Rolex On Top Military Leaders...

Rolex On Top Military Leaders

Now & Then

From General Guisan to General Petraeus

Wristwatches in general owe their genesis to the military. Before World War I, only women wore wristwatches. Men wore pocketwatches, but in warfare timing is everything, so if a soldier had to unbutton his overcoat, then unbutton his jacket to get to his pocket watch to see what time it was, he could get in a lot of trouble–especially if he was freezing in a muddy trench and had to hold his gun with one hand.

That's why soldiers during World War I started wearing wrist watches. Wristwatches allowed a soldier to simply glance at his wrist to see what time it was.

Military leaders have relied on Rolex since before Swiss Army General Henry Guisan put on the 50,000th Officially Certified Swiss Chronometer that Rolex made in 1946.

Let's begin by looking at U.S. Army 4-Star General David Howell Petraeus. General Petraeus is the 10th and current Commander of U.S. Central Command.

General Petraeus has an extremely distinguished military career and it comes as no surprise that he depends on his Rolex Submariner to keep time.

General Petreaus was recently selected as one of the world's top 100 public intellectuals in a poll conducted by Foreign Policy and Prospect Magazines. Time Magazine named General Petreaus in 2007 as one of the 100 most influential leaders and revolutionaries of the year.

General Petreaus previously served as Commanding General for the Multi-National Force in Iraq.

As Commander, General Petraeus oversaw all coalition forces in Iraq.

General Petreaus has an amazing military career, but let's go back to beginning and take a look at military leaders who wore Rolex.

Swiss Army General Henri Guisan is Switzerland's most beloved protector in history. Guisan protected the Swiss from the Nazi's during World War II. Gusan not only wore a Rolex, but was given the 50,000th Officially Certified Swiss Chronometer that Rolex ever made.

Rolex gave Sir Winston Churchill with their 100,000th Officially Certified Swiss Chronometer which was a Rolex Datejust in Pink Gold.

Rolex chose U.S. General, Dwight D. Eisenhower as the recipient for their 150,000th Officially Certified Swiss Chronometer. Eisenhower is pictured below, briefing U.S. Army Airborne Paratroopers on the morning of the D-Day invasion he architected to save Europe and the rest of the world from Nazi aggression.

U.S. General Gruenther was the recipient of Rolex' 200,000th Officially Certified Swiss Chronometer which you can see in the photograph below.

Lord Mountbatten of the British Admiralty was also a big fan of Rolex watches. Mountbatten was so proud of his Rolex watches he gave Rolex permission to publish the fact that he wore them, but Rolex of Geneva decided no to exploit this fact for commercial gain.

Rolex & The Right Stuff

In 1947, when Chuck Yeager broke the speed of sound barrier for the first time in history he was wearing his Rolex Oyster as seen in the photo below.

Many years later, we see General Yeager wearing his "James Bond Submariner" in the photo below. To this day, General Yeager still wears a Rolex. This means he has been wearing Rolex watches continually for 7 decades straight–pretty amazing if you think about it.

Chuck Yeager and Scott Carpenter were both part of "The Right Stuff" and Scott Carpenter (pictured below) went on to the U.S. Navy SEA-LAB program that helped Rolex develop the Rolex SEA-DWELLER.

It should come as no surprise that military leaders throughout modern history have depended on their trusted Rolex watches.

I LOVE FASHION BLOG by Dianne Seerden

I LOVE FASHION BLOG

by

Dianne Seerden

Dianne Seerden is a reader of Jake's Rolex World and she wrote my an email to say:

Hi Jake,

I love your Rolex blog - I came across it because I am agonizing about which Rolex to buy (a Datejust 36mm, steel and yellow gold with a white dial, stick figures instead of numbers and domed bezel, OR a blue and black concentric dial with Arabic numbers and a fluted bezel).

I suppose they are both pretty standard and classic, so I won't go wrong with either. Anyway, your blog is so fun, I love the vintage adds and the countless politicians and celebrities wearing Rolex.

I love when ever so often you come across a blog with such dedicated, passionate and single minded focus.

Now I am going to check out your other blogs.

XX Dianne

Well, I would like to begin by thanking you so much Dianne for sharing your kind words!!! My background is in clothing design and I love Dianne's I LOVE FASHION Blog which is really impressive!!! It is filled with all kinds of cool and interesting fashion insight. Dianne also mentioned to me that she likes some of the content so much on Jake's Rolex World, that she is going to be sharing some of it on her blog!!!

Rolex Paradise Revisited Fourtané Carmel-By-The-Sea

Rolex Paradise Revisited

Fourtané

Carmel-By-The-Sea

Where Rolex History Meets The Present

Back in October of 2009, I wrote a detailed article about a magical place named Fourtané Jewelers located in Carmel, California. What makes Fourtané Jewelers magical? Visiting Fourtané is like visiting a Rolex Museum. Fourtané Jewelers is located in the very quaint downtown area of Carmel, California, which is really beautiful.

John Goldberger who is one of the top international Rolex collectors was in Carmel recently for the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, and when he saw I published this story he send in the next set of photos with the funniest message!!! John was born and raised in Italy, and lives there today. He speaks with and writes with an Italian accent, and in his email he wrote:

Dear Jake,

I send you some interesting photos taken in my last visit on August to this wonderful Rolex cave!

Ciao John.

Wonderful Rolex Cave!!! I love it!!! That really kind of sums up the vintage Rolex department at Fourtané Jewelers as you can see below. It really is a Wonderful Rolex Cave!!! lol lol lol


That is Eric Ku behind the counter, wearing a blue blazer. Eric is certainly one of the most knowledgable vintage Rolex collectors and dealers on Earth.


As you can see, on any given day, Fourtané is sugar-coated with an awe-inspiring collection of vintage Rolex watches.


In the case below, we see a stunning collection of vintage Rolex Day-Dates with exotic colored dial that were popular in the 1970s and 1980s. Ronald Reagan is still the President of The United States, isn't he?


This next image shows the provenance documents for a Rolex Submariner that belonged to Steve McQueen. Where else on planet earth are you going to see a Rolex Submariner that belonged to Steve McQueen? At Fourtané you will!

One of the things that makes Fourtané Jewelers unique is that the store environment feels like you are in a beautiful home, and the sales team are extremely knowledgeable and nice. They are so nice, you feel more like you are at home with close family and friends. In the photo below we see the dog of an employee relaxing under a private desk. Pretty cute!

On this recent trip I took to Fourtané Jewelers, I took a number of photos of beautiful historic Rolex watches, and I want to share them with you in chronological order. Let's start with this first Rolex which is a very early Rolex wrist watch. The wrist watch first really came into existence for men as a timing tool during World War I.

Essentially the first Rolex wrist watches were pocket watches that had fixed lugs welded onto the case, meaning the strap had to be sewn onto the lugs, or the wearer would have to use a slip-through strap like the one picture below.

The watch pictured above has a "Snap-Front" case meaning the watch has a protective cover on the front that covers the entire front of the watch. This watch was probably made around 1917. The photo below shows the same watch as in the photo above, but the snap-front is sitting in the open position.

Next, in the picture below, we see a vintage Rolex Athlete model. In the early years, Rolex had all kinds of interesting names like the Rolex Sky-Rocket. Interesting!!!

In this next photo we see a beautiful oversized Rolex Dress watch that looks great today. I think this model is probably from around 1955, and it has my favorite Dauphine hands.

Next we see, a really unusual Rolex ladies Chinese Lantern pendant watch. Rolex made so many different models throughout their amazing history.

Next we see a Coca Cola Rolex that was given to a Coca Cola employee as a reward for 25 years of service. I imagine you could call this a Coke Rolex–like the Coke GMT?

Speaking of a Coke GMT Master, this next photo is of the original first-generation Coke GMT with a Bakelite bezel. Notice it has no crown guards.

Next we see a very rare, unusual and fascinating first generation Rolex DEEP-SEA. Say What!?!? Rolex has an unusual habit of recycling old watch nomenclature, and the watch below is probably from the mid 1950s.

This next photo is a close-up of the honeycomb dial from the first generation of the Rolex DEAP-SEA pictured above.

Next we see an original generation of the Rolex Milgauss, which is a real beauty. This example is very rare because it has a Tiffany & Co dial, which makes it very rare and valuable.

Next we see a Rolex Submariner [Reference 1670] with an extremely rare Cartier Dial that has a Cartier Dial designation. As standard version of this watch would probably be worth around $7,000, but since it has the extremely rare Cartier designation, it is worth around $150,000!!!

Next we see a photo of a vintage Day-Date with a true Arabic dial, that even has an Arabic Day and Date wheel.

Fourtané Jewelers not only sells beautiful historical and vintage Rolex watches, but Fourtané Jewelers is also a Rolex Authorized dealer, so they not only offer all the current Rolex watches, but they also have some extremely rare Rolex watches you will likely never see in your life.

When I was in Fourtané Jewelers a husband and wife were in the store who are loyal patrons. I noticed the gentleman was wearing a Rolex Day-Date II with a diamond and emerald covered dial I had never seen before. It turns out he bought it from Fourtané Jewelers.

I highly recommend, if you ever get a chance to visit Carmel, California be sure to plan to spend some time in Fourtané Jewelers. Fourtané Jewelers is likely the closest you will ever come to visiting Rolex paradise and a Rolex Museum, except everything is available for purchase.

Early Rolex Submariner Model History Separating The Fact From Fiction..

Early Rolex Submariner Model History

Separating The Fact From Fiction

The Rolex Submariner is the most iconic wrist watch in history. It is also the most widely copied wrist watch in history. Much to Rolex's design credit and despite the fact so many other watch companies have been inspired to borrow from its design language, nobody has ever successfully exceeded or even matched its acumen.

To a large extent, the first Rolex Submariner was also the first real tool watch available for purchase by the public. The first real tool watch which was never made available to that public was also made by Rolex for Panerai, which were made for the Italian Royal Navy. I have written extensively about the history of the Rolex Submariner and SEA-DWELLER, but I have not ever tackled its early history in any significant detail!?!

Note: If you are a fan of the vintage Panerai watches, made by Rolex, I have some deeply, and I mean deeply profound Panerai history, which has never been published, coming up which will be added to Jake's Rolex World sometime during the upcoming holiday season.

Why haven't I covered the early history of the different Submariner watches? Because it is so confusing!!! Over the years I have spoke with many of the worlds top vintage Rolex collectors, as well as many Rolex employees, and nobody seems to know for certain!!!

If you are a reader of Jake's Rolex World, you know I specialize in doing deep research which results in me being able to separate the fact from the fiction–once and for all. I am going to try to separate the early Submariner model history, and with some luck and persistence we will prevail.

1953 Rolex Submariner

Reference 6204: HoneyComb Dial

There have been many spirited debates about what the first Rolex Submariner model was. The best speculation suggests the Rolex Submariner Reference 6204 came first. The Reference 6204 is pictured below with a very rare honeycomb dial. This series of photos comes from my good pal, Eric Ku from 10PastTen.com.

One of the things that is so confusing, is if the Rolex Submariner Reference 6204 came before the Rolex Submariner Reference 6200, why are the Reference numbers out of chronological order? Nobody knows? The consensus it that the Rolex Submariner Reference 6204 came first. The version below has the Submariner | Perpetual designation just below the ROLEX designation on the top-half of the dial.

So what supports the fact the Rolex Submariner Reference 6204 came before the 6200? The Submariner Reference 6204 pictured above has a serial number of 949,143, and its case back is marked from the second quarter of 1953.

As Eric Ku pointed out "This is only the 4th example of a honeycomb Submariner I have ever seen in my many years of collecting and studying Rolex watch history. The honeycomb Submariner is rarer than a Big Crown Submariner, and even rarer than the 3,6,9 Explorer dial version of the Rolex Submariner Reference 6200." The Rolex Submariner Reference with the 3,6,9 dial is pictured below in this story.

Eric Ku further states "Interesting to note, that each of the examples of the Reference 6204 with the honeycomb dial I have examined, fall within the same serial number range of 949,XXX."

Eric Ku and I recently had a conversation on the topic of which came first? The Reference 6200 or the Reference 6204. Eric says the evidence seems to suggest the Reference 6204 came first, and I agree. First of all, the case back on the 6204 is engraved with the second quarter of 1953, and the Reference 6204 NEVER came with a big crown–only a standard winding crown. The 6204 also has the more primitive "pencil hands" that lack the Mercedes Logo marker on the minute hand. Also the second hand has the "popsicle" marker placed out at the very end of the second hand.

So why does the Rolex Submariner Reference 6204 have the "Submariner" designation on the dial and the Rolex Submariner Reference 6200 does not have it, as seen in the photos below in this story? Apparently Rolex had to temporarily stop using the name "Submariner" because they did not have the complete rights to it. So if I understand it correctly, they make the earliest Rolex Submariner models with it, then made some Rolex Submariner models without it, then brought it back permanently after Rolex felt completely confident about its usage.

John Goldberger Chimes In

Confirms Reference 6204 As First Submariner

John Goldberger is one of the leading Rolex Vintage watch experts on earth. He sent in the following photo of a Rolex Reference 6204 which has a serial number of 949,651. John said or confirmed that in his expert opinion, the Reference 6204 was the first Submariner by Rolex. Notice this one has the "Officially Certified Chronometer" COSC designation, toward the bottom of the dial, although it is pretty faded.

1954 Rolex Submariner

Reference 6200: 3,6,9 Dial

My pal Bernhard, who lives in Holland publishes 100Percent Rolex Blog which as he says is "The Blog For Rolex Passionado's." Berhnard is good pals with Philippe who is also a fellow Rolex fanatic, and Bernhard recently published a story on Philippe's Rolex Reference 6200 which was the first model of Rolex Submariner.

Philippe is a world renowned Rolex collector and he recently acquired this grail Rolex which is a Reference 6200 from 1954. Notice how similar it is to a modern Submariner, and at the same time, how remarkably different it is. For instance, it has the very rare 3, 6, 9 Rolex Explorer Dial layout. It has no Submariner designation on the dial. It has stick markers instead of circles for the 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 11 markers.

The bezel lacks the seconds markers from 0 to 15 seconds you would find on a all modern Submariner models. This watch also has a big crown (8mm), and it obviously lacks crown guards.

The most amazing thing about this very rare Submariner is it's all original. If you are a serious vintage Rolex collector you are probably loosing your mind looking at this crazy Submariner!!! The 3, 6, 9 dial variant of this watch typically have a military provenance and come from the United States.

The early Rolex Submariner models history is still shrouded in mystery as there are still many pieces of the puzzle missing. For instance, the 1954 Submariner Reference 6200 came with three different dial variants, (all with the 3, 6, 9 Explorer Dial) and the 3,6,9 version pictured above was one of the three. The Reference 6300 Submariner movement was a Caliber A296/775 with a Bubbleback. The plexiglass crystal has a Super-Dome shape.

This watch was the first Rolex Submariner model with a 200 Meter waterproof rating, despite the fact it was not designated on the dial. [The depth rating on a big crown was 200 Meters, and on the small crown the depth rating was 100 Meters. The Rolex Submariner Reference was replaced by the Reference 6538 and 5510, both of which had the Caliber 1030 movement.

Note: As I mentioned earlier, there is a lot of mystery surrounding the Reference 6200. In particular, is the question of whether it was the very first Submariner model, or whether the Reference 6204 came first? Later this week we will take a look at the Submariner Reference 6204, which likely preceded the Reference 6200. Of course it is counterintuitive that an earlier model number could have come with a higher number?

A week after Bernhard took the photo of Philippe's Reference 6200 (pictured above) they had a Rolex GTG (named Passion 2011) and other vintage Rolex collectors showed up with very rare Reference 6200s with the 3, 6, 9 dial variant, and Berhnard shared these great photos

Note: It is fascinating to note the Reference 6200 is remarkably similar to the new Ceramic Submariner in the sense it has a Supercase shape. You really see the Supercase shape in the photo below. "Supercase" refers to the fact the lugs are fatter and give the case a blockier/squarer look and shape. Also, this watch was made in 1954, which is the year Rolex introduced the first official Rolex Explorer models, and in particular, 1954 was the first year the original Rolex Explorer was introduced with a black 3,6,9 dial.

I really like the photo above of the wrist shot with the beads. I always like wrist shots, particularly of older vintage watches, because they offer the viewer a true sense of scale and perspective that you just don't get when you look at a studio shot of a watch, by itself. The wrist shot above shows Eric Ku (of 10PastTen.com) sporting his Reference 6200 which is the best known example in the world. The same watch is pictured below.

So how much is an Rolex Submariner Reference 6200 worth today? A great deal. A flawless one in cherry mint condition can go for as high as $250,000.

...Rolex Coolness... Owen Wilson

...Rolex Coolness...

Owen Wilson

Pepsi Rolex GMT Master

Owen Wilson is costarring in the movie The Big Year, with Steve Martin and Jack Black and Owen is wearing his trademark Pepsi GMT Master as seen in this movie poster.

Rolex Coolness: Gérard Depardieu–Rolex GMT Master

Rolex Coolness: Gérard Depardieu

Rolex GMT Master

Rolex Hotness: Ana Ivanovic Ladies Oyster Perpetual Datejust

...Rolex Tennis Super-Hotness...

Ana Ivanovic

The Rolex Ads

Not only is Ana Ivanovic one of the top ranked female tennis players in the world today, but she is also a Rolex Ambassador who is frequently featured in Rolex ads as seen below.

Rolex Tennis Super-Hotness: Ana Ivanovic

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2010

Yellow-Gold Rolex President

What can I say except, YYYOOOUUUUCHHHH!!!!! Oh Behave!!?!?! Simmer-Down-Now!!! I have no idea what I am talking about!?!?!