach is pictured below on the far right, with his back to the camera.
The DEEP was filmed in 1976 in Bermuda, and went on to become the top box office film, second only in popularity to Star Wars in 1977. This action/thriller diving movie was about treasure hunters who were searching for lost ampoules of morphine lost in a shipwreck named 'The Goliath' which sunk in 1943. They also discover lost Spanish gold treasure, which includes a bejeweled gold cross.
Peter Benchley is pictured below with Nick Nolte and Jacqueline Bisset on the set of The Deep and notice Peter is rocking a Rolex Explorer II "Orange Hand" (Reference 1655).
Peter Benchley wrote Jaws and The DEEP, and he is featured below in the two Rolex Submariner ads from 1975.
Richard Gere is 76 years young today. What do Rolex and Richard Gere have in common? They are both timeless, charismatic, good-looking and super iconic, so should come as no surprise that Richard Gere has worn the same two-tone Rolex Datejust for many decades. In the more recent photo below, we see Richard rocking his Rolex Datejust.
Richard Gere has had an amazing acting career that has spanned several decades and included movies like American Gigolo (1980), An Officer and Gentleman (1982), Breathless (1983), The Cotton Club (1984), Pretty Woman (1990), Primal Fear (1996), Runaway Bride (1999), Chicago (2002), Arbitrage (2012), The Dinner (2017), and the mini-series MotherFatherSon (2019). Richard Gere is pictured above and below sporting his two-tone Rolex Datejust.
Of course, Richard Gere is known for his rugged good looks and he was voted The Sexiest Man Alive by People Magazine in 1999.
American Gigolo
1980 Mercedes-Benz 450SL
It could be argued that Richard Gere's Magnum Opus movie was American Gigolo. The famous opening screen can be seen below in the video, where he is driving his 450SL Mercedes-Benz down the Pacific Coast Highway, while Blondie's mega-hit song "Call Me" plays in the background.
It's challenging to put into works how profound of an impact the movie American Gigolo had on the world of taste and fashion. It could be argued that American Gigolo represents the demarcation point between the hippy-dippy spiritualism of the 1970s, and the Reagan era return to style and materialism.
Richard Gere is pictured below with Giorgio Armani in 1988 at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. Armani designed Gere's wardrobe for American Gigolo, which literally put Armani on the map and made him famous.
In the photo above, Richard Gere is pointing to the Giorgio Armani label in his jacket, and we get a clean shot of his Rolex Datejust. Former First Lady, Jackie Kennedy's sider, Lee Radziwill is picture on the right.
One of my greatest Armani memories is how well Gere was dressed in American Gigolo. The scene where Gere slides open his drawer filled with Armani shirts (partially seen in the trailer below) was perhaps one of the seminal fashion moments to grace the big screen. This exposure to the Armani brand is a great example of the power of product placement.
An Officer And A Gentleman
In 1982 Richard Gere starred in another mega hit named An Officer And A Gentleman.
Pretty Woman
Richard Gere also starred in the 1990 mega-hit Pretty Woman which costarred Julia Roberts. This was not only the ultimate chick-flick, but dudes loved it as well.
Richard Gere wore his two-tone Rolex Datejust in the movie Pretty Woman, as you can see in the screen grabs and press photos seen below.
In the two photos below, we see Richard Gere sporting his two-tone Rolex Datejust which he wore in the blockbuster movie Pretty Woman.
The Movie Star and the Model
Richard Gere was married to supermodel Cindy Crawford from 1991 to 1995.
In the photo below we see Cindy Crawford with Richard Gere dressing like twins. And if you look closely they are both wearing two-tone Rolex Datejust models.
Dalai Lama & Richard Gere
2 Two-Tone Rolex Datejust Models?
Richard Gere has been a supporter of His Holiness, The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, for many years. The first photo taken in 1994 shows Richard Gere wearing his two-tone Rolex Datejust and in the second photo we see the Dalai Lama wearing his two-tone Rolex Datejust. Perhaps Richard Gere gave the Dalai Lama his Rolex?
Jean-Paul Belmondo, often referred to as 'Bé-bel' was a highly charismatic and beloved leading French actor was also a huge Rolex fan, as you can see in all the photos, including the one seen below taken in 1981 which shows him rocking a Submariner with Cyriel Claire.
Jean-Paul Belmondo possessed a certain perpetual Je ne sais quoi that transcends time. I was talking to Captain Danny, about Jean-Paul and he said "He had a Steve McQueen-like stature in French cinema".
In the next 4 images below and one above we see Jean-Paul wearing a Paul Newman 'Big Red' Daytona.
In the photo below from the 1977 Paris Match cover we see Jean-Paul Belmondo rocking his two-tone Rolex Datejust on a Jubilee bracelet.
Below we see the same photo but with better resolution.
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.
