It has been said that every Rolex has a story behind it, and Rolex used to publish many of these great anecdotes, and this one is from Brazil in 1953. The article mentions "Don't forget that the more junior member of the Rolex family, the Tudor, is also protected by the Oyster case." Rolex officially launched the Tudor line a year earlier in 1952. If you click on the magazine image below, it will get bigger and easier to read.
Vintage Rolex Ad Appears Courtesy of The Concannon Collection
"When you design it, think how you would feel if you had to fly it! Safety first!"
Donald Douglass is one of the greatest aviation pioneers in history, and he is featured below in the 1952 Rolex Datejust ad. Donald Douglas was a highly talented aeronautical engineer who played a key role in the building out the American aviation industry.
Early in Douglas' career he built an airplane known as the Douglas Cloudster, which was the first airplane that could cary a payload heavier than its own weight. In 1921 he founded the Douglas Aircraft Company which would later merge into The McDonnell Douglas Corporation.
Donald Douglas is pictured below with American President FDR, on the eve of World War II. At the beginning of World War II, Doulas' Airplanes made up 80% of all commercial aircraft in the U.S. Fleet, which was dominated with his Douglas DC-3. Also, his Douglas C-47 Military Transport version of the DC-3 was the dominant airplane in the U.S. Military Fleet.
In the video below we learn how Donald Douglas was deeply inspired by the Wright Brothers, and how he witnessed the dawn of Military aviation.
The following video is fascinating as it features the pioneer aviation founders of Lockheed, Northrop and Douglas himself.
This is an outrageously beautiful yellow gold Rolex Moonphase that was made between 1949 and 1952. This Rolex reference is was dubbed "Padellone" by Italian collectors. "Padellone" translated into English means "Frying Pan." I understand the translation, but referring to such a magnificent masterpiece as "frying pan" is not reasonable, so today I am renaming this watch as "The Magnificent Moonphase."
One of the other really cool things about the Rolex Moonphase [Reference 8171] is that even though it was made between 1949 and 1952, it was unusually large at the time at 38mm, which makes it very cool and timeless today.
I remember back in 1984, how the Porsche was the coolest car, and here is a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona brochure cover featuring the Porsche 928S. Very Cool...
Speaking of the Porsche 928, here is an original brochure from Jake's Car World.
Henri Leong from Indonesia is a long-time reader of Jake's Rolex World, and he recently sent in this amazing photo of his Rolex GMT-Master. Great Coronet Shot Henri! Happy New Year!!!
Al Pacino is considered to be one of the greatest actors alive today. He has been wearing Rolex watches on film and in real life for decades.
Al Pacino is pictured below with Carrie Underwood at the 2013 Emmy Awards, and you can see he is wearing his trademark Rolex Submariner.
Al Pacino stared in the seminal Godfather trilogy of movies where he played Michael Corleone family. In my opinion the Godfather trilogy is one of the greatest set of movies ever made. The Godfather was released in 1972, and Godfather II was released in 1974. Godfather III was released more than 25 years later in 1990. Many people have criticized Godfather III as not being as good as Part 1 & 2, but I completely disagree. I think Godfather Part III is every bit as great as 1 & 2.
The photo below shows Al Pacino's character, Don Michael Corleone with his father, Don Vito Corleone that was played by Marlon Brando.
Another seminal Al Pacino movie was Scarface, which the photo below is from.
In 1992 All Pacino Starred in Glengarry Glen Ross, in which he wore a two-tone Rolex Datejust, as seen below.
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.
