Rolex Studio Shot Of The Day: ESM's LV Submariner

Rolex Studio Shot Of The Day

ESM's LV Submariner

U.S. Navy Doctor Bought Submariner for $70 and sells if for $66,100

Superman Submariner

U.S. Navy Doctor Bought Submariner for $70 and sells if for $66,100

[Reference 5510]

All my Rolex collector friends have been talking about this story where a U.S. Naval Medical Student who was a SCUBA diver bought a Rolex Submariner [Reference 5510] in 1958 for $70, and recently put it on eBay for an opening bid of $9.95, thinking it was worth nothing, and he was shocked when it sold for $66,100. HODINKEE wrote a great story that covers all the fascinating details.

Rolex History Video

The History Of Rolex Video

Fascinating all-new Rolex History video, made by Rolex!!!

Rolex Coolness: Captain Don Walsh 1 of 2 ROLEX DEEP SEA GMT's Coming to Antiquorum Auction December 8, 2010

Rolex Coolness: Captain Don Walsh

1 of 2 ROLEX DEEP SEA GMT's

Coming to Antiquorum Auction

December 8, 2010

U.S. Navy Captain Walsh set the all-time depth record 50 years ago in the Marinas Trench in the Challenger Deep off the coast of Guam, with his co-pilot Jacques Piccard. Both men received their DEEP-SEA Rolex GMT's as a gift from Rolex director, Rene-Paul Jeanneret.

Captain Walsh decided to put up his ultra-rare historical Rolex GMT so an extremely fortunate collector could enjoy it, since Captain Walsh has already enjoyed owning and wearing it for a half-century. Captain Walsh is pictured below at the 50th anniversary Rolex celebration of the record setting dive and he is wearing his ultra-rare DEEP-SEA GMT Special

Jacques Piccard co-piloted the Bathyscaphe Trieste's record setting dive in 1960 and we see him in the photo below wearing the only other Rolex DEEP-SEA GMT Special, which he actually wore on the record setting dive.

The Antiquorum Auction is in New York on December 8, 2010 and if you are in New York later today, you can drop by and get a preview of the watch in person and meet U.S. Navy Captain Walsh. If you ever wanted to own a serious piece or the Rolex DEEP-SEA history, this is your opportunity...

You can read all about this amazing historical DEEP-SEA GMT Special and the record setting dive in detail on Jake's Rolex World.

The Smoking Tire's Matt Farah: LV Submariner...

The Smoking Tire's Matt Farah: LV Submariner

710 Horsepower STaSIS Engineering Audi R8 V10 Spyder

Matt Farah from The Smoking Gun is a funny dude, and he always wears his not trademark LV Submariner. In this video, Matt takes the all-new STaSIS Engineering Audi R8 V10 Spyder for a test drive. Turn the volume way up!!!

1947 Rolex Speed Of Sound Record Ad

1947 Rolex Speed Of Sound Record Ad

Tasha lives in Dublin, Ireland and she and her friend Jessica wrote in to let me know they have been enjoying Jake's Rolex World and they mentioned they love this series of current Rolex ads that feature the beautiful Luciana Curtis. Of course this is a play on Chuck Yeager's breaking of the Sound Barrier in 1947 while wearing his trusted Rolex, and it is really cool.

Rolex Studio Shot Of The Day Hannes Sprite LV Submariner

Rolex Studio Shot Of The Day

Hannes Sprite LV Submariner

Hannes is an owner of the German R-L-X.de forum and he is an amazing Rolex photographer. He took this shot of his LV Submariner, which is amazing!!!

Rolex USA CEO Allen Brill Passed Away ...

Another Rolex President Belongs To The Ages

Allen Brill Passes Away

Allen Brill, President & CEO or Rolex Watch USA now belongs to the ages as he passed away from lung cancer on November 27, 2010. Allen Brill was diagnosed with lung-cancer just six weeks ago.

Allen Brill joined Rolex in 1978 and started as an area sales manager, and in 1999 became the executive Vice-President. In 2004 he was promoted to and replaced Walter Fischer as President & CEO. Allen Brill was 64 years old and worked and resided in New York City.

Rolex USA CEO, Allen Brill is pictured less than a year ago (on the right) at the 2010 Rolex 24 at Daytona with racing legend Vic Elford. Wow. He looked so alive less than a year ago. It just goes to show, how fragile life is...

Allen Brill is picture below with Anka Palitz, and Fay Fendi in 2007. (Photo by Linda Lenzi)

On behalf of the readership of Jake's Rolex World, I would like to offer our condolences to Allen Brill's family, as well as his extended family at Rolex USA, and Rolex Geneva. We know he achieved great success for Rolex and know he will be fondly missed.

Update: In 2005 The New York Times published an emotionally moving story about Allen Brill's kindness.

Happy Thanksgiving from Jake

Happy Thanksgiving from Jake!!!

Hi everybody!!!

It is hard to believe it is already Thanksgiving again on Jake's Rolex World!!!

I am very excited and have a very special story to share with you over this Thanksgiving weekend. This weekend I will be publishing a story I have been working on researching for years, and it is named "The Hans Wilsdorf Story." Hans Wilsdorf was the founder of Rolex and made it into a world-class company. So stay tuned, for what is perhaps the greatest Rolex History story of all-time!!!!

"The First Thanksgiving" painting by Jean Gerome Ferris (1863-1930)

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday because it gives us a chance to pause and reflect on how fortunate we all are to be able to experience this amazing miracle, known as life, on this spinning marble we all share–named Earth.

Of course I realize Thanksgiving is a U.S. holiday, but I believe it's as timeless and universal as a sunset or a smile :-)))

Once again, Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Warmest regards,

Jake

Lunatik Case for Apple iPod Nano

Lunatik Case for Apple iPod Nano

As many of you know, I am not only a design fanatic, but I am also the CEO and designer for BulletTrain.com which makes some very innovative accessories for the Apple iPad and the Apple Wireless Keyboard and Magic Trackpad.

A reader of Jake's Rolex World and he sent in this email today:

Hi Jake,

I know you’re into great designs, check out this little gem being developed for the new iPod Nano.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1104350651/tiktok-lunatik-multi-touch-watch-kits?ref=email

I’ve pledged to secure my Lunatik and I can’t wait to receive it.

Kind regards

Perry

Here is my response:

Hi Perry,

I am familiar with the Lunatik, and saw their video earlier this week.

Maybe I am slow or just missing something, but can you please tell me why in the world you would want to wear an iPod Nano on you wrist?

It just does not make any sense to me and here is why:

First and foremost, the iPod Nano has no Bluetooth, so if you want to listen to music you have to have the headphone jack plug in your watch on your wrist!?!?!? This makes zero sense and strikes me as being extremely uncomfortable and it would ALWAYS get in the way.

The Nano does not play video, or have a phone or do anything except play music, or maybe play a slideshow, so what is the advantage of having it on your wrist?

Plus, if you want to see what time it is, you have to push a button to turn on the screen. This defeats the "at-a-glance" nature of wearing a wrist-watch.

Also, you have to recharge it all the time. The whole point of having an automatic watch is you don't have to wind it, and a quartz watch only needs to have its battery replaced every 5 years, but having a watch you have to plug-in every few days seems highly non-sensical to me.

It strikes me that the Lunatik is perfectly named in the sense you almost have to be one to waste your money on its novel design. In my opinion, from what I can tell so far, this product is a shining example of "design for design sake" which makes no sense to me. It's like putting a Cadillac medallion on the front of a Mercedes, or wearing ski gloves on the beach in Tahiti.

Speaking of the beach in Tahiti, another challenge is that the iPad Nano is not waterproof, so if you get it wet, it could ruin it.

Of course, as a designer, I am open-minded and realize, I might have this completely backwards, so please enlighten me as to why you or anybody would want to wear an iPod Nano on their wrist?

Warmest regards,

Jake

So if anybody wants to school me on what I am missing here, please do so in the comments or send me an email. Of course it is impressive they have already raised a quarter of a million dollars, when their goal was to raise only $15,000.