Chris Harris Rolex SEA-DWELLER

Chris Harris Rolex SEA-DWELLER

Hugh Austin is a reader of Jake's Rolex World, as well as being a fan of BBC's TV Show Top Gear. Hugh noticed Chris Harris's Tweet from 2015 regarding his Rolex SEA-DWELLER, which I am sharing below. 

This old solder has been on my wrist most of the past 16 yrs. Stopped working for 1st time today. Feel oddly bereft. pic.twitter.com/VEPhtMUdXL

— chris harris (@harrismonkey) January 4, 2015

I decided to consolidate all my former Chris Harris stories into this post, which you can see below:
...Rolex Super Coolness...
Chris Harris Spanks a McLaren P1 Rolex SEA-DWELLER
Chris Harris is the coolest road and track test pilot, and he wears a Rolex SEA-DWELLER. In the video review he becomes on of the few people outside of McLaren to take the P1 prototype for a serious test drive, and of course he tries to spank it pretty hard, but encounters a bit of a challenge since the McLaren is so well engineered.

The McLaren P1 is a very special limited edition plug-in hybrid supercar which debuted in 2012 at the Paris Motor Show as a concept car. McLaren only offered 375 units, which sold out almost immediately. This crazy monster offers over 900 horsepower!!! The cars base model retailed for $1,350,000.

I highly recommend watching Chris Harris' in-depth video review of what is considered to be the king of supercars.



Chris Harris Rocks a La Ferrari Wearing Rolex Sea-Dweller
Chris Harris is my favorite test driver and the fact he also wears a Rolex Sea-Dweller is just icing on the cake. In this episode of Chris Harris On Cars, he goes deep with the very rare La Ferrari on the road and on the track, with this absolute beast. Be sure to go full screen, and turn the volume way up...



Chris Harris Drives The BMWAlpina B3
Chris Harris checks out the Alpina B3 in this video review. Chris Harris is one of my favorite reviewers, and he wears a Rolex Submariner, as you can see in this video. To check out a lot more great cool car coverage, be sure to check out Jake's Car World.

BaselWorld 2017 Instagram Teaser Trailer

BaselWorld 2017 

Rolex Instagram Teaser Trailer

BaselWorld is the epic event that occurs every years in Basel, Switzerland, where Rolex shows off its new watch models. I just noticed a teaser on Rolex's Instagram Page, and as much as I would love to speculate as to what it is, I'm afraid I have no idea. It seems Rolex is a little too good and cryptic at teasing...That's O.K., as we will soon see on March 22, 2017, and as always, I will have full coverage of the new Rolex models that will be showcased by Rolex.

A post shared by ROLEX (@rolex) on Mar 17, 2017 at 2:11am PDT

Update: Mike from the Netherlands just wrote in and shared his insight:
Hello Jake,
First things first, you run a very good blog, and I always enjoy reading it. Thank you!
My thoughts about the teaser: 
It's a new sea dweller, you can see the index markers in the bezel at 5, 15, 25 etc...
Cheerio Mike Netherlands
There is definitely some good logic behind Mike's idea that we are looking at a new SEA-DWELLER, as 2017 marks the 50th Anniversary of the launch of the SEA-DWELLER at Basel World in Switzerland. The think that throws me off is that the image on Instagram's teaser has a cyclops date magnifier, which no SEA-DWELLER has EVER had!?!! If Mike from the Netherlands is correct, it would mean that Rolex would have had to add a date magnifier to the SEA-DWELLER, which would be kind of weird...
The funny image below of the guy eating popcorn is how I always feel waiting for Rolex to introduce their new models at Basel World every year.

Rolex Coolness: Maurice Chevalier...

...Rolex Coolness...

Maurice Chevalier

1964 Yellow Gold Rolex Datejust on a Jubilee Bracelet

This 1964 Rolex ad that feature Maurice Chevalier is one of my absolute favorite vintage Rolex ads. In particular, I LOVE Rolex's timeless marketing message, which I believe captures the essence of Rolex, and it is true today!!! In other words, Maurice Chevalier's timeless message from 1964, is as true today as it was 52 years ago:

"Like a genial hotelier, Rolex has introduced me to some of the nicest people. I ask about their Rolex and they ask about mine. It's as marvelous a conversation piece as it is a timepiece." –Maurice Chevalier (1964)

Rolex Macro Shot of the Day: Stainless & Platinum Rolex Yachtmaster...

Jesper's Macro Magic

Stainless & Platinum Rolex Yachtmaster

Victoria Lopyreva: A Bejeweled Russian Rolex Princess

...Rolex Super-Hotness... 

Victoria Lopyreva 

A Bejeweled Russian Rolex Princess

Victoria Lopyreva is a top Russian model, actress, blogger, and TV personality, and she has excellent taste in Rolex watches. She won the Miss Russia Beauty Contest in 2003, and is an official ambassador for the FIFA World Cup in 2018 in Russia. As a matter of fact she only wears the top of the line Rolex Bejeweled watches as seen in the pictures below.

Just to be crystal clear, Victoria wears three different yellow gold bejeweled Masterpiece watches, which we will look at below. I have never seen a woman who has this amazing triad of Rolex bling which is fascinating...

Yellow Gold Pepsi GMT 

In the photo above, and the two photos below the one of the watch, we see Victoria Lopyreva wearing a Rolex GMT-Master Bejeweled Masterpiece, which has blue red rubies, white diamonds and blue sapphires, which has a Rolex reference number of 116718 SARU.

The bejeweled Rolex model seen above reminds me of the Pepsi Rolex GMT-Master, but it has precious gems instead of  an aluminum or ceramic bezel insert. I always thought the Pepsi GMT-Master models looked All-American to me because of the red, white and blue look, but if you think about  it, these are the same colors of the Russian flag...

Rainbow Rolex Daytona

In the photo above we see Victoria wearing her Rainbow Rolex Daytona. The bezel on this watch is covered with different colored sapphires, with a single ruby located just above the Rolex 12 o'clock marker. I personally witnessed the level of detail and craftsmanship that goes into making these beauties when I toured the Role gem-setting department locate in Ghêne-Bourg, Switzerland—and it completely blew my mind!!!!

Rolex Leopard Daytona

In the photo above we see Victoria wearing her Rolex Leopard Daytona, which is complex over-the-top in bling, while remaining very feminine and beautiful.

Victoria Lopyreva is also a top model and has appeared in magazines like Cosmopolitan. She also hosted the Miss Europe Beauty Pageant when it was held in Ukraine. In 2008 Victoria was part of the Russian version of the Survivor reality show, which was called Last Hero. She also has an MBA degree, which may explain how she ended up having such an amazing Rolex collection.

2108 FIFA CUP

Ambassador For FIFA World Cup Held In Russia

Victoria Lopyreva is an official Ambassador for the 2018 FIFA World Cup which will be held in Russia.

Rolex Macro Shot Of The Month: Jesper's Two Tone Submariner

...Rolex Macro Shot Of The Month...

Jesper's Two Tone Submariner

[Reference 16613]

Rolex Coolness: Jean-Claude Killy-Stainless Steel Rolex GMT Master II

...Rolex Ultra Super-Coolness... 

Jean-Claude Killy

Stainless Steel Rolex GMT Master II

Rolex Board Member

I have been meaning to put together a comprehensive article on life-long Rolex Ambassador, Jean-Claude Killy, in the same way I wrote a detailed overview of Sir Jackie Stewart's lifetime career as a Rolex Ambassador. Following is an overview of Jean-Claude Killy's life as a Rolex Ambassador. In the future, as time permits, I will continue to update this amazing man's life story until it is complete.

Jean-Claude Killy is one of the greatest skiers in history, if not the greatest. He swept the 1968 Winter Olympics by winning three gold medals in alpine events. Today, Jean-Claude is still deeply involved with Rolex serving as a member of the Rolex board of directors. 

1968 Winter Olympic Super Champion

Jean-Claude Killy won 12 out of 16 World Cup races during the 1966-1967 racing season. Next, at the 1968 Winter Olympic games in Grenoble, France, he won not only won the good medal in Downhill, but also swept in the Giant Slalom, and Slalom to achieve his Alpine sweep.

The Real Speed Racer

Jean-Claude Killy was really into racing and cars even before he won at the 1968 winter Olympics. We see Jean-Claude pictured below in March of 1967, when he visited racing legend and specialty car maker, Carroll Shelby. Jean-Claud is pictured below posing with a 1967 Shelby GT500. Jean-Claude ended up driving the GT500 at the Riverside track racing school. 

We see Jean-Claude Killy pictured below 1968 rockin' his Porsche 911 around the Nürburgring racetrack in a 1000KM race.

We see Jean-Claude pictured below in 1969 at L-Mans with race car legend, and fellow Frenchman, Bob Wolleck. Before becoming a race car driver, Bob Wollek was also a member of the French National Skiing Team between 1966-1968.

How cool does Jean-Claude Killy look in the photo above with the cool shades, muscle-T, and Levi's rockin' a Rolex Day-Date. Talk about Super-Cool French Style!!!

In this next photo we see Jean-Claude pictured at L-Mans with Steve McQueen.

1969 Chevy Camaro

Speaking Of Jean-Claude Killy coolness, I love this Killy ad for the 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible with the skis on the back of the convertible and the hotness riding shotgun =D

Jean-Claude Killy is pictured below in 1972, at Appalachian Ski Mountain, which was the first of many visits he made to the French Swiss Ski Collect, located at the Bowling Rock Resort.

The Rolex Explorer II 

Orange Hand Ads

Reference 1655

1980 Rolex Explorer II 

Orange Hand Ad

Reference 1655

I realize the ad above is hard to read, and here is what it says:

Robust and versatile. Rolex Explorer II meets your need for timekeeping integrity in high mountain skiing. Choice of Jean-Claude Killy, three time Olympic gold medalist in the same year. This self-winding, officially certified superlative chronometer in stainless steel with matching bracelet is also pressure-proof in its formed Oyster case down to 300 feet. A luminous red hour hand points exact time on fixed 24 hour bezel. Like championship racing, uncommon endurance is built into Explorer II.

...Rolex Studio Shot Of The Day.,,

1971 Rolex Explorer II

Reference 1655

I thought since we just saw three Jean-Claude Killy Rolex Ads for the Rolex Explorer II Orange hand, it would make sense to take a closer look at the reference. Rolex introduced the Explorer II in 1971, and it had an orange hand to keep track of the time in a second time zone, and was also designed to enable the wearer to read a 24 hour clock to be able to determine the am/pm in the dark in caves, or at the North or South Pole. A few years ago, Rolex brought back the orange hand Rolex Explorer II, which is based upon this cool retro-design.

Jean-Claude Killy

1974 French Rolex Datejust Ad

Even though the Rolex ad below is for a yellow gold Rolex Datejust, it appears Jean-Claude is wearing a yellow gold Day-Date in the photo.

Jean Claude Killy

Rolex Magazine ad from 1983

1987 Jean-Claude Killy

Olympic Skiing Superstar

"I don't think I'll ever want to slow down" –Jean-Claude Killy

In 1968, Jean-Claude Killy brought home three Olympic gold medals. In 1992, he brought the Olympic games themselves.

A successful businessman, as well as one of France's best-known sports figures, Killy was chosen to spearhead the drive that brought the Winter Olympics to his beloved Sovoie.

"The training that I went through to become a ski racer proved invaluable to me when I entered the business world, and the same proved true in organizing the Winter Games." Killy says, "As an athlete I learned to value of hours of planning and being able to juggle several projects at once."

Today, Killy faces the hurdles of business with the same confidence he had on the ski slopes. "Being an entrepreneur isn't easy," he notes, "but I could never see myself doing anything else. I love the excitement, the idea that there's a different challenge waiting every day.

"In life, as in skiing, timing is everything." Killy says. Which is why both on the slopes and off Killy wears a timepiece he can rely on: his Rolex Oyster timepiece.

Rolex Macro Shot of the Day: Derek's Magic Mother Of Pearl Rolex

...Rolex Studio Shot Of The Day...

Magic Mother Of Pearl Day-Date

Derek from Warwickshire in the United Kingdom took this absolutely stunning photo of his magnificently beautiful platinum Rolex Day-Date.

Ariel Adams Reviews Rolex 41MM Datejust Yellow Gold & Stainless Steel: Reference 126333

Ariel Adams 

Reviews Rolex 41MM Datejust

Yellow Gold & Stainless Steel: Reference 126333

Ariel Adams from A Blog To Watch just published an excellent review of Rolex's newer 41MM Two-Tone Rolex Datejust, which I highly recommend checking out!

Arial Adams is an old pal of mine. Arial Adams and Benjamin Clymer from Hodinkee and I all started our watch blogs within several months of each other, almost ten years ago—man how time flies!?!! The three of us, along with James Dowling from Timezone.com were the first journalists to be invited to tour all four Rolex manufacturing facilities in Switzerland—back in 2013. 

Jake Ehrlich, James Dowling, Benjamin Clymer, and Ariel Adams on November 18, 2013 (RolexMagazine.com, Timezone.com, Hodinkee.com, and ABlogToWatch.com)

I can only speak for myself, but visiting Rolex as like a child visiting Disneyland for the first time, or as I mentioned in my "INSIDE ROLEX: Exploring What Makes Rolex Tick" story, I felt like Charlie having won the Golden Ticket to tour Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory. It was crazy cool!!! All of us even got to work on putting together part of a new Rolex. Specifically, each of us installed a set of hands on different Rolex Submariner models. It is funny to think their are Rolex Submariner models on people's wrists somewhere on planet earth that had their hands installed either by Benjamin Clymer, James Dowling, Ariel Adams, or by your truly :-)

Benjamin Clymer, James Dowling, Ariel Adams, and Jake Ehrlich on November 19, 2013 (Hodinkee.com, Timezone.com, ABlogToWatch.com, and RolexMagazine.com)

Robert De Niro Rolex

...Rolex Coolness...

Robert De Niro

Academy Award Winner for Best Actor

On Jake's Rolex World I recently covered the 2017 Academy Awards, with a retrospective on Academy Award Winners who wear Rolex, so I thought it would makes sense to take a closer look at one of the greatest actors in movie history. Robert de Niro has been wearing Rolex watches for close to five decades as seen in the images below.

Robert De Niro has stared in many famous movies and some of my personal favorites include:

• The Godfather Part 2 (1974)
• Taxi Driver (1976)
• The Deer Hunter (1978) 
• Raging Bull (1980)
• Once Upon A Time In America (1984) 
• Brazil (1985)
• The Mission (1986) 
• Angel Heart (1987) 
• The Untouchables (1987) 
• Good Fellas (1990)
• Cape Fear (1991)
• A Bronx Tale (1993) 
• Casino (1995)
• Wag The Dog (1997)
• Jackie Brown (1997) 
• Analyze This (1999) 
• Meet the Parents (2000)
• American Hustle (2013)  

Robert De Niro is pictured below at age 7 in a photo the looks like it could have been taken yesterday. It is amazing if you think about it, to think this little boy would go on to become one of the most talented and celebrated actors of his time.

The Deer Hunter

1978

Robert De Niro wore a Stainless Steel Rolex Submariner in the Deer Hunter, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1978...

The original Deer Hunter trailer is below, and at 2:50 into the trailer Robert De Niro's Rolex Submariner is visible.

Robert De Niro

1981 Academy Award Winner for Best Actor 

15 Minutes

2001

It has been said Robert De Niro wore a Rolex Daytona in the 2001 movie named "15 Minutes.", but after careful evaluation I don't think it is a Rolex. It sure looks like a vintage Daytona, but I don't think it is. If you look closely, you can see the watch is lacking chronograph pusher buttons. Usually, I wouldn't include a photo like this in a Rolex story, but I also specialize in busting all false Rolex myths, so I thought I would separate the fact from the fiction on this one.

Showtime

2002

Robert De Niro costared in the movie Showtime with Eddie Murphy, and in the photos below we see him wearing what appears to be a vintage stainless Rolex Oyster in this movie.

Robert De Niro is pictured below with William Shatner

Eddie Murphy on the left with Rene Russo in the background with Robert De Niro on the right 

I could not help but notice that Eddie and Robert are kind of pointing at each other like in the photo below the movie poster.

Killer Elite

2011

As we saw in the first photos of Robert de Diro in this story, he wore a Rolex Submariner 41 years ago in 1976, in the movie named The Deer Hunter. In the 2011 movie named Killer Elite, Robert de Niro also wore a vintage stainless steel Rolex Submariner (no date) as seen below. Ironically, this appears to be the same model he wore in The Deer Hunter. I doubt its the same watch, but definitely worth noting is looks like the same Rolex Submariner Reference 5512 or 5513.