People ask me what my favorite Rolex of al time is, and my answer is the original LV Submariner. I love the original LV for many different reasons. In particular, I love the Maxi Markers, fat hands and the tri-tone look the green bezel insert offers. The LV is sporty, aquatic, and its design language is pure classic Rolex.
So where did the LV Submariner come from? I will give you a hint. this is the very first photo Rolex ever published of the LV Submariner. It is actually a prototype. How can you tell? Notice the lugs have exposed spring bar holes. Ironically, Rolex NEVER sold this watch with this feature, but it all began with this photo.
I first reported on a member of Duran Duran wearing a Rolex back in 2008, with an early post on Simon Le Bon. This new story goes much more into detail on Simon Le Bon and other members of Duran Duran wearing Rolex.
Duran Duran Rio Album Artwork by ultra-talented 1980s Minamalist Pop Artist & Illustrator Patrick Nagel
Duran Duran
Legendary 1980s Band
Keeping Time With Rolex
In many ways, Duran Duran represents the ultimate 1980s band. The big hair, coupled with amazing songs, and of course they wore Rolex watches. In the photo below we see Duran Duran band members, drummer Roger Taylor, bassist John Taylor, and lead vocals Simon Le Bon. In this photo we see drummer, Roger Taylor and John Taylor both wearing two-tone Rolex Datejust models.
Duran Duran was founded in Birmingham, England in the United Kingdom in 1978, and were a major player in what is known as the Second British Invasion, which took place in the early 1980s, and included bands like, The Police, The Human League, ABC, Adam Ant, Bananarama, Bow Wow Wow, Culture Club, Thomas Dolby, The English Beat, The Fixx, Haircut 100, Heavan 17, Howard Jones, Madness, Modern English, Soft Cell, Spandau Ballet, Depeche Mode, The Style Council, Thompson Twins, Wham, The Kinks, Denys Midnight Runners, The Alarm, Flock of Seagulls, Dire Straits, Elvis Costello, Billy Idol, The Pretenders, Gary Numan, The Cure, The Clash, Tears for Fears, Simple Minds, Robert Palmer and New Order.
Roger Taylor
Bass Player
In the photo below we see Roger Taylor from Duran Duran wearing his two-tone Rolex Datejust.
John Taylor Bass Player
In the next set of photos below we see John Taylor, the bass player in Duran Duran wearing his Rolex Datjust on a Jubilee bracelet, back in the 1980s.
In this next photo we see Duran Duran's bass player, John Taylor in 2015 sporting a Rolex Milgauss, on an Oyster Bracelet. John Taylor's wife, Gela Nash-Taylor was the cofounder of the famous Juicy Couture women's clothing line that originated in Los Angeles.
Simon Le Bon Lead Vocals
In the photo below we see Duran Duran Lead Singer, Simon Le Bon in 1983 with band keyboardist, Nick Rhodes. Notice Simon Le Bon is wearing a stainless steel Rolex Datejust with a white dial on a Rolex Jubilee bracelet.
In the photo below we again see Simon Pictured below in 1983 wearing his Rolex Datejust, and notice his friend Claire is wearing a matching Rolex Lady-Date.
The photo below shows Simon Le Bon with his beautiful wife Yasmin Le Bon in 1985 wearing a Rolex Explorer on a Rolex Oyster bracelet. Yasmin Le Bon is a super-model and she has a really cool Yasmin Le Bon Blog she publishes.
Simon Le Bon is pictured below in a recent photo wearing a GV Rolex Milgauss, which has a green crystal...
Duran Duran has stayed together since 1978, and is currently on tour in the United States. The photo below shows Simon Le Bon in 2015 sporting a two-tone Rolex Submariner, with a blue bezel and dial. The photos of Simon Le Bon show him first wearing a Rolex in 1983, and span to today, which means he has been wearing Rolex for four decades!!!
Sotheby's Auction House recently sold this very interesting 1962 Rolex Oyster Perpetual Reference 6085. It is so interesting to see two super iconic names next to each other, like ROLEX and Coca Cola. One of the coolest details on the watch is that it has the older ROLEX dial designation which uses a raised, applied Rolex logo that uses the old san-serif typeface.
At BaselWorld 2016, Rolex introduced two new Yacht-Master models. This includes the all-new RootBeer Yacht-Master model I covered recently, as well as the model seen below which comes in a 37MM model, as well as a 40MM model. This steel and platinum model features a dark silver sunburst dial, with a sky-blue second hand, with a matching blue YACHT-MASTER dial designation.
At BaselWorld 2016, Rolex showed off two new gold models. The first is in white gold and it has a cobalt blue sunburst dial with red 5 minute micro markers, with matching red inner sundial rings that match the Red DAYTONA Dial designation.
Rolex also showed off a yellow gold Daytona with a dark kelly green dial with red details as seen below. Both these watches are so great looking!!!! I could not help but notice the yellow gold Daytona has longer lugs than the white gold model...I have never been able to figure out why Rolex does this? Also, I am a big fan of colored dials. Not that there is anything wrong with a black or white dial. I just think these shades of blue and green are timeless and charismatic cool...
Jocke is a famous Rolex fanatic from Sweden and he attends BaselWorld every year. He took the photos below of the new Rolex models.
This is a mind-blowing story, which at the same time is not surprising. Forbes Magazine just broke the news that The Reputation Institute ranked Rolex as the Number 1 Most Reputable Company On Earth. This accolade was based upon polling of close to a quarter million people in 15 countries around the globe according to the Reputation Institutes Annual 2016 Survey. This study is the largest global reputation study.
The following list shows the top 25 Most Reputable Companies On Earth:
1. Rolex
2. Disney
3. Google
4. BMW
5. Daimler (Owner of Mercedes-Benz)
6. Lego
7. Microsoft
8. Canon
9. Sony
10. Apple
11. Intel
12. Adidas
13. Nike
14. Rolls-Royce
15. Michelin
16. Johnson & Johnson
17. Samsung
18. Ferrero (Maker of Nutella:-)
19. Nintendo
20. Levi's
21. Amazon
22. Nestle
23. Philips Electronics
24. L'Oréal
25. Bosch
So what does this mean exactly? It's hard to say, but I will point out that to the best of my knowledge that out of the top 25 most reputable companies on earth, not only is Rolex ranked #1, but it is the only privately held company in this outstanding group.
The following comes from the Reputation Institute web page: Reputation Institute is the world's leading research and advisory firm for reputation. We provide senior communications and marketing executives at global companies the single-best way to measure, communicate and manage reputation performance. With this insight, companies can protect their reputations, analyze risks and drive competitive advantage. We serve clients in more than 400 of the top Global 1,000 companies. Our founders Charles Fombrun and Cees van Riel started the discipline of reputation management more than two decades ago. Groundbreaking professors specializing in business and corporate communications, they founded Reputation Institute in 1997. Founder Charles Fombrun created the original academic models for measuring reputation — refining them with the launch of Reputation Institute and RepTrak®. Reputation Institute’s RepTrak® model is the gold standard for reputation measurement, providing a one-of-a-kind appraisal of how the general public views the world’s best-known companies. The RepTrak® database examines 15 stakeholders in more than 25 industries and more than 40 countries for more than 7,000 companies. Reputation Institute’s research is considered the authoritative source for Corporate Reputation Management by the world’s leading publications, including The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, Time, Bloomberg, Information Week, NY Times and the Wall Street Journal. Our industry leaders are regularly sought out and appear in the news and on the radio, for example on NPR, CNBC, Fox Business News, BBC, and CNN.
Rolex is celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Rolex Oyster which debuted in 1926. 2016 also represents the 60th anniversary of the Rolex Day-Date which was introduced in 1956. Rolex created a special 60th anniversary model with a green dial to commemorate this anniversary, and it comes with a green dial as seen below. Rolex is offering this model in EverRose Gold as seen below, as well as in White Gold, and both feature the new movement Caliber 3255. You can learn much more about this beauty on the Rolex Microsite dedicated to this model.
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.
