Revolution Magazine First Look @ Rolex Baselworld Introductions

Revolution Magazine
First Look @ Rolex Baselworld Introductions
My pals Wei and Sumit are in this video with the rest of the Revolution team sharing their perspective on the Baselworld introductions. I LOVE these guys!!!! BTW: I've got much, much more Baselworld coverage coming up soon!!!

BASELWORLD 2019: BATMAN RETURNS!!!!!

BASELWORLD 2019

BATMAN


RETURNS

New 2019 Rolex GMT-Master Batman

The history of the Rolex GMT-Master is AMAZING!!! 'The GMT' is one of the most popular and iconic professional 'tool-watch' Rolex models made, along with the Rolex Submariner and Rolex Daytona. Late last year there was a false rumor spread that said Rolex was discontinuing the GMT-Master "Batman" AKA "BLNR". "BLNR" is the nickname for the stainless steel Rolex GMT 'Blue and Nior" bezel, AKA, 'The Batman'. Some refer to this Black and Blue model as the 'Night & Day' GMT-Master. The Batman has been EXTREMELY popular since it was introduced!!!

Outgoing Rolex GMT-Master Batman

FAKE NEWS!!!

BATMAN DIDN'T DIE
So where did the rumor that said Rolex discontinued the Batman come from? I believe it started with the Instagram post pictured below by "rolexpassionreport" that said: "To all modern @rolex lovers, the Batman GMT is discountinued, since today!" To the best of my knowledge, Rolex Passion Report is written by self-confessed Rolex fanatic Philipp Stahl. 

The horological web went crazy over this news rumor which was put forth as a fact  and many people were asking me in a state of disbelief if it was true that Rolex discontinued the Batman? Below we see "rolexpassionreport" respond to the chaos their rumor created:

Once I witnessed the frenzy brewing over this issue, I decided to do some deep research in order to separate the fact from the fiction. I found ZERO credible evidence that Rolex was discontinuing the Batman!?!!  I published an article on December 11, 2018 named "FAKE NEWS!!! BATMAN DIDN'T DIE". Also, Clive the Watch Wrangler interviewed me about this rumor and as a result published this video:

So what really happened? I don't know for certain. I think a source told Philip Stahl that Rolex was discontinuing the SKU for the outgoing Batman GMT-Master. Then he or one of his sources extrapolated and hypothesized Rolex was discontinuing the Black and Blue "Batman" GMT-Master. This was a false assumption. 
The reality is Rolex was working on an updated SKU with a new movement and switching out the Oyster Bracelet with a Jubilee Bracelet as seen below.

So why did Rolex switch the stainless steel 'BATMAN' GMT-Master over from featuring an Oyster Bracelet to a Jubilee Bracelet? I believe Rolex made this choice to further enhance the already iconic identity of the stainless Rolex GMT-Master, and move it away from looking like its Rolex Submariner sibling. The GMT Master was historically available on both an Oyster and Jubilee bracelet, and in the photo below of legendary musician Dizzy Gillespie we see him rockin' his Pepsi on a Jubilee bracelet...

Now the Batman has achieved parity with the Pepsi GMT-Master which was introduced last year at Baselworld to incredible accolades...

2019 Rolex Baselworld Teaser

2019 
Rolex Baselworld Teaser
Interesting 3D Details
Rolex published this Baselworld teaser, and I believe I've discovered a bizarre design language clue hiding in plain sight. Notice when you watch the Rolex Baselworld 2019 Teaser trailer below how the light reflects and glistens off the Rolex crown, as well as off the two visible lines of text, which now look distinctively metallic silver as apposed to the standard flat white pad printing!!!


Reading Between the Lines
The watch in this video has to be a Submariner Date, GMT-Master or Yacht-Master, as the text under the Rolex crown logo reads "ROLEX. OYSTER PERPETUAL DATE." There are no other Rolex watches with this dial layout that I am aware of. The most interesting detail is the Rolex crown logo and the top two lines of text seem to be applied and/or chrome-plated!?!! For frame of reference, I am including a photo of the current Single-Red SEA-DWELLER, which has a super-flat, one-dimensional crown logo as well as lines of text.

The new logo and text could also be laser sintered. This is strange as the Submariner and GMT have never had applied text like this. And the last Submariner or GMT-Master to have an applied crown on the dial were the yellow gold Submariner and GMT-Master models with nipple indices. Also, I noticed the line spacing in the ROLEX dial designation seems to have increased line spacing.

The relatively new Everose Gold Rolex Yacht-Master (pictured below) may offer a clue as it appears to have this newer logo and ROLEX dial designation. I have never checked this detail up close, but it dawns on me Rolex could use a special heavier (meaning not flat) pad printing process that uses metal flakes to give the appearance of added three-dimensionality as we see in the picture below. On thing for certain is this design detail makes the watch look much more high-end...

Idris Elba Teaches You British Slang | Vanity Fair

Idris Elba
Teaches You British Slang | Vanity Fair
Yellow Gold Rolex Day-Date

The Airliner in the GMT-Master Brochure

Finally revealed...


The Airliner in the

GMT-Master Brochure

 By DANNY CRIVELLO

           

I was recently intrigued by the cockpit on the cover of the old Rolex GMT-Master brochure and wanted to see, as an aviation professional, if I could find the type of airplane depicted. Challenge accepted! (Also, scroll to the end for an announcement.)

The brochure is fairly iconic, even a collector's item, but until today, the famous cockpit was never identified. So I went to work. And a good place to start is the number of engines. I noticed three thrust levers on the center console, which indicates three engines.

This is key because there were very few trijets in service: The famous Boeing 727, the McDonnell Douglas DC-10, and its updated version, the MD-11.

Cockpits have evolved over the years and simply googling each type yields many cockpit variances. Because this is Rolex, I had to assume it was a crew from a Swiss airline and decided to start there. 

I got a match when I found in the archive of a university in Zurich a picture dating from 1981 of Swissair Captain Niklaus Grob and co-pilot Rudolph Ledermann in the cockpit of a McDonnell Douglas DC-10. The instrument panel is exactly the same.

From the outside, the 237-passenger Swissair DC-10 looks like this.

I believe the DC-10 above is the exact aircraft from the brochure. I found it when I discovered one more clue: the tail number. Near the DC-10's tail, we see "HB-IHA."

When I zoom in on the brochure and compare the letters inside the cockpit with a full list of the fleet of Swissair DC-10s, I have a match.

Let's start with the bottom part of the red circle. The four letters ("CLDM") are a SELCAL code (or selective-calling) radio system that alerts a crew that a controller is calling, if the crew is not monitoring the frequency. I use SELCAL when I fly over the Atlantic or Pacific and HF radios have a lot of static. 

The letters starting with "HB" on the top part of the circle are the tail number. "HB" is the two-letter code for Switzerland. We can see that the last letter is a "A." I found that Swissair had its DC-10 registered as HB-IHA, HB-IHB, HB-IHC, etc... The full list can be found here. 

Here's a Swissair promotional picture featuring the airline's DC-10 with the tail number "HB-IHA," the one from the Rolex brochure. I love the retro livery!!!

The DC-10 was built in Long Beach, California, and entered service in the 1970s. It was considered a wide-body jet, but was built to be smaller than the B-747 at the request of American Airlines. Following is a 1972 Swissair letter introducing the new aircraft type to its customers.

I've been cleared to land for Baselworld 2019! Thank you to all those who follow me at @RolexMagazine. Thank you to Baselworld for the invitation and the press pass--and to Rolex S.A., who has been generous in accommodating me. Depending on my flight schedule, you might see me in the same latitudes! If you spot an airline pilot at Baselworld, please come and say hi!

--Capt. Danny

LV Submariner: Hanging in Hawaii

...Hand In Glove Shot Of The Day...

LV Submariner

Hanging in Hawaii

I took this wrist shot photo of my LV Submariner years ago when I was in a Hawaiian Jungle. Turns out it was a pretty cool Rolex Hand in Glove Shot...

Sir Sean Connery Rolex Submariner

...Rolex Coolness...

Sir Sean Connery

Rolex Submariner

Dr. No

In this photo we see Sir Sean Connery with Ursula Andress on the set of the first James Bond movie, "Dr. No," and we see Bond sporting his big crown Rolex Submariner.

All-New Apollo 11 Documentary...

APOLLO 11

All-New Documentary

I have some great news and some not-so great news... There is a new Apollo 11 documentary out in movie theaters, which was transferred from 70MM footage that was well preserved, to IMAX. I went to see the movie and paid for my ticket, went in the theater and instantly realized I was not in an IMAX theater. I went out to talk to the AMC manager and she said, "Oh, yesterday was the last day we showed Apollo 11 in IMAX. It's playing in the normal theater now." So I decided since I had already paid and was at the theater, why not just watch it, and boy was that a HUGE Mistake. Watching it on the normal AMC screen was like watching a VHS version playing on an old color tube television. 

The documentary was excellent, but the horrible quality picture stopped me from getting immersed in the picture. When you transfer 70MM film to IMAX, it should look like 8K video, NOT like you are watching a 480P DVD on an old color TV from the 1970s!?!! I have no idea what the documentary looks like in the IMAX theater. My advice would be to wait until it hits Netflix or on-demand, and watch it on your iPhone, iPad or Apple TV, which will look a Million times better!!! I looking for Rolex watches in the documentary but the resolution was so grainy and poor I could not see enough detail—that's how bad the picture was. If you watch the trailer above on your computer or iPhone it looks absolutely stunning—as it should.

Last month, I ran a story about how I discovered that Apollo 11 Astronaut, Michael Collins wore a Rolex Day-Date along with his other Rolex Turn-O-Graph, which I had previously documented. 

2019 is the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11's amazing achievement, and I have MUCH more undocumented Astronauts wearing Rolex news coming up!!!

ROLEX Ranked #1 for Fourth Year In A Row by Reputation Institute...

ROLEX

Ranked #1 

for Fourth Year In A Row

by Reputation Institute

For the fourth year in a row, Rolex maintained the #1 position in the Reputation Institute's RepTrak 100, which is the World's Largest Corporate Reputation Study!!!

Rolex responded to to this with the following statement:

“It is very rewarding to be ranked first on the Global RepTrak 100 for the fourth year in a row,” said Virginie Chevailler, Head of Public Relations at Rolex. “The company has a history of more than a century of perpetual improvement and innovation at every level. We believe this is recognition of our commitment to always reach further, along with our desire to contribute to society.”

Below is the press release from the Reputation Institute:

About Reputation Institute

Reputation Institute helps leaders at the world’s largest companies build credibility with the people that matter most to them by delivering data-driven insights about how they are truly perceived. We do this with RepTrak®, an unrivaled technology that provides actionable insights across industry, competitor, and company analysis.

MARCH 7, 2019

In Era of Elevated Risk, Reputation Institute Says it’s ‘Reputation Judgement Day’ in 2019 Global RepTrak® 100 – World’s Largest Corporate Reputation Study

Rolex, LEGO Retain Leadership, Netflix Makes Top 10, Google Declines, Facebook Free Falls
- Companies Delivering Assurances Made Strongest Gains -

BOSTON, March 7, 2019 – It’s a new age for corporate reputation, in which companies are scrutinized on every aspect of their operations, and it’s putting tremendous pressure on companies who are increasingly on trial in the court of public opinion.

In the 2019 Global RepTrak® 100, an annual ranking of public perception toward the world’s top companies, researchers at the Reputation Institute – a leading provider of reputation measurement and management services – surveyed more than 230,000 individuals in 15 countries.

While the overall results of the 2019 Global RepTrak® 100 show improvement over 2018, which saw a reputation decline, Reputation Institute Chief Reputation Officer Stephen Hahn-Griffiths says companies must continue to work hard to convert “fence sitters who are much less likely to give companies the benefit of the doubt.”  

“It’s reputation judgement day, given that 52% of the world have doubts about the good intentions of all companies,” said Hahn-Griffiths. “At the same time, companies have a great opportunity to create and deliver reputation assurances that, over time, can convert fence sitters to promoters. Companies that elevate positive perceptions of the enterprise, prioritize corporate responsibility, leverage strong leadership, are ethical, speak to the corporate brand purpose and engage market influences are those who will win in this daunting new reputation era.”

While a lack of assurances means that overall company support did not bounce back to the lofty levels of 2017, an increase of 1.0 points in reputation in the 2019 Global RepTrak® 100 signals the potential for a true reputation recovery.

“The reputation bubble burst in 2018, but there has been a reputation recovery in the past 12 months,” said Hahn-Griffiths. “Companies like Netflix and Microsoft have strengthened their reputation. Others like Facebook, even Google, have declined and have been punished in the court of public opinion. And some have even started to turn things around, such as Uber.”

In the 2019 Global RepTrak® 100, Rolex and The LEGO Group maintain the leading positions. Netflix surged from 24th place to ninth place while Michelin moves up to the eight spot. The BMW Group, which placed ninth a year ago, and Google (third in 2018), slipped out of the top 10. Facebook had the biggest overall decline in reputation, largely driven by its perceived short-comings on governance and in the workplace.

The top 10 companies in the 2019 Global RepTrak® 100 are:

“We’re humbled to be recognized amongst the five most reputable global brands as it reflects our commitment to ethics, transparency, and corporate responsibility” said Steve Clayton, General Manager – Communications, at Microsoft.

To access the full list of the world’s most reputable companies, data, insights, and expert perspectives on key trends, please visit:  http://www.reputationinstitute.com/Global-RepTrak-100

Companies interested in getting their 2019 score and learn how to improve their ranking should visit https://reputationinstitute.com/about/contact-us.com

1. Rolex
2. The LEGO Group
3. The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS)
4. Adidas Group (OTCQX: ADDYY)
5. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)
6. Sony (NYSE: SNE)
7. Canon (NYSE: CAJ)
8. Michelin (OTCMKTS: MGDDY)
9. Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX)
10.  The Bosch Group (NYSE: AVS)

Roger Federer Celebrates 100th Career Title

...Rolex Super-Coolness...

Roger Federer
Celebrates 


100th 
Career Title
Rockin' Roger is on a roll, as he just won his 100th career singles title at the Dubai Duty Free Championship on March 2, 2019.

Roger Federer's amazing milestone is only surpassed by fellow Tennis legend Jimmy Connors who won 109 singles titles in his career. 

Class personified Jimmy ❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/QhJmMdHIyI

— sharon forte (@snowbunny100) March 2, 2019

‘Heartiest congratulations @rogerfederer
Winning 100 titles during your unbelievable career is a truly mighty achievement.
I expect more to come this year and beyond! #RF100
Rocket

— Rod Laver (@rodlaver) March 2, 2019

The extraordinary @rogerfederer. A gift that keeps on giving.#RF100 pic.twitter.com/srMtYMV153

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) March 2, 2019

Also, in women's tennis, Martina Navratilova won 167 singles titles in the Open Era which began in 1968. Also, Chris Evert won 154 singles titles, and Steffi Graf is at 107.

Roger's 100 titles break down as follows: Roger has won 69 hard-court titles, which is the highest number in the Open Era. He won 20 Grand Slam titles which is the highest number in history to be won by a male. Roger also won 18 grass-court titles, which is also the greatest to be won by a male in the Open Era.