The Complete History Of The Rolex GMT-Master Series

Rolex X-Files
The Right Stuff

I FEEL THE NEED, THE NEED...

3 Rolex GMT-Masters at Mach 2

on a Nuclear Bomber

Breaking the Sound Barrier

Newly Discovered History

Rolex and the Right Stuff

"Peace is our Profession"

(Motto of the Strategic Air Command)

When the delta-winged supersonic bomber flared over France, it had flown from New York to Paris in just three hours and 19 minutes—setting a remarkable world aviation record!

It was 1961, Kennedy was President, the Beatles were playing in Liverpool, and a wall was being built in Berlin. A month earlier, a human had entered space for the first time. He was Russian. The Cold War was in full swing.

In the U.S., Rolex GMT-Masters were strapped onto the wrists of jet pilots both in the military and at Pan Am. It took a B-707 airliner almost twice the time to cross the Atlantic than it did this sleek B-58 bomber powered by four jet engines with afterburners.

The USAF Bomber B-58 "Hustler"

The B-58 flight to Paris not only commemorated the 34th anniversary of Charles A. Lindbergh's Atlantic crossing, which took ten times longer; it also marked the opening of the 24th Paris International Air Show.

The B-58 crew inspects the Lindbergh plaque at Le Bourget

The trans-Atlantic record breakers, still wearing their flight suits, patched jackets, black boots and Pepsi-bezeled Rolex watches, would kneel next to the Lindbergh plaque at Le Bourget airport in Paris, in a moment of relaxation and recognition of historic flight history nostalgia.

The press was there, a few pictures were taken; they would make the front page of The New York Times, above the fold.

Maj. William R. Payne, pilot, with Capt. William L. Polhemus, navigator, and Capt. Raymond R. Wagener, defense systems operator, earned both the Mackay and Harmon Trophies for the first supersonic Atlantic crossing, the time set by the bomber having almost halved the previous record.

Including refueling periods that day, the B-58, nicknamed "The Hustler," averaged about 1,050 miles an hour inflight.

This B-58 broke the speed record; seen refueling by a KC-135

Introduced by Convair only 12 years after the sound barrier was first broken, the Hustler became the first large long-range supersonic bomber to take to the skies, capable of Mach 2 at 63,000 feet.

Faster than its contemporaries and agile enough to escape most interceptors, the B-58 was a remarkable feat of engineering, setting 19 world speed records and epitomizing the Cold War power of USAF Strategic Air Command.

...Rolex Super Coolness...

Precision Navigation over the Atlantic

Maj. William Payne, Capt. William Polhemus, Capt. Raymond Wagener flight-planning...

The Rolex 1675 GMT-Master on the pilots' wrists could track two time zones. The watch had exceptional visibility, and its bi-directional blue-and-red bezel made it the ideal watch for criss-crossing the globe.

...with a Rolex GMT-Master on their wrists

The B-58 crew jumped six time zones in three hours—and they had done it 15 years before the first Concorde entered service. "If you were flying a Concorde tomorrow..."

Each B-58 crew member had a separate cockpit.

A Crash

The story of the B-58 that set a speed record from New York to Paris ended tragically. On June 3rd, 1961, the Hustler took off from Le Bourget for its return trip to the U.S. The pilot performed a low-altitude roll as the aircraft entered a low cloud base and disappeared from view. The Hustler crashed into a potato field near Louvres and exploded in a huge fireball, killing all three crew members.

In a bizarre twist of fate, the speed-record breakers were not onboard. Three different Air Force officers had crewed the B-58 for its flight back to the U.S.

As for the original crew, they continued their careers in the U.S. Air Force, a Rolex on their wrists—keeping the time of their lives. The pilot, William R. Payne, would later be the first to break the 1,000 hours flying a supersonic jet.

I found the local news reel marking the event, which can be seen below. As far as I know this is the only video available of him. There is no sound, but I've added the transcript in the description.

This video has no sound. Here's the transcript from the local TV station:

"The white puff of smoke boiling up from the wheels of this B-58 Hustler signifies the ticking off of 1,000 hours of supersonic jet time for the sleek jet's pilot, Lieutenant Colonel William R. Payne of 41-01 Tara Lane in Fort Worth. He is the first pilot in the United States Air Force to log a thousand hour of supersonic flight. Brigadier General Brick Holstrom, 43rd Bomb wing commander, is on hand as Col. Payne extricate himself from the pilot's seat. A B-58 weapons system operator and navigator are the only officers in the Air Force to have logged 1,000 supersonic hours. Col.

Payne's family is on hand as he leaves the plane, named "Wild Child Two," and is greeted by B. G. Reed, vice-president of operations at Fort Worth's General Dynamics plant. Reed presents the 39-year-old jet pilot with a certificate honoring his achievement and a thousand-hour pin. Col. Payne's B-58 career has been a string of firsts ... he is a member of the first crew in the Air Force to become combat ready in the B-58. With Col. Payne at the controls in 1961, a B-58 set two international speed records during a Fort Worth-to-Paris run, winning the coveted Mackay trophy, also for the first time."

Sincere thanks to my friend Phil from Moon Watch Universe for helping me with this story.

Rolex X-Files

THE RIGHT STUFF

Wally Schirra

1923-2007

Discovered Wearing Rolex Daytona Reference 6240

in 1968 for his Apollo 7 portrait!!!

Brilliant Horological investigator, Nick Gould made a game-changing discovery when he discovered this Official NASA portrait that shows Apollo Astronaut Wally Schirra wearing a Rolex Daytona Chronograph Reference in 1968!!! I showed the image to Paul Boutros from Phillips Auction house and he said "Very cool! And with screw-down pushers! Very likely a Reference 6240 in 1968."

In photo we see Schirra holding what appears to be a Hasselblad camera with a Carl Zeiss lens.

At first glance a person could easily dismiss Schirra's watch as being an Omega Speedmaster as it is clearly a chronograph with a black bezel, but upon closer inspection there are many tell-tale characteristics that confirm Wally Schirra is wearing a Rolex Daytona including:

1. The Rolex Crown Coronet Logo on the winding Crown.
2. The drilled lug holes which Omega lacked.
3. The Screw Down plungers.
4. The riveted Rolex Oyster Bracelet.

After a great deal of investigation Nick Gould (@Niccoloy) made another major discovery that enhances the detail (pun intended) in this story. Nick reached out to Philip from MoonWatchUniverse to ask him if he had a higher-resolution NASA photo of Apollo 7 Astronaut, Wally Schirra, and you are looking at the result below. This photo is taken from a slightly different angle and reveals that Wally Schirra was indeed wearing a Rolex Daytona Reference 6240 with a silver dial with black Subdials as we see below:

This photo below of Wally Schirra was taken just before he took off aboard Apollo 7 and we see he is wearing a chronograph, which I always assumed to be an Omega Speedmaster. A great question is if Schirra wore his Daytona aboard Apollo 7?

Wally Schirra

Below is the original story I published on Wally Schirra on February 2, 2019, and it includes additional update I just made!:

Recently we took a look at NASA Astronaut, Frank Borman and today we are going to take a look at another famous Astronaut. Wally Schirra was one of the original Mercury Astronauts and he wore a Pepsi GMT-Master as we will see in this story. Schirra was not only the first astronaut to travel into space three times, but the first ONLY one to have flown in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions! The photo below of Wally Schirra with his family was taken on October 10, 1968, which was the day before he took off aboard Apollo 7.

Nick Gould recently pointed out an article published on Fratellowatches.com that featured an interview with Wally Schirra back in 2007 by Chuck Maddox in which Schirra reveals he received his Rolex GMT-Master from the Naval Academy Alumni in 1965.

The Original 7

NASA Mercury Astronaut Team

March 1, 1960

Wally Schirra was chosen to be one of the original NASA Mercury 7 Astronauts, and he is pictured below with the other pilots who were chosen for the program.

Pictured above we see the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) group portrait of the 'Original Seven' astronauts from the Mercury program as they pose in front of an Air Force Jet, in Florida, in January 1963. From left, Scott Carpenter (1925-2013), Gordon Cooper (1927-2004), John Glenn (1921-2016), Gus Grissom (1926-1967), Wally Schirra (1923 -2007), Alan Shepherd (1923-1998), and Deke Slayton (1924-1993).”

The photo below taken April 8, 1959 shows the seven NASA Astronauts of the Mercury program: Walter M Schirra, Deke Slayton, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Alan B Shepard, Virgil Grissom and Gordon Cooper.”

It is fascinating to note that to date I have documented 4 out of 7 of the Original 7 Mercury Astronauts wore Rolex watches!!!

Mercury Sigma 7

Below we see NASA Mercury Astronaut, Wally Schirra who was the fifth Mercury Astronaut to fly, in his Sigma 7, which achieved six orbits around earth. Wally Schirra then flew on Gemini 6A with Tom Stafford. Next he flew on the Apollo 7 mission.

This next image shows Wally Schirra during capsule testing for Gemini 6A.

This next image is one of my favorite NASA images of all time. It was taken December 12, 1965 and shows Walter R. Schirra Jr. arriving at Pad 19 during the Gemini 6 prelaunch countdown. This is the Right Stuff!

The photo below was taken on December 15, 1965 and shows Wally Schirra maneuvered the Gemini 6 spacecraft within 1 foot (30CM) of Gemini 7 which was its sister craft. The two spacecraft were not designed to dock with each other, but maintained this close approximation to each other for more than 20 minutes straight.

In the photo above and video below we see Walter Schirra's to the White House to visit President Kennedy.

In the photo below we see Wally Schirra with JFK at Cape Canaveral in November of 1964, just before JFK was assassinated.

In the photo below we see Wally Schirra on April 17, 1967, testifying before a House investigation subcommittee in a probe on the fire that occurred aboard Apollo I, in which three NASA Astronauts died. Wally Schirra is pictured below in between Donald Slayton and Alan Shepard. If you look closely Wally Schirra is wearing his Pepsi GMT-Master.

Apollo 7

In the photo below we see Wally Schirra's Rolex Oyster bracelet with his GMT-Master and the Nasa caption reads "Donald (Deke) Slayton, Director, Flight Crew Operations (l) at the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, briefs Apollo 7 Astronauts from left: Donn Eisele, Walter Schirra, and Walter Cunningham. October 9, 1968. Scan by Ed Hengeveld. Caption by Kipp Teague"

In the photo below we see an official Nasa photo with a caption that reads: "Astronaut Walter M. Schirra, Jr., enjoys breakfast before boarding the Apollo 7 spacecraft. October 11, 1968. Scan by Ed Hengeveld. Caption by Kipp Teague."

For the image below the Nasa caption reads: "Apollo 7 astronauts breakfast with NASA officials. Walter Cunningham, second from left; Donn F. Eisele, second from left across table and Walter M. Schirra, Jr., next to Eisele. Kenneth Kleinknecht, Manager, Apollo S Spacecraft Office. October 11, 1968. Scan by Ed Hengeveld. Caption by Kipp Teague."

Nasa caption for image below reads: "Apollo 7 astronauts breakfast with NASA officials prior to their launch into earth orbit atop a Saturn IB space vehicle. Joining the trio at breakfast was James Webb, left foreground, former NASA Administrator. October 11, 1968. Scan by Ed Hengeveld. Caption by Kipp Teague."

In the photo below we see Apollo 7 Commander, Wally Schirra suiting up for Apollo 7 and notice he is wearing a really cool Omega Speedmaster on the outer sleeve of his space-suit!

This next photo of Wally Schirra appears courtesy of Philip and was taken on October 23, 1968 during the Apollo 7 Mission debriefing after the crew returned from the USS Essex recovery ship, and you can clearly see Schirra's Pepsi GMT-Master on his wrist. These facts beg the question of wether he wore his Rolex on the Apollo 7 mission?

The official NASA caption for the image above and below reads: "Apollo 7 astronauts (l-r) Walter Cunningham, Donn F. Eisele, and Walter M. Schirra, Jr., compare notes at a mission debriefing conducted today at the Kennedy SpaceCenter. October 23, 1968. Scan by Ed Hengeveld. Caption by Kipp Teague."

This next photo was also taken on October 23, 1968 shows Wally Schirra with fellow Apollo 7 Astronaut, Walter Cunningham, and we see Schirra rockin' his GMT-Master.

Schirra logged a total of 296 hours in space and after Apollo 7, he retired as a captain from the U.S. Navy, as well as NASA. He went on to consult with CBS News during their coverage of the following Apollo flights, and joined Walter Cronkite as the co-anchor for all 7 NASA Moon landing missions. Wally Schirra is pictured below in 1968 with fellow Apollo Astronauts, Jack Swigert and Donn Eisele. In this photo I believe it is likely both Jack and Wally are wearing their Rolex Pepsi GMT-Master watches.

Walter v. Walter

After WALTER Schirra retired from his astronaut career he became a special NASA commentator and host on CBS News where he worked side by side with WALTER Cronkite. Walter Cronkite told a story where Wally Schirra was apparently trying to get Cronkite to wear a Rolex Sports watch. Walter Cronkite said in his book titled, "Conversations with Cronkite" Shirra said to him:

"What you need, Walter (Cronkite), is a Rolex, like the Astronauts.

We have these special Rolex watches!"

—Walter Schirra