I would like to thank Bill LaMantia who is a reader of Jake's Rolex World for sharing his amazing insight into the history of auto-racing, as well as providing the impetus for this amazing Rolex story...
...Rolex Super Coolness...
Dan Gurney
1967 24 Hours of Le Mans Winner
Stainless Steel Rolex Datejust
1931-2018
Dan Gurney was an American race car driver, race car designer, and team owner. With an amazing career dating back to 1958, he was considered to be one of the living God's of racing. Dan Gurney is pictured below after winning the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans.
His teammate for the race, A. J. Foyt is standing next to him. This photo is very famous as Dan Gurney did not drink alcohol, so when they won, he shook-up the champagne, and popped the cork and poured it all over the place–a tradition that he started, which continues to this day.
In the photo below, we see a close-up of Dan Gurney's Rolex Datejust on a Jubilee bracelet
The Ford GT40 that Dan Guryney and A.J. Foyt won the 24 Hours Of Le Mans in is pictured below. By the way, this is the first and only time an All-American team, driving an American car has ever won the 24 Hours Of Le Mans!!!
Dan Gurney's Le Mans Delta Wing
Dan Gurney remained active in sports car racing, and in 2012, his team was working on racing his experimental GT Class Delta Wing which is pictured below. Dan Gurney passed away on January 14, 2018 and left behind an amazing legacy of achievement.
Here is a Road & Track video that goes behind the scenes with Audi and Toyota drivers, including Tom Kristensen who is a Rolex Ambassador.
In the photo below we see Rajiv Gandhi who was the 6th Prime Minister of India. In the photo below he is wearing his yellow gold Rolex Day-Date. Rajiv Gandhi was the oldest son of Indira and Feoroze Gandhi. Rajiv Gandi's granfather was the Indian Independence leader, Jawaharlal Nehru, who became India's first Prime Minister. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated while in office in 1991.
The backstory is that it was a vintage Rolex DATE model that was given by legendary Director, Francis Ford Coppola to his very talented daughter, Sofia Coppola.
After having read the Hodinkee story, I was naturally curious as it lacked any photos of Sofia Coppola wearing her Rolex DATE, but the great news is I found pictures of her rocking her Rolex DATE as we see in the photos above and below.
Below is a trailer of "On The Rocks" which I recently watched and thought it was excellent:
In the photo seen below from W Magazine taken by Ted Dayton back in 1990 we again see Sofia Coppola wearing her Rolex DATE which was the same year she costarred in The Godfather Part III.
Below is the trailer of Godfather III: CODA. I haven't seen the movie yet, but from what I understand, it has a different beginning and end...The movie is formally titled "Mario Puzo's The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone and it is available on Blu-ray and digitally...
I must mention I am a huge fan of the Godfather Trilogy and have watched all three movies countless times. I saw the Godfather Part III on Christmas day in 1990 in San Francisco at the Regency Movie Theater on Van Ness Avenue and thought it was every bit as great as the first two movies!!! My love for the movie was contrary to popular consensus as people criticized Sofia Coppola's role in the movie, but I thought her acting was absolutely magnificent!
Andy Garcia
Godfather III
Academy Award Nominee for Best Actor
I think the Coppola's should come out with a Godfather: Part 4 in the future, which should feature Andy Garcia, who was also completely amazing!!!!
Andy Garcia was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 1990 for his role in The Godfather: Part III. Andy Garcia is pictured below rocking his Rolex Explorer II Orange Hand [Reference 1655].
Photo above appears courtesy of Cigar Officianado
The fascinating thing about Andy Garcia's vintage Rolex Explorer II (Reference 1655) 'Orange Hand' is that he somehow added a black GMT-Bezel to it which I have not only never seen before, but didn't realize was even possible, but damn it looks good!
It is fascinating to note that all four of the major Godfather actors in the Godfather Trilogy have worn Rolex watches to keep the time of their life, so not only Andy Garcia, but also Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando and Al Pacino as we see below.
Robert De Niro
Godfather II
Academy Award Winner for Best Actor
Robert De Niro starred in Godfather Part II and won the 1975 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal as young Don Vito Corleone.
Robert De Niro has been wearing Rolex watches for 5 decades now as we see him back in 1978 wearing a Rolex Submariner in Deer Hunter.
We see Robert De Niro below is a recent photo with Jason Stratham and De Niro is again wearing a vintage Rolex Submariner. I realize I am daisy-chaining a bit now, but hey, it's RolexMagazine.com after all.
Photo of Marlon Brando appear courtesy of Mary Ellen Mark
Al Pacino
Godfather I, II & III
Academy Award Winner for Best Actor
Al Pacino starred in all 3 Godfather movies and has worn many different Rolex watches for many decades both on and off screen. Al Pacino is pictured below with Marlon Brando on the set of Godfather I.
Al Pacino wore his Rolex Submariner when he accepted his Academy Award Oscar for Best Actor in 1993 for his role in The Scent of A Woman as we seen in this discovery made by Nick Gould.
Sofia Coppola
Academy Award Winner for Best Actor
In this last photo we again see Sofia Coppola behind the camera where she spends most of her time today as a director.
Sofia Coppola's new movie titled 'On The Rocks' which can be seen on Apple TV + stars Bill Murray is her third movie she directed with him. Her first movie with Bill Murray was the 2003 romantic comedy named "Lost in Translation" which Sofia wrote and directed and as we see below Bill Murray wore a stainless steel Rolex Datejust in that movie. Lost in Translation was nominated in 2004 for the Academy Award for Best Picture and Sofia Coppola was also nominated for Best Director...
Back on November 11, 2020 I published a story saying:
"I have some really exciting news to share with you! YouTube movies just released James Cameron's amazing DeepSea Challenge 3D documentary which you can watch below for free, which will blow your mind—especially if you are a Rolex fan."
I learned from some readers of Jake's Rolex World that unfortunately this movie is not available in all countries, but I know it is available in the United States.
I just finished watching (pun intended :-) James Cameron's DEEPSEA CHALLENGE 3D and thought I would write a brief review. Since many people don't work between Christmas and New Years, I thought it would be good to share this again as well as offer some interesting insight. If you are a Rolex-spotter you will have a field day watching this movie as there are Rolex diving models all over the place!
I discovered the image below in the movie which has special meaning for me. You see, I live-blogged James Cameron's DEEPSEA CHALLENGE event live back in 2012 on Jake's Rolex World. At the time of the dive there was zero live coverage or even photos on the internet as they were out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean near Guam, but Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen was out in the middle of the Pacific with his 414 foot super-yacht named "Octopus" following James Cameron's ship and Paul was taking photos of the event and uploading them to an online service named TwitterPick, as Twitter didn't support photo attachments at the time.
Paul Allen published the photo below live at 7:15 PST that shows James Cameron's DEEPSEA CHALLENGER Submersible as it was being hoisted back up onto the Mermaid Sapphire after its successful record-breaking dive.
In the photo below we see James Cameron in the cockpit of his Deepsea Challenger submersible and he is wearing his Rolex DeepSea Special.
It Take a Licking & Keeps On Ticking
The next image is from the movie where James Cameron looks out the viewport of his submersible and points at the Rolex prototype "DEEPSEA CHALLENGE" and says "It's still ticking", even with 16,500 pounds of pressure per square inch."
Below we get a close-up view of the DEEPSEA CHALLENGE Prototype that is pictured above.
Experimental Rolex DEEPSEA CHALLENGE from 2012 Pictured above
Contrast the side profile view of James Cameron's experimental Rolex DEEPSEA CHALLENGE (pictured above) with its grandfather, the DEEPSEA SPECIAL Prototype which is pictured below. Rolex designed the original DEEPSEA SPECIAL prototype in the early 1950s.
Rolex DEEPSEA SPECIAL Prototype from 1960 Pictured above
This next photo shows James Cameron shaking Don Walsh's hand after a successful dive. Don Walsh set the all-time depth record in 1960 with August Piccard in the U.S. Navy Bathyscaphe Trieste. Ironically, one of the most outstanding characteristics about this amazing documentary is that it is the ONLY time in my life I have witnessed an explorer wearing a Rolex tool watch while really pushing the envelope of what is possible. I highly recommend 👆🏼watching this free documentary on YouTube which you can see at the top of this story.
“They may have introduced this new model, but Rolex don’t chase whims, they don’t chase pop culture. They really like tradition, their support of exploration science is tremendous and they love the fact that being part of this exploration closed the ellipse on the Bathyscaphe Trieste expedition in 1960 (the first manned vehicle to reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench), because they had a watch then that went down on the outside of that vessel too.”
Hugh Austin is a reader of Jake's Rolex World from Ireland and he sent in this superb photo of his new stainless steel Rolex Daytona hanging on his Christmas Tree and said "Happy Christmas Jake."
Cancel Christmas!?!! No Way!!!!
I know these twilight zone-like times are trying for many people all over earth as we navigate through these strange waters, but as somebody once said, "Smooth seas never made a skilled mariner." I could not help but notice Rolex.com was not looking very festive this holiday season which seems uncharacteristic to me. The following Rolex Christmas magazine ad was published in 1942 and I believe its message of optimism is not only as timeless as Rolex watches, but perfectly on-point for the historical challenges humanity is facing today. I've said it many times before, and i will say it again, Rolex's future is in their past...
Before becoming the first President of the United States, George Washington was a General, and at one of the lowest moments of the Revolutionary War felt like he was going through hell and said, "What should lead us to believe we will make it through this difficult time is that we have been through tougher challenges and made it through them."
1970 Rolex Day-Date Ad
Speaking of Rolex and Presidents, I love this Rolex Day-Date Christmas ad from 1970. In particular, I love the Bokeh balls from the Christmas lights in the background.
Let's remember, Christmas is not about presents. It's about celebrating the joy and magic of being alive—which is perhaps the greatest gift of all. For all my readers I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and if you don't celebrate Christmas, then Happy Holidays!!!
Rolex recently published this fascinating new video on protecting whales and said:
"Marine scientist Brad Norman received a Rolex Award for Enterprise in 2006 to fine-tune his pioneering photo-identification system for whale sharks, the world’s biggest fish. The database contains 75,000 sightings of 12,000 sharks, photographed by 9,000 citizen scientists and researchers all over the world. It is one of the largest datasets of a marine species and emblematic of Rolex’s Perpetual Planet initiative to support those finding ways to protect the natural world."
Nick Gould discovered that Nurse, Sandra Lindsay was the first American to get the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine tonight in Queens, New York and Nick noticed Sandra was wearing a beautiful two-tone Rolex Ladies Datejust as seen in the AP photo below:
Legendary country singer, Charley Pride slipped back into eternity yesterday at the age of 85. Charley was one of the greatest country singers. Charley was a barrier-breaker as he was the first Black country singer. Charley was also the first Black member of the Country Music Hall of Fame after having sold more than 70 Million records, that covered 36 top hits. Charlie wore a two-tone Rolex Datejust on a matching Jubilee bracelet as seen below.
I have been a big fan of Charley Pride's for a long time. In my mind he is kind of like the Nat King Cole of Country Music in the sense he had the smoothest voice, and for some reason he also reminds me of Dione Warwick.
Charley Pride is featured below at the Country Music Awards 2020 singing his famous "Kiss An Angle Good Morning" with Jimmie Allen.
My personal favorite Charley Pride song is "Kaw Liga" which you can watch below:
Below is a full length recent concert where you can see him singing live.
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.
