I made a number of updates to this story, as I live-blogged it beginning on election night. As I grow older, I have tried to develop the habit of trying to see things from both sides of the coin, and that is exactly what I have done with this story.
The truth is that I have zero political affiliation. In other words, I am neither a Republican or a Democrat. As a matter of fact, my belief is we only have one political party (Uniparty) in the United States, disguised as a two party system. Specifically, I believe that the vast majority of American politicians don't serve the interests of their constituents they supposedly represent, but instead work in their own personal interest, which is controlled by financial contribution, which serve as a quid pro quo.
For many years now, I have felt as if our political leadership on both sides of the aisle have been like a terrible clown show, that has not been funny, but just scary and disturbing. I believe I am not alone, and that many Americans would agree with me.
A New Beginning
I am a proud American, but if somebody asked me, "First and foremost, are you an American, or a human being?" I would not hesitate to say I am a human being first and foremost, meaning I always wish to see what is best for humanity.
Over the course of the past several years, I believe we as human beings, around the world, have experienced a number of things we have felt uncomfortable with, and it is apparent that a sea-change came in the form of a referendum for the United States, as many people felt frustrated and fed up with our government leaders, or lack thereof, and decided to vote proactively. It strikes me the reason Trump won so decisively, was not because people love him so much, as they love the people who helped him win, and this long list includes, Elon Musk, RFK Jr., and Joe Rogan.
I am a strict Jeffersonian, and I believe in power to the people...As a student of history, I am nonpartisan in the sense I only want what's best for my fellow human beings, and I think if Trump gives Elon Musk and RFK Jr. carte blanche to make changes they believe are for the better, we will see real and meaningful change that our society will benefit from extensively.
Somebody once said, planning is the art of preparing for change, and it seems evident that we are all going to soon experience great—hopefully positive—change, which hopefully we can all embrace. Most importantly, it is my fervent prayer that Americans can come together and stop arguing about petty woke issues, and focus instead on figure out how to Make America Healthy Again, which is a term coined and supported by RFK Jr.
Just to reiterate, this article is NOT a partisan political opinion piece, choosing one side over the other, but instead, hopefully an insightful OBJECTIVE reflection of where the United States is today, and most importantly, where all of humanity can go in order to ensure the best future for all of mankind.
Cheers!
Jake :-0
President Trump
Wins Election Reclaims White House
Elected 47th U.S. President
Earns 73,407,735 American Popular Votes
Rolex has always made professional tool watches. Not just for explorers diving deep into the oceans, or caves, or breaking records in flight or in outer space, but Rolex has also always been the chosen tool watch of champion politicians as a token of their leadership. I commonly refer to Rolex as being "The International Mark of Success". As a matter of fact, in the 1950s and 1960s, Rolex Director, René-Paul Jeanneret spearheaded an advertisement campaign that boldly stated, "Men Who Guide The Destinies of the World Wear Rolex Watches". Put simply, Rolex watches have been worn for centuries now by Alpha males, who have chosen to keep the time of their life with Rolex.
American's have spoken loud and clear with their 73,407,735 votes they cast to reelect President Trump. In a stunningly remarkable political comeback, that is perhaps the greatest political comeback in American political history, President Trump will be returning to the White House as he defeated Kamala Harris in a landslide election to win a second term as the Commander and Chief, and it looks like his second term will be nothing like his first term.
President Trump was elected as the 45th President of the United States back in 2016, and at age 78, he just gave an Election Victory speech in West Palm Beach in Florida, where he declared victory on becoming the 47th President of the United States.
Trump declared victory after winning the battleground states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia, along with the electoral vote heavy states of Texas and Florida. In his declared election victory speech Trump quipped, "Look what happened! This will truly be the golden age of America." Trump is the only president in American history to serve two nonconsecutive terms, with the exception of Grover Cleveland who was elected in 1884 and 1892.
"Around the country people are tired of the policies that have gotten us to where we are. For the life of me, I can't understand how Kamala Harris has gotten away with distancing herself from her own policies—policies of a man she championed—policies she shares. She can't identify a single piece of daylight between her and Joe Biden. I think that is coming back to haunt her, and I don't think there is any way she can win, and I think Trump is going to finish very strongly tonight."
—Senator Mike Lee (R. Utah)
November 5th, 2024
As I write this, we see a live coverage map (below) of the United States that appears courtesy of ABC News, which shows Trump with 279 Electoral College votes. As of this writing, Trump has also won the popular vote by around 5 million with 70,877,484 popular votes (51.2%) and Kamala Harris has 65,812,707 (47.2%). A supreme irony is that President Joe Biden (who also wears a Rolex) allegedly won 81,282,916 popular votes in the 2020 Presidential election against Trump who allegedly only received 74,223,369, which means Biden got more than 16 Million more votes in the 2020 election than Harris received so far in the 2024 election.
Dream Team?
President Trump has put together the most unusual and seemingly impossible dream team, almost of superheroes to help run his presidency, including former Democrat Presidential nominee, RFK Jr, as well as former Democrat, Tulsi Gabbard. Elon Musk also went to work to get Trump elected in the Battleground state of Pennsylvania, where he personally campaigned everyday for the last two weeks. Elon Musk was interviewed on The Joe Rogan Experience Podcast on on the eve of the Presidential Election and shared some really interesting insight:
The most interesting thing is Trump has promised to completely overhaul the American government with the help of Elon Musk and RFK Jr'. Elon is a specialist in overhauling ineffective companies and is an expert at trimming the fat. As an example, after purchasing Twitter for $44 Billion, almost immediately he fired 80% of the workforce, and ironically today Twitter/X.com runs way more efficiently with a much smaller team. Elon mentioned he has spoken with Trump about setting up a new entity he would spearhead named, The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which would be responsible for completely streamlining all aspects of the U.S. Federal Government.
Elon said despite the fact he intends to retire many federal employees, he will do so by granting them multi-year severance packages so they may find other opportunities, and in the event they do, their income will essentially double as they will get their severance pay, along with their new jobs payroll income.
Another extremely significant development is the Republicans won the Senate while increasing their majority in the House of Representatives. The U.S. Senate victories in West Virginia and Ohio on Tuesday ensure President Trump's Republican Party will control the agenda in Washington, potentially allowing Trump to deliver on his promise to restrict immigration and slash taxes. Having control of the Senate will ensure all of President Trump's cabinet nominees will likely proceed without any delay, which will not be a repeat of 2016. Also, with the Republicans controlling the Supreme Court 6-3, this could have profound implications.
Update, November 7, 2024 12:30PM PST: In the House of Representatives election, the Democrats are at 197 and the Republicans are at 210. This means the Democrats would need 21 more seats in order to achieve a majority, while the Republicans need only 8 more seats in order to achieve the majority.
If the Republicans take control of the 435-seat chamber, then Trump could have a completely united coalition government, but we won't know for certain for days.
On a side note, the bond market is tumbling with the news of Trump's victory, as investors are piling into stock and equity trades, and the Crypto market is also pumping like crazy with the top four crypto currencies, Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and Stellar all rocketing upward. Also, Tesla is up close to 15% in after hour trading...Also, it looks like the FED is planning to cut interest rates again, so this should provide the perfect storm for the American economy to start pumping again.
Since we are on the subject of the future of the American economy: If Elon Musk overhauls the U.S. economy, we could easily see the greatest economy in the history of the United States, over the next 4 years!!!
A Rolex Precedent
President Trump is no stranger to Rolex as he owns and has worn a yellow gold Rolex Presidential model (Day-Date) which is seen on his wrist in the photos below. I've noticed he seems to wear his Day-Date when he is playing golf, and seems to relate Rolex with great golf legends.
President Trump is unusual as he is the only U.S. President I am aware of that wore a Rolex President model before he was elected President. Actually, Dwight Eisenhower also wore his Rolex Datejust before he was elected President, but that was a Datejust and not a Day-Date. In all fairness, when Eisenhower received his Rolex Datejust, he was the Supreme commander of NATO in Europe, and the Day-Date didn't exist yet.
If you are not familiar, the Rolex Day-Date is commonly referred to as "The Rolex President", as Rolex originally called their super-iconic bracelet pictured below, "The Rolex President Bracelet", and over the years people began to commonly refer to the entire Rolex Day-Date as "The Rolex President", and even "The Rolex Presidential", or as "The Rolex El Presidente".
Over the years I have referred to The Rolex President as The Rolex Precedent as it set such a bold and highly memorable precedent with its presence...How is that for an alliterative non sequitur, world-salad sandwich!?!! :-0
Rolex has a very rich history with Presidents wearing their watches, and in the photo below we see President Trump rocking a super iconic and unmistakable Rolex President bracelet in yellow gold.
The history of The Rolex President is fascinating on many levels and began with President Eisenhower, who is pictured below during his presidency (1952-1960), and we see him wearing his trademark Rolex Datejust in yellow gold. In an interesting twist of fate, Eisenhower, just like Trump was a hardcore golfer.
The video below is titled "Tucker Carlson Election Night LIVE from Mar-a-lago". Tucker interviewed many very interesting people, including Donald Trump Jr., who rocks the latest GMT-Master with the silver and black bezel. The photo below that shows Donald Jr. wearing his GMT was taken recently during the Republican National Convention. For the record, I think it is likely Don Jr. will be elected President of the United States in the future.
It's fascinating to note President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden also wears a Batman Rolex GMT-Master as seen below. Ironically, if you weren't paying close attention, but I told you the man pictured above wearing a GMT-Master was the same man pictured below, you might not notice as they kind of look similar. It's also interesting to consider both President Trump, and President Biden, both wear Rolex watches, as do both of their sons.
Joe Biden
Speaking of Joe Biden, ironically as I write this, he is currently 'supposedly' still the Commander and Chief of the United States. Like most people, based upon his cognitive performance, or lack thereof, I find this hard to believe. Do I think Kamal Harris was secretly running the show from behind the scenes? I have seen zero evidence to support such a notion. Does that make them political puppets? I will leave that question to you, but I will say, as an American I am beyond disappointed with the state of our government and financial dispositions.
Ronald Reagan
Growing up in the 1980s, in San Francisco, California, during the Presidency of Ronald Reagan was fascinating. I deeply admired President Reagan, not for his political beliefs, but because he reminded America of who we once were and perhaps who we might be again. In other words, President Reagan was a hardcore optimist, which is a trait I deeply admire. I would go so far as to say the only thing a man or women ever truly posses in this world is their optimism. With optimism, a person can overcome and achieve anything. Without it, they are a dead man walking.
I had the opportunity to meet and speak with President Reagan, as he and his wife Nancy were close friends with my grandparents on both sides of my family. President Reagan is pictured below during World War II, with my namesake grandfather, Jake Ehrlich Sr., who was a famous California attorney, along with my maternal grandmother. In other words, Reagan is pictured below with my father's father, and my mother's mother.
When I met President Reagan we spoke about many different topics which ranged from politics to the history of men's clothing design. Does the fact that I have photos of myself hanging out with President Reagan make me a Republican, as many people might assume? Nope. For the record, in the many decades since the Reagan presidency, I have studies his political record, and more than anything his positions have probably confused me more than anything. I just thought he was a distinguished, serious man, who loved his country, and that I admire.
I see an analogy between President Reagan and President Trump. Before President Trump was elected, the United States was in a deep depression, and Reagan with his leadership skills reviewed the American psyche in the most positive way. It's like America's battery was completely depleted, and he completely recharged it.
In other words, Reagan synergistically changed the coarse of the pendulum and got it to swing back in the opposite direction hard and fast, and that is what Trump's second presidency seems to offer as a value proposition. Specifically, I think President Trump and President Reagan shared a hardcore optimism for America's future.
Speaking of Ronald Reagan, it's interesting to note that he, like President Eisenhower wore a Rolex Datejust as pictured below.
Ronald Reagan, once simply asked Americans "Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?". All I know is that over the course of the past 4 years, the cost of many things have become ridiculously more expensive. Take the price of a loaf of bread, or a gallon of milk, which are considered to be excellent bellwethers. They have literally doubled in price!?!!
Same thing with interest rates, and the cost of purchasing a home, not to mention rents have doubled. As an American I hold the leadership, or lack thereof to be accountable. Ironically, I remember Joe Biden in his inauguration speech saying his goal was to Unite the American People, but his actions ran completely contrary to this false promise he made.
Image above of Joe Biden's first day in Oval Office. Photo: Jim Watson/Getty Images.
Ironically, President Joe Biden, who is pictured above wore a Rolex, which his wife gave him as a gift for winning the Presidency. The photo above is one of the best photos I have ever seen of a U.S. President rocking a Rolex.
As a matter of fact, Joe Biden gave his inaugural speech while wearing his Rolex Datejust as seen below.
Image above of Joe Biden's inaugural address. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images.
President Biden wore his Rolex in the photo below while wearing a ridiculous mask. This is something I hope the world will never be subjected to again in the future.
President Elect Joe Biden Wearing Stainless Steel Rolex Datejust appears courtesy of AP.
Like so many fellow Americans, I once deeply admired President Obama. More than anything, in retrospect I believe he was a superb orator, but many, many Americans believe today that he also never delivered on his promises. President Obama is pictured below at President Biden's inauguration, and Obama is rocking his white gold Rolex Cellini.
RFK Jr.
Bobby Kennedy Jr' is one of the most intelligent people I am aware of, and he is dedicated to Making America Healthy Again (MAHA)!!! In the video below, around 1:50:00 Tucker interviews RFK Jr., who reveals his plan to immediately remove Fluoride from all drinking water in the United States. Think about that for a second, just how profound a chess move RFK is making by ordering all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water. The irony is that American's have been told for the past 60 years that fluoride is health to have in our drinking water, when in reality it has been highly toxic!?!!
I believe it is likely Trump will appoint Bobby Kennedy Jr., to be the Attorney General of the United States, which is a position his father, RFK Sr., held during the JFK Presidential period, and I would not be surprised if he also appoints him Surgeon General of the United States.
On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water. Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease. President…
President Trump was recently gifted another Rolex Presiential model by Adin Ross along with a Tesla CyberTruck with an over-the top-custom vehicle wrap graphic which is seen below with its American Flag wrap design with a highly symbolic image of Trump fist-pumping the crowd with blood on his face, after he overcame the recent alleged assassination attempt on his life in Pennsylvania.
Since we are on the subject of Paul Newman's Daytona #2, it strikes me there is a good chance that Franz von Holzhausen may very well be wearing Paul Newman's actual "Big Red" Rolex Daytona #2, which he may have purchased at auction back in 2017.
So what exactly is the symbolism of this fascinatingly bizarre and exotic CyberTruck gift from Adin Ross to President Trump? I almost can't believe what I am seeing when I look at the wrap design of this CyberTruck. Also, it's worth drawing an analogy between the two gifts Adin Ross gave President Trump, being a Rolex President and a CyberTruck.
Both gifts are hardcore masculine symbols of over-the-top, alpha-male status symbols. Yes, the Rolex President watch model has been around since the mid 1950s, and the CyberTruck is much newer, but they are both extreme symbols of cutting edge, avante-garde, modern technology designed for masculine men.
One could argue, the Rolex President it no longer modern, but completely classic today, and that the CyberTruck is not classic, but completely modern, to which I would respond: everything today that is considered classic, was once considered to be modern.
If you really think about it, the 40MM version of the Rolex Day-Date that Adin Ross gifted President Trump, represents Rolex's brilliantly and flawlessly executed attempt to modernize their timeless and classic 36MM version of the Rolex Day-Date.
You can watch the Rolex President gift video section below, as well as the entire Adin Ross, President Trump interview below.
I always like to explore all sides of an issue so I can best understand and make informed decisions, and often times I enjoy when people see things differently than I do, as that's how we often time learn. This Counterpoints section is not meant as some kind of endorsement of other peoples ideas, but as a method for exploring different perspectives...
Many people tuned in today to The View to see their emotional reaction to the news, which is of course, interesting...
Also, Kamal Harris gave her concession speech.
Errol Musk, who is Elon Musk's boldly outspoken father chimed-in and shared his interesting perspective on Elon and the Trump presidency. By examining Errol's communication skills, we get an idea of where Ellon got his ultra-straightforward communication style from. Both of them seem to regularly speak in a pure and unfiltered manner.
Most interestingly, Errol Musk argues his son, Elon Musk's efforts contributed so significantly to Trump's candidacy with his participation, it made all the difference with him winning the election, which actually makes sense:
Jake Paul posted this thought provoking Tweet on X.com. I will say I never invested much time until recently studying or exploring Kamal Harris, but writing this article has forced me to conduct a much deeper dive into her record of achievement, and the deeper I dive the less I find. If I try and answer Jake Paul's question, I draw a big blank...For the record, I am NOT a Republican, and am not making any kind of political statement. I am just exploring the marvelous structure of reality...
Our Captain Danny, from Coronet shared this really cool image with me from @shinyhappyobjects, which seems to be perfectly on point, or on time—so to speak...
Eleonora Incardona is an Italian model, actress and social media star, and as we see she wears different Rolex Daytona models. Eleonora has been posting on her Instagram account since 2012 and has over a1 Million followers. She travels all over the world and post pics of her adventures.
Every time I think maybe I have seen it all in the world of Rolex, I seem to realize I am far from achieving such a lofty goal. A reader named Christophe who is a vintage Rolex watch collector wrote-in asking if I might have any insight to share on a most unusual and highly mysterious vintage Rolex in his collection, and I almost fell out of my chair when I saw this potentially ultra-rare gem. Is this a prototype, or a one-off, or customized Rolex? If so, was it customized by Rolex, or aftermarket, by a cunning watchmaker at Artisans de Genève, just to mess with everybody?
I don't want to get too excited about this discovery as I am not able to confirm if all the details are legit, but I have began reaching out to my key fellow Rolex horological experts for their input. Once I have concluded, I will update this story, but all I can say is if this is completely original, it would potentially be a complete next-level game changer...
For clarity sake, many, many brands have famously made what are known as skeleton watches, whereby they lack a dial that hides or covers the movement, but instead showcases the movement elements and parts in place of the dial. Also, watches that expose the movement with a clear crystal on the back are typically referred to as "exhibition casebacks" as they showcase the beauty and technical sophistication of the watch movement. Historically, Rolex was thought to have NEVER produced such a watch, but this beauty appears to completely refute that notion and instead make it appear as if Rolex was actual an early pioneer of incorporating such technology!!!
Also, this apparently unique Rolex prototype features another most unusual characteristic, and that is the fact the 5 minute baton markers as well as the minute track are painted on the back of the crystal in red, which adds yet another unusual and beautiful element. The Rolex Oyster advertisement below was published in July of 1934, and notice the 5 minute baton markers in the watch located in the upper right hand corner features a very similar layout.
I showed this discovery to Nick Gould, and as usual, he made an astute observation and quipped, "Clearly this is similar to a Rolex Reference 1073, and maybe the front crystal and exhibition case back that showcases the raw movement was for time testing? I am confident the movement is authentic..."
Just for frame-of-reference, the Rolex pictured below was a very early Rolex Oyster, made in 1926 and notice it features skinny lugs connected to a similar cushion case that appear to have been soldiered on. This model formed the basis for the Rolex Oyster, and shares a similar cushion case shape to the mystery Rolex.
One More Thang...
Another interesting feature is this watch also has an exhibition caseback, which showcases the manually wound Rolex Extra Prima movement, which was an extremely precise and accurate timekeeper back in the 1920s.
My best guess is this Rolex featured a case made out of silver, and the movement is simply gorgeous.
So if this discovery is authentic, what would it mean? Rolex, to the best of my knowledge only ever made one other model in the past which featured an exhibition caseback and that apparently was a sales model made exclusively for Rolex sales representatives to show customers how the Rolex automatic perpetual movement worked.
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual
The First Waterproof Self-Winding Watch
The Development of the Rolex Oyster was an incredible horological achievement, but the challenge was that it made it more difficult to manually wind the watch because the user had to unscrew it first, then wind it, then re-screw the Oyster crown.
In 1931 Rolex patented the Perpetual rotor which automatically wound the watch, thus eliminating the need to ever wind it again! This not only made it more convenient but also more accurate because the watch would never stop so long as you wore it.
For those too young to remember, manual-wind wrist watches required you wind them daily which was an inconvenience for most people, although some people, like train conductors liked it ;-))))))
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual pictured above and below was made in 1931 and Rolex put an exhibition caseback on it to easily show potential consumers how it worked. As you can see in the photo below there is a rotor that says "Rolex Auto Rotor" which automatically spins clockwise and/or counter-clockwise just from the movement of the wearers wrist and "Automatically" wound the mainspring. In other words, even the slightest movement of the wrist (using gravity) will wind the watch, thus keeping the mainspring wound at optimum tension.
Rolex based the design of their perpetual rotor system on one Abraham Louis Perelet developed in 1770, and in the years before Rolex perfected their methodology, there was a company named Harwood that created a self-winding rotor system that only moved clockwise, but had many challenges that stopped it from becoming the industry standard.
By creating an auto-winding or self-winding wristwatch, Rolex once again revolutionized the wristwatch–and again, Rolex was not the first to explore creating a self-winding wristwatch, but Hans Wilsdorf and Rolex were the first to perfect it, patent, and bring it successfully to market, and most importantly sell it in large quantities around earth.
The patent on the Rolex perpetual eventually ran out in 1948 and everybody was free to develop their own automatic rotor systems that used gravity to wind their movements–and they did...
Rolex articulated this beautifully this notion when they said:
"Standing out against the bright black dial are intense white counters whose graphic design is inspired by a traditional Rolex dial. The Oyster case is fitted with a transparent back and an Oyster bracelet. This original timepiece is equipped with an exclusive movement, calibre 4132, which allows the hours of the chronograph function to be counted over twenty-four hours – another nod to the race – instead of the model’s usual twelve."
Perhaps the most extraordinary feature of this new model is it featured an exhibition case back, which was a first for Rolex. That's right, it only took Rolex 117 years to formally launch a model that featured an exhibition caseback, which seems strange to many people as Rolex movements have historically been such works of art, in-and-of-themselves...
Rolex articulated it beautifully and said:
"This movement incorporates the Chronergy escapement, Paraflex shock absorbers, and bridges decorated with Rolex Côtes de Genève. The cut-out oscillating weight in 18 kt yellow gold is fitted with an optimized ball bearing. Like all Rolex watches, this special version of the Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona carries the Superlative Chronometer certification, which ensures excellent performance on the wrist."
Once I learn more about this potentially amazing discovery, I will update this article.
Update on November 1, 2024: Ironically Rolex just introduced this cool short video on their transparent case back.
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.