Celebrating the 10th Year Of Publishing Jake's Rolex World

...Time Flies When You Are Having Fun...

10th Year Celebration

Publishing Jake's Rolex World

I began publishing Jake's Rolex World back on May 7, 2008, and It's hard to believe I am entering my 10th year of publishing!?!! So I thought I would take this opportunity to reflect back on the past decade, as well as to look forward to the future. If you want a good laugh, you can take a look at what Jake's Rolex World looked like on the first day I publish it back on May 7, 2008. I started Jake's Rolex World for several reasons. My love for Rolex began thirty-five years ago, when I fell madly in love with the Rolex Submariner. Don't ask me how, but  I figured out how to purchase a Rolex Submariner when I was 16 years old. 

Once I had my Rolex Submariner, I spent countless hours studying its timeless beauty, and for the next quarter-century, I tried to learn as much as I could about Rolex and its history. Learning anything really meaningful about Rolex's history was a challenge, as there was not much out there in the way of quality historical material. This was ironic in the sense Rolex really hit its Apex or Zenith point on the reputation curve in the 1980s. In other words, Rolex went from being a company that struggled to reach the top—up until the early 1980s—to a company that had arrived. The irony is that somehow Rolex managed to become one of the top brands in the world, while almost remaining in stealth mode. Of course, this all occurred in a pre-internet world, but looking back in the rear-view mirror of history, it appears Rolex was just kind of shy in a typically Swiss kind of way.

Over the quarter-century prior to publishing Jake's Rolex World (ten years ago), I had owned eight different Rolex watches. [That means I typically got a new Rolex every three years.] Ten years ago, I bought a 50th Anniversary LV Submariner, which featured the green bezel insert, and marked the return of the maxi marker. The wrist shot above shows my LV Submariner on my wrist.

When I purchased my LV Submariner, I did a lot of research about the model on the web, and I kept wandering into posts on RolexForums.com. I remember being shocked with how many pathetic men there were on RolexForums.com, who were incessantly talking about Rolex watches. I remember feeling bad for all these men, who had nothing better to do with their time than talk about Rolex. I remember I kept running into threads that had posts from a guy named J.J. Irani, and I could not help but notice he had more than 50,000 posts on RolexForums.com!!??!! The small photo below was J.J. Irani's avatar picture which seriously Deja Vu's me out when I look at it today.

I ended up lurking on RolexForums.com for several months. I was fascinated with much of the content, but kept feeling bad for all these poor souls, whose lives seemed to revolve around their relationships with other dudes on the forum. Then one day, somebody created a post on RolexForums that I knew the answer to, but nobody else answered it. Next thing you know, I created an account, signed in, and proudly answered the question. The next thing you know, I became one of these men who was going crazy chatting non-stop about Rolex on the Rolex Forum. As time went by, I ended up becoming pals with J.J. Irani, who is pictured below.

J.J. Irani is pictured above, was the most loved man on RolexForums.com

J.J. Irani was an amazing man!!! In many ways he was almost the mascot for RolexForums.com. J.J. Irani was a really funny dude. He was from New Zealand, and had a very boisterous personality. He was always kidding around with forum members like Jocke, who was from Sweden. I used to kid around with J.J., and I put together the image below that put J.J., in a photo from a Twilight Zone episode that featured William Shatner, which was titled "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." If you are familiar with that Twilight Zone Episode, you will recall that William Shatner's character (Pre Star-Trek), kept seeing a crazy creature out on the airplanes wing, who was chewing on power cables. I superimposed J.J.'s image in place, giving the thumbs-up while drinking a beer, wearing his beloved two-tone Rolex Submariner.

Several years after I joined the RolexForums.com, J.J. Irani became ill and died, leaving so many forum members, including me, in complete shock. To this day, whenever I think about or see a photo of J.J. it is bittersweet. Looking at him, makes me happy and sad at the same time. More than anything, looking at him cheers me up, as I remember how upbeat and positive his personality was. The image below ironically shows a post from J.J. Irani, in a thread about the Every Rolex Tells a Story booklet: 

I use the word 'ironic', as I am not only sharing my Rolex story, but J.J.'s as well. Notice in the screen shot above, that by the time J.J. passed away, he had posted almost 75,000 times on RolexForums.com!!!! Of course, the memory and posts of J.J. Irani, will likely remain forever on RolexForums.com. On a positive note, this kind of illustrates the power of the internet as a story-telling platform, as well as a social networking platform. In other words, the web opened up a whole new world of possibilities for fans of Rolex...

As a member of RolexForums.com, I became kind of obsessed with checking out photos of famous people wearing Rolex watches, so I started a thread named, "Definitive Famous People Wearing Rolex Photo Collection." The thread became a huge overnight success, and forum members got really into it, as did I. I went crazy posting photos of famous people wearing Rolex watches, and my first image was this classic image of Paul Newman wearing his trademark Rolex Daytona.

My thread about famous people wearing Rolex garnered much attention, and there was a moderator on RolexForums.com, who kept messing with me, telling me I was getting too carried away with posting photos of famous people as well as images of how I thought Rolex watches should look. He told me I needed to slow my roll. He told me I made myself the center of attention, but that since I was so new to the forum, I needed to curb my enthusiasm. He literally drove me nuts, constantly haranguing me for no apparent reason. I thought he was ridiculous, and we ended getting in a confrontation, which resulted in my telling him to stop bothering me in a somewhat forceful way. To make a long story short, the powers that be banned me!?!!

I though they were crazy. I made all these great friends on the RolexForums, and created one of the best and most intriguing threads, and they ban me!?!?! I remember begging them to lift my ban, and they refused. I even reached out to J.J. Irani, and spoke with him on the phone, but even he could not help me. I was frustrated beyond belief, and after a few days, I got an idea. I thought, why not create my own Rolex blog, where I could post whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, without having to deal with a bizarre political structure that made no sense to me. Thus I started publishing Jake's Rolex World on May 8, 2008.

I remember wondering to myself at the time if it was such a good idea to try and create blog about a company that only had 5 or 6 trademark watches? But I thought, to myself, why not give it a try, and if I  run out of content, then that would be o.k. I also wanted to start Jake's Rolex World to get all the Rolex information I had stored in my head, onto metaphorical paper, so I could share it with the world. On a positive note, about six months after I started Jake's Rolex World, RolexForums.com ended up lifting my ban...

So let's fast-forward to today. Over the course of the last nine years, I have posted more than 3500 Rolex Stories on Jake's Rolex World, which is pretty amazing if you think about it. In telling these Rolex stories, I have basically busted every major Rolex myth that has ever been falsely perpetuated over the past several decades. I have also written many in-depth multi-part stories about all the major Rolex models. As a matter of fact, my story named "The Complete History Of The Rolex Submariner & SEA-DWELLER: Rolex's Conquest Of The Ocean", is already 20 Chapters long. In other words, I have published the equivalent of a super-detailed Rolex Encyclopedia. Some people have even referred to Jake's Rolex World as the Wikipedia of Rolex...

Perhaps the obvious question, is what's next? What are the plans for this 10th year of publication, what about the next decade? I plan to keep going, and hope to expand the coverage, and scope of Jake's Rolex World, by bringing additional writers on-board, as well as completing a user-interface overhaul, which will make all of the amazing Rolex history content much more engaging to explore. I also plan to start publishing more detailed video interviews and documentaries on Rolex related topics.

I would also like to point out that over the years I have met many, many fine people and made many great friends as a result of publishing Jake's Rolex World. The Maurice Chevalier Rolex ad from 1964, pictured below, pretty much sums it all up...As Maurice points out, Rolex watches are not only great timepieces, but also great conversation pieces.

Also, I would like to personally thank all of my readers and supporters for helping to make Jake's Rolex World what it is today. Over the years so many readers have written in to help by providing valuable photos, insight, and often times to point out a typo I overlooked. In the final analysis, Jake's Rolex World is really about the readers, of which I am one. In other words, almost every day, after I get done publishing, I end-up wandering the whispers of Jake's Rolex World, which never ceases to engage me on so many different levels. 

I am working on many new fascinating Rolex stories that I look forward to publishing in the future. I also believe that despite the fact I have already published, so much, I think the best is yet to come!!!!

Warmest regards,

Jake ;-)

World In My Eyes

Let me take you on a trip
Around the world and back
And you won't have to move
You just sit still

Now let your mind do the walking
And let my body do the talking
Let me show you the world in my eyes

I'll take you to the highest mountain
To the depths of the deepest sea
We won't need a map, believe me
Let me show you the world in my eyes

That's all there is
Nothing more than you can feel now
That's all there is

Let me put you on a ship
On a long, long trip
All the islands in the ocean
All the heaven's in the motion

Let me show you the world in my eyes
That's all there is
Nothing more than you can touch now
That's all there is
Let me show you the world in my eyes

—Depeche Mode

Ryan Gosling: Blade Runner 2049 Trailer

...Rolex Super-Coolness...
Ryan Gosling
First Full-Length Movie Tailer
 Blade Runner 2049 
I am beyond excited to share the first FULL-LENGTH trailer just released this afternoon for Blade Runner 2049, which stars Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford. Blade Runner 2049 takes place 30 years after the events in the original Blade Runner movie, which was released in 1982 and famously starred Harrison Ford. Of course, the original Blade Runner movie, is considered to be one of the greatest science fiction movies of all time!

Watching this trailer Deja Vu's me out really hard—in an early 1980s kind of way. Seeing Harrison Ford in a 2017 Blade Runner movie makes me feel so nostalgic. I mean, what is more 80s than Blade Runner, Harrison Ford, Rolex and Vangelis music playing in the background. Oh, and speaking of the 1980s, I might point out that ironically Donald Trump, who is the epitome of the 1980s is the President. As Yogi Berra once famously said, "It's like deja-vu, all over again." It is ironic despite the fact the first Blade Runner movie was released in 1982, it was supposed to take place in 2019, which is less than two short years away.

In the original Blade Runner, it depicted 2019 to be quite different than it is today. There were not iPhones, or Google or Facebook, or Instagram or even UHD 77 inch OLED screens. Instead, flying cars were everywhere and Atari as a brand was still all the rage. Also it was raining like crazy in Los Angeles. Well, I guess that part came true :-) and Coca Cola is still going strong, as the original Blade Runner had the big neon Coca Cola sign in downtown Lost Angeles. Speaking of 1982 and Coca-Cola, the line from The Clash album, Combat Rock from the song, "Straight To Hell", also pops into my head, when they sing, "Let me tell you 'bout your blood bamboo kid. It ain't Coco-Cola, it's rice." I was 16 years old in 1982, and they say that our memories are usually clearest from that stage in our life, as we are metamorphosing from child to adult.

Either way, whenever I watch the Original Blade Runner movie, it takes me back to the 1980s in a highly memorable, nostalgic way. Kind of like spending time with somebody you have not seen since your childhood...

Ryan Gosling is the new Blade Runner, which is an amazing choice. Ryan Gosling is pictured below wearing his vintage Rolex Air King, when he accepted the 2017 Golden Globes Award for Best Actor.

Blade Runner 2049

Philip K. Dick wrote a book that was published in 1968 named "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep", which Blade Runner was based upon. Unfortunately Philip K. Dick did not live to see the original Blade Runner, as he passed away on March 2, 1982 after suffering a major stroke. That being said, Ridley Scott was able to show Philip K. Dick some of the footage five months before he passed away, and he loved and endorsed it.

Ryan Gosling is costarring with Harrison Ford in Blade Runner 2049, and apparently Gosling will be playing a Bladerunner named "K". I really hope Blade Runner 2049 lives up to its full potential. I remember when Harrison Ford came back after decades to reprise his Role as Indiana Jones in Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, it was so disappointing. Harrison Ford looked great, but the movie was filled with way too much unrealistic CGI ridiculousness. I remember thinking, if they just dressed up Harrison Ford in his Indiana Jones outfit, and interviewed him for two hours, it would have bee more interesting than the movie. Why? In the final analysis one characteristic all great movies have in common is superb character development. That is what makes movie great, are its interesting an realistic characters, not super-fake, unrealistic special effects...

On a positive not, when Harrison Ford reprised his role in Hans Solo in The Force Awakens, he was pretty good, as was the movie. Unfortunately the latest Star Wars movie, Rouge One was beyond terrible. I love Star Wars, and the original Star Wars from 1977 is one of my favorite movies of all time, but Rouge One sucked!?!! The thing that give me hope (pun not intended ;-), is that Ridley Scott has been deeply involved in the development of Blade Runner 2049, and he is still incredible!!!!

In the photo above and below, we see Harrison Ford wearing his stainless steel Rolex Datejust, with the white gold fluted bezel. In the photo below we see Harrison Ford with the Dalai Lama.

Speaking of Ridley Scott, in the photo below, taken in Budapest, Hungary in October of 2016, we see, from left to right, Blade Runner 2049 Director, Denis Villeneuve, Ridgley Scott, Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling, as they chat about details in the new Blade Runner movie. Notice Ryan Gosling is sporting a vintage Rolex Oyster Air-King with a white dial...

In the photo above it appears there are two guns on the bar, which seem to be the model Harrison Ford used in the original Blade Runner movie, sitting next to the updated model.

Blade Runner 2049 is scheduled to be released in theaters on October 6, 2017, and it has a lot to live up to. After all, the Original Blade Runner movie which was released in 1982, is considered to be one of the greatest Science Fiction Masterpiece movies of all time. Below is the first short movie trailer preview for Blade Runner 2049.

Blade Runner
1982

"You're in a desert, walking along in the sand, when all of a sudden you look down... "

The original Blade Runner movie was shot in 1981 and released in 1982. The movie itself was supposed to take place in Los Angeles, California in 2019, which is only two short years away. Ironically, the movie Blade Runner takes place in a Los Angeles that seems to have rainy weather all the time, unlike the LA of today, where it almost never rains...at least, until recently...

The photo below of Harrison Ford was taken in 1981 when he was filming Blade Runner. Notice he is sporting his stainless steel Rolex Datejust, with a white gold bezel, along with Dark Purple Converse All-Star Sneakers, with red shoelaces :-) He looks so early 80s, and so mod... I can almost hear Vangelis music playing in the background...

Ryan Gosling
2GQ4U
Ryan Gosling is one of the coolest and most successful actors in Hollywood today. The set of photos below are all from GQ, and feature Ryan wearing his vintage Rolex Air-King.

The second coming of the Rolex Single Red Sea-Dweller

The Second Coming Of The

Rolex Single Red SEA-DWELLER

2017 Story Preview

Hi everybody, my name is Jose Pereztroika. I am the Editor and Publisher of Perezcope.com. Jake and I have been colaborating for some time now on a number of Rolex and Panerai history projects. We had been talking for a long time about me coming on board as a writer for Jake's Rolex World.

I am currently working on a really exciting story about the history of the Single Red SEA-DWELLER. I would like to share an exclusive photo of the Single Red SEA-DWELLER that has never been published before, which will appear int the story.

Revolution.Watch recently published a story about my SEA-DWELLER historical timeline, which can be seen below.

A Note From Jake

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Jose, and welcome him onboard as a researcher, writer and historian for Jake's Rolex World! Next week, Jake's Rolex World will enter its 10th year of continuous Publication, which is very exciting and there will be many changes and improvements taking place.

Jose was born and raised in Switzerland, so he has a definite appreciation for fine Swiss watchmaking. Jose is unlike any other horological historian I have ever witnessed. I once described Jose as "Horological Forensics Investigator" [think CSI for Watches]. In some ways Jose is the opposite of me. I am as aesthete, which means I constantly examine the outside design details of a watch, as a beautiful object of art, whereas Jose is obsessed with looking at and analyzing the inside of the watches. Jose finds inner-beauty with the movements of the watches, and his investigative prowess is AMAZING!!! 

Jose has maintained internal databases on Panerai and Rolex movements for years, and when he showed me the level of detail he maintains, it blew my mind! Recently Jose and I collaborated on putting together a Panerai and SEA-DWELLER visual timeline. The idea to do so was Jose's alone, and when I saw the early versions, I could not help but to get hyper-engaged with assisting him. Jose's initial objective was to create a more 3-dimensional timeline, from the 2-dimensional data in his database. Like me, Jose is an advanced graphic artist, and when we both saw the first drafts of the Panerai and Rolex SEA-DWELLER timeframes, we were stunned, and in awe of their natural beauty. In other words, the original goal was to just plot watches and related data on a chronological timeline, but it became immediately apparent the timeframes, just like the watches on them were absolute works of art!!!

It is important to understand with the timeframe posters, they are not just the byproduct of Jose and myself, but the result of endless research insight provided from many, many different sources, including many of the top horological collectors and experts in the world.

Despite our different approaches, Jose and I have one thing in common, which ensures our ships are sailing to the exact same destination—and that is the fact that as historians, we are 1000% committed to the pursuit of capturing the absolute truth behind all this amazing history. Speaking for myself, I believe that when a company has such an amazing history as Rolex, to have anything floating around out there that does not have a basis in fact, is unacceptable. Rolex's magnificent history needs zero exaggeration, and should shun and steer clear of any kind of convulsion. This explains why I recently published my story on Rolex Mythbusting. 

Jose and I are both Rolex and Panerai historians, and I want to make a clear distinction. I believe vintage Panerai watches, made before the mid 1950s ARE Rolex watches. One of the men who runs Panerai once referred to me as a "Purist", and what he meant is that I am a big fan of all the original Rolex made Panerai watches, like the Reference 3646 and 6154. Vintage Panerai watches, in my opinion are Rolex watches on a different day.

Another thing Jose and I agree upon, is despite the fact I have captured so much incredible Rolex history over the past decade, we believe the best is yet to come, and we intend to share it with you in innovative new ways that go far beyond the current layout of Jake's Rolex World. We intend to create timelines for every major Rolex model, and tie them all together in a super-innovative new online user interface. In other words, if you examine the SEA-DWELLER timeline on an iPhone or iPad, imagine if you could click on the different models, to navigate to much deeper information, including magazine ads, articles and photos of that model. Of course, this will all take time, but it is very exciting!

Jose mentioned at the beginning of this article he is working on a super detailed article about the history of the Single Red SEA-DWELLER. If you are a regular reader of Jake's Rolex World you might be wondering how this is even possible, since I already wrote a 6 part story on the history of the Rolex SEA-DWELLER? Jose's article will include detail on EVERY known and documented example of the original Single Red Rolex SEA-DWELLER, complete with his horological forensics evaluation. I for one, am looking forward to discovering his findings and enjoying his article.

I am extremely excited to work with Jose in the future, and welcome him onboard Jake's Rolex World!!! More than anything, I would say the number one thing Jose and I have in common is an extreme passion for collecting and sharing Rolex history in a meaningful, and insightful way.

Like I said earlier, the best is yet to come!!!

Rolex Moonphase Stainless Steel Triple Date HODINKEE.com Coverage

Rolex Moonphase 

Stainless Steel Triple Date

HODINKEE.com Coverage

Cara Barrett from Hodinkee.com recently posted a story on one of the coolest Rolex watches ever made, which is a Reference 6062 Triple Date Moonphase. If you are a reader of Jake's Rolex World, you know I have been a huge fan of the Rolex Reference 6062 and 8171 for decades. Cara's fascinating story covers a very rare 6062 that is coming up for auction soon at Phillips Auction which is scheduled to take place on May 13 and 14th in Geneva, and features this magnificent and rare beauty. 

On of my favorite parts of Cara's story, is the wrist shot photo above, because it is extremely rare to see photos of a 6062 on the wrist. Most photos of the 6062 are studio shots that give you no real sense of size and scale, yet this photo perfectly captures the scale and beauty of this watch. There are many, many people, including myself that keep urging Rolex to bring this watch model back to life. At BaselWorld this year, Rolex introduced its first new Moonphase in a half-century, but I want to make the distinction, that as nice as the new Rolex Moonphase may be, what I think people really want is for Rolex to bring back the triple date Moonphase.

The all new for 2017 Rolex Cellini Moonphase is pictured above, and it features a date function, as well as phases of the moon, but I think it would benefit from triple date complications, as well as having an Oyster case.  I also think it would look better if it featured dauphin hands, as apposed to leaf hands, despite the fact the classic stainless steel Rolex 6062 Reference above also has leaf hands. I just think Dauphin hands are the most timeless, elegant, and classic hands ever made. In the future, I plan to do a review of this all-new Rolex Cellini dress watch, where I will go into detail on all of its characteristics. It is also great to see Rolex headed back into their heritage with their future facing design language, as I have been arguing for a decade, that Rolex future is in its rich past.

Rolex GMT-Master Sky High A Digital Postcard From The Gobi Desert

...Rolex Airplane Shot Of The Day...

Rolex GMT-Master Sky High

A Digital Postcard From The Gobi Desert

I am less than two weeks away from entering my 10th years of publishing Jake's Rolex World, which is really exciting!!! One of the most unusual aspects that I never expected, is how many love letters I get from dudes!?!! Telling my they are fans of my work product...The image landed in my inbox today, from Ferdinand who said:

Hi Jake,

Big fan of your site. Currently flying over the Gobi desert, enjoying your recent stories via inflight wifi on the Sea-Dweller while my Pepsi 16710 has a rest from the recent travels in China.

Keep up the great work, lot of friends are enjoying it.

Best regards, 

Ferdinand

Well, I want to begin by thanking Ferdinand fro sending-in shuch a great photo! FWIW, I have spend a lot of time on long airplane flights, tripping on the Rolex watch I as wearing...so I understand your perspective perfectly...and what a perfect place to enjoy reading my recent coverage of the history of the Rolex SEA-DWELLER!!!

The Gobi Desert is located in northern and northwestern China, and also covers southern Mongolia.

Olivia Palermo Rolex In The City

...Rolex Hotness...

Olivia Palermo

Rolex In The City

Olivia Palerma is a model, blogger, actress and fashion leader. She is gorgeous, as we see in the photos below, and this first one shows her sporting a yellow gold Rolex Lady-Date on a President Bracelet with her black Hermès Birkin Bag.

This next photo shows Olivia sporting a white gold Rolex Daytona on a Honey Rust colored Crocodile strap. 

In this next photo we see Olivia Palermo hailing a cab in New York City, and she is wearing a 26MM Yellow Gold Rolex Lady-Date, on a President Bracelet. 

Jacques-Yves Cousteau National Geographic Magazine July 1954 Cover

...In Search of..

Jacques-Yves Cousteau

National Geographic Magazine

July 1954 Cover

In my personal opinion, Jacques-Yves Cousteau is the greatest explorer that ever lived. In my recent Chapter 19 of my story titled, "The Complete History Of The Rolex Submariner & SEA-DWELLER: Rolex's Conquest Of The Ocean", I expressed my opinion that Rolex named both the Submariner and SEA-DWELLER after Jacques Cousteau. I have been conducting a great deal of research lately into this subject, and I snapped the photo below of what is probably The Seminal Rolex History issue of National Geographic Magazine.

The July 1954 issue of Nat Geo Magazine features the Rolex advertisement for the Original DEEP-SEA Special on page 7. If you look closely at the cover, you will see this issue covers the "Triumph on Everest", written by Sir John Hunt, and Sire Edmund Hillary." I learned a lot from this story, and plan to cover it in the future on Jake's Rolex World. 

The most interesting story in this issue is seen further down the cover, which includes a story written by Captain J. Y. Cousteau himself, named, "To the Depths Of The Sea by Bathyscaphe." In this story Jacques Cousteau tells his Submariner story of taking the F.R.N.S. 3 Submarine down 4000 feet in late 1953. 

As a historian, it blows my mind that Jacques Cousteau achieved so many amazing things in his life, yet it seems like the world almost completely forgot about him. In other words, as of today my writing on Cousteau is the single largest repository on his lifetime achievements on the web, which is strange to my way of thinking. There is no real documentary about his career, and no modern book that covers his outstanding achievements. I find this to be really weird, as I grew up as a small child watching his amazing "Underwater World Of Jacques Cousteau." Watching his show awakened the Spirit of Inquiry that let me to start publishing Jake's Rolex World. I know there are so many people around the world, both younger and older than me who grew up watching Jacques Cousteau on TV on Sunday evenings, so he is very much a part of the collective human conscience, yet he seems like a ghost, as he has sadly been forgotten by the modern world.

That being said, I am hellbent on making certain he is not sadly forgotten. I plan to expand my coverage of his lifetime work in the future in the way he deserves. In the photo above, which I recently published, we see Jacques Cousteau wearing and testing a Rolex Submariner prototype. I was digging through my archives and stumbled upon this next photo that shows Jacques Cousteau wearing a white gold or platinum Day-Date on a strap, which is very cool.