Why I'll Only Wear Gold Rolex From Now On..

Why I'll Only Wear Gold Rolex From Now On

Christian from Theo and Harris put together this heartwarming video in which his mother and father talk about their affinity for wearing gold Rolex watches. This video and their story brought tears to my eyes, and everything they said resonates well with me about Rolex as a symbol of personal achievement.

Brooks Koepka wins his 5th Major title at the 2023 PGA Championship

Brooks Koepka image appears courtesy of The Japan Times

Brooks Koepka 
wins his 5th Major title 
at the 2023 PGA Championship

Rolex congratulates Brooks Koepka on holding his incredible composure and unrivalled determination to win the PGA Championship. With all eyes on the American going into the final round, he played with a focus that only the supremely skilled possess, to ensure he claimed the title for a third time.

The PGA Championship stands out among golf’s four annual men’s Majors as the only one to be contested exclusively by professionals. By bringing together the strongest field, it ensures the highest level of competition. The tournament inspires players to constantly push back the limits of what they can achieve and places experience at a premium. Over the years, Rolex Testimonees have enjoyed regular success at the PGA Championship, with Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Tiger Woods, Jason Day, Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas among the champions whose names are inscribed on the Wanamaker Trophy. 

olex is committed to the permanent quest for excellence in all its endeavours and has been a long-term supporter of golf in its pursuit of the same. The brand’s enduring relationship with the sport began more than 50 years ago, in 1967, when Arnold Palmer, joined by Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, became the brand’s first golfing Testimonees. Known together as The Big Three, these legendary players changed the face of golf forever, and their partnership with Rolex marked the beginning of a relationship based on the shared commitment to continuous improvement and unwavering precision. Since then, the affiliation has grown and flourished, permeating every level of the game worldwide. From elite players and golf legends to all the game’s Major championships, where success represents the pinnacle of achievement in the sport, as well as the foremost professional tours and worldwide amateur championships, Rolex is ever-present. In 2021 Rolex further deepened its support by becoming a Worldwide Partner of The Ryder Cup, to act as Official Timekeeper at every iteration of the sport’s pre-eminent team competition. The Swiss manufacturer’s support for the game is built on a strong sense of integrity and respect for tradition that promote the continuity of expertise and transfer of knowledge, and an understanding of the importance of investing in the sport’s development for future generations.

Why New Rolex Watches Can Cost Thousands Less Than Used Ones The Economics Of | WSJ

Wall Street Journal Explores
Why New Rolex Watches Can Cost 
Thousands Less Than Used Ones 
The Economics

It's fascinating to see how popular Rolex watches have become since I started publishing RolexMagazine.com 16 years ago!!! So much so that now The Wass Street Journal created this interesting video on the power of the secondary/used market:

The Rolex China Sea Race: The Jewel of Blue Water Racing in Asia

The Rolex China Sea Race 
The Jewel of Blue Water Racing in Asia

First held in 1962 and organized by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, the Rolex China Sea Race is Asia’s principal blue water event. The biannual offshore race held its 30th edition in 2023, with Nick Southward’s Whiskey Jack lifting the Rolex China Sea Race Trophy for corrected time on International Rating Certificate (IRC) handicap by completing the 565-nautical mile course in just over four days. History was made as Standard Insurance Centennial 5 became the first Philippines yacht to claim line honours. Rolex has partnered the race since 2008 as part of the brand’s wide-ranging support for yachting dating back almost 70 years.

...An Open Letter to Sotheby's Auction House..

 ...An Open Letter to Sotheby's Auction House..

FAKE NEWS

Sotheby's Keeps Falsely Associating 

Steve McQueen with Rolex Explorer II

Are auction houses trustworthy if they knowingly falsely associate a Rolex watch model with a celebrity who never wore such a model? As a leading Rolex historian and scholar it frustrates me to no end that auction houses worldwide keep falsely associating Rolex models with people who NEVER wore them!?!! In this case, Sotheby's AGAIN appears to be falsely associating the Rolex Explorer II with Steve McQueen in their upcoming Important Watches Part II Auction in Lot 214 on May 15, 2023 in Geneva, Switzerland.

-----

This is an open letter to Sotheby's Auction House:

Dear Sotheby's,

I am again formally bringing this false association to your attention and asking you to kindly fix this false association error. I acknowledge that perhaps you might have information that contradicts my premise of your false association, and if that is the case I invite you to contact me with such information that I will add to this story to refute my observation, and thus set the record straight.

If you are not able to produce evidence that associated Steve McQueen with the Rolex Explorer II, I request that you PLEASE REMOVE THE FALSE ASSOCIATION FROM YOUR UPCOMING AUCTION LOT, as doing so not only undermines your reputation as being an expert in the horological field, but also falsely perpetuates this FAKE NEWS myth.

I look forward to your response.

Jake Ehrlich

The Screenshot above from Sotheby's Auction House features a description

 that states "Rolex. Explorer II 'Steve McQueen' Reference 1655."

Sotheby's Auction House is not alone in perpetuating this false Steve McQueen association as Antiquorum Auction House and Phillips Auction House, as well as others have done the same thing in the past. In all fairness, after I reached out to Phillips Auction House in the past and brought this false Steve McQueen association to their attention with an action lot they initially argued with me about, they reluctantly fixed it by removing the historically incorrect false association.

Just to be crystal-clear, it is a fact Steve McQueen wore multiple Rolex Submariner models during his lifetime, as evidenced in the photo below, but NEVER wore a Rolex Explorer.

Steve McQueen wearing his trademark Rolex Submariner Reference 5512

In the past I published a super detailed story named: "The Complete History Of Rolex Mythbusting: Separating Rolex Fact from Fiction", which specifically discusses the falsely perpetuated myth of the Steve McQueen Explorer.

Update 1: I reached out to Sotheby's and brought this open letter to their attention. It will be interesting to see if they respond?

Update 2: On our Instagram account, @WhiskeyRolex asked:

"What's the history to the nickname? Been Referred to that way for at least 25+ years of me being a watch enthusiast?"

I responded:

"@whiskeyrolex The best scholarship suggests an unscrupulous Italian auction house back in the 1990s wanted to try and get more money for Rolex Explorer ‘Orange Hand’ models at auction, and they saw how well the accurate ‘PAUL NEWMAN DAYTONA’ was performing, so they decided to try and do the same thing by falsely associating the Explorer with Steve McQueen. 

Don’t forget this was in the pre/early internet days when they could get away with something so ridiculous. They kept falsely associating the watch and it caught on, so other auction houses saw the false association generating more $$$$$, so they followed in lockstep and perpetually followed in their footsteps. 

BTW: They did the same thing by falsely associating the Triple-Date Rolex Chronograph with Jean-Claude Killy…"

Update 3: Somebody asked, "What about calling a Rolex GMT-Master a Batman or an LV Submariner a Kermit or Hulk?" 

Those are nicknames made by watch enthusiasts in the collectors community based upon their color combination similarities, thus I have no challenge with them. Nobody thinks Kermit The Frog, Batman, Batgirl, or the Incredible Hulk wore an LV Submariner. 

Falsely associating a celebrity with a Rolex model so you can sell it for more money at a public auction is different. 

I will give you an example: 

Let's say an auction house refers to a highland green 1968 Ford Mustang GT Fastback as a 'Bullit Mustang', or 'Steve McQueen Mustang', that might make sense as Steve McQueen famously drove such a car in the 1969 movie Bullit. 

Steve McQueen driving a 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback

 on the Streets of San Francisco while filming Bullit

But what if an unethical auction house said, "Hey why don't we falsely associate Paul Newman with a 1966 Ford GT40 Mark II, which Paul Newman NEVER drove, and at auction started calling it the "Paul Newman GT40" that would clearly be an unethical false association!!!

Paul Newman wearing his trademark Rolex Daytona with 

Exotic White Dial which is a Rolex Reference 6239 Chronograph

There really is something to be said for authenticity!!!

I rest my case your honor...

On a side note, the video below is what the auction houses remind me of in their relentless quest and unscrupulous pursuit for trying to make easy $$$$$$$$$$.

"Yeah, I have a Rolex Explorer II prototype for sale that my best friend, Steve McQueen wore his whole life!! Yeah! That's what happened! Then you know what happened next? 'Steveo' as I affectionately called him—in-fact—took it off his wrist and gave it to his favorite stuntman, who later gave it to me since I saved him from a pit viper snake attack!!! Yeah, that's what happened! That's the ticket!!! You bet it is...You can guarantee on that!" I'm not kidding you!:

Greenland Sledge Patrol 1989 GMT-Master Ad...

Greenland Sledge Patrol 

1989 GMT-Master Ad

Elon Musk and Franz von Holzhausen from Tesla wearing Rolex...

...Rolex Super Coolness...

Elon Musk

Tesla & Rolex Connections

    I was talking to a friend of mine who is a serious Rolex expert and we were talking about how we were both in complete awe of Elon Musk's achievements. My pal said, "It's too bad Elon Musk never wore a Rolex, did he?" I agreed, and then he said, "Elon seems like he would be the kind of man who would wear a Rolex." 

I responded by saying "I agree, and I have spent a lot of time studying photos of him, but unfortunately I never discovered evidence that he wore a Rolex :-( Then several weeks ago, much to my surprise, I FINALLY discovered multiple photos of Elon Musk rocking a Rolex.

The reason why it took me so long to discover photos of Elon Musk wearing a Rolex is it appears he wore a Rolex Datejust 30 years ago, back in 1994 when he was attending Queen's University college.

After I wrote this article, I later discovered a photo of Elon at Space X headquarters in California, taken in 2004, standing in front of an early Space X rocket, wearing his Rolex Datejust as seen below.

I have a funny anecdote to share with you. I was talking with our Captain Danny, and I shared my discovery with him that I had found images of Elon Musk wearing a stainless steel Rolex Datjust back in 1994, and I showed him the photos. Captain Danny said "Nice! Elon and you looked alike when you were young" and he included the images below of me, which was interesting as I responded to Captain Danny and said "I noticed that as well."

The photo below of me was taken when I was around 18, back in 1984, and I was rocking my stainless steel Rolex Datejust on a Jubilee bracelet, whereas in the photo above of Elon Musk clearly shows he was wearing his stainless steel Rolex Datejust on an Oyster Bracelet.

Elon is 5 years younger than I am, and I am proud, yet embarrassed to admit it, but I joined Twitter before Elon did... Obviously Elon is probably the most successful man in human history, and if not, he is certainly in that pantheon. Captain Danny included both the image above and below when he said Elon and I looked alike when we were younger. In the photo below taken in San Francisco in 1999 I was rocking my Coke GMT-Master.

Nick Gould discovered a photo of Elon Musk rocking his Rolex where we can finally see the face of his watch, and to my eyes it looks like he is wearing a Rolex Datejust, Thunderbird model as seen below.

Update on May 13, 2023: David is a fan of Jake's Rolex World and he sent in the two photos below along with a nice message:

Gday Jake

David down in Melbourne , Australia here. Thank you for the wonderful reading over many years that you have supplied. I've been on your blog since you started.  You recently had a story on Musk wearing a Rolex . I watched a doco the other day about him and noted an oyster bracelet but cannot determine which model rolex he is wearing. The video is low res unfortunately. Attached is two screenshots. The best I could get I’m afraid. Thanks again for all your work.

Cheers

David

Back on April 8, 2022 I discovered the lead designer at Tesla, Franz von Holhausen rocking a vintage Paul Newman Daytona, so I thought I would add that story here.

 Franz von Holzhausen 

@ Giga-Texas launch April 6, 2022

Rocking a Paul Newman "Big Red"

I was working on a story for TeslaMagazine.org showcasing the Tesla Keynote for Giga-Texas and I think I discovered Tesla lead designer, Franz von Holzhausen rocking what certainly appears to be a vintage Rolex Paul Newman Daytona Big Red!?!! Assuming I made a correct positive ID, I wonder if he owns the Paul Newman's Daytona #2 that Paul Newman actually wore?

The video below is of Elon Musk's keynote for the launch of the brand spanking new Tesla Giga-Factory which is completely mind-boggling!!!!

I might be wrong, but Franz's watch sure seems to have all the telltale characteristics of a vintage Daytona...

For frame of reference I am including a photo discovered by Nick Gould on the cover of The Sunday Times Magazine of Paul Newman rocking his Rolex Daytona Reference 6263.

Coral Gardeners: Restoring the Reef. Parts 1-3

Coral Gardeners

Restoring the Reef 
Parts 1-3

At 16 years of age, while surfing the crystal waters of his home island in French Polynesia, Titouan Bernicot had an eye-opening experience that led him to dedicate his life to protecting the coral reefs he loves. He founded Coral Gardeners, kick-starting coral restoration on the island alongside his childhood friends. Today these “ocean kids” are inspiring a global community of reef defenders.

Since 2017, the Coral Gardeners collective has restored and monitored more than 30,000 corals. Founder Titouan Bernicot has no formal training in marine biology but the reef is his life. The organization has recruited experts and enthusiastic people willing to help. As a result, the team refines its methods and plants more corals every year. All the while, it is telling the “story of the reef” and has already reached more than 200 million people worldwide.

The Coral Gardeners team keeps an eye on the future. As well as planting more and more corals every year, it is developing ReefOS, an artificial intelligence platform that includes automated sensors and cameras. This makes it possible to monitor coral nurseries and reefs, and track the restoration process. The organization’s target is to become “the biggest and most advanced coral restoration program on the planet”.

  

1950s Rolex Submariner Brochure Pic [Reference 6536]

1950s Rolex Submariner Brochure Pic

[Reference 6536]

I couldn't help but notice this late 1950s Rolex Submariner has a blockier case, with thicker lugs, kind of like the last generation Ceramic Supercase Submariner. I also noticed in this illustration that the case lacks outer lug holes just like the Submariner Supercase. Very Interesting!!!

1964 Bomb Disposal on Britain’s Beaches | British Pathé

1964 Bomb Disposal on Britain’s Beaches 

British Pathé

Iain is a reader of Jake's Rolex World and he recently wrote in and shared a really fascinating video I have never seen before. Iain wrote:

Hi Jake,

I have been enjoying reading your Apollo/astronaut Rolex posts and I was earlier viewing the below video of mine clearances in the UK by the Royal Navy. 

There are good clear shots of the wrists of the officer leading the party around the minute mark. It looks to be a Submariner. I was hoping you could possibly confirm from the video if it is intact a Rolex Sub and not an Omega Seamaster 300.

Apologies if you’ve already seen the video/covered it in the past. 

Best wishes, Iain 

Iain, yes, that defiantly looks like a Rolex Submariner on his wrist...Thanks for sharing!!! It's so cool to see Rolex aquatic tool watches in action, back in the day...

On a pebbly beach we see some people sitting and looking at the sea on a sunny day. A Land Rover arrives on the beach; several men in Naval uniform get out; one of them uses a mine detector (looks like a metal detector) to locate a mine under the pebbles. It is carefully lifted out. A large mine on another part of the beach is detonated; a red flag is hoisted as a warning; the men watch the explosion from a shelter / dugout. C/U of the smoking bomb. Another mine is exploded. 

At the Portsmouth Headquarters of the Bomb Disposal Unit we see several bombs that have been recovered. A young boy with his parents puts a penny in a large mine used as a collection box. BRITISH PATHÉ'S STORY Before television, people came to movie theatres to watch the news. British Pathé was at the forefront of cinematic journalism, blending information with entertainment to popular effect. 

Over the course of a century, it documented everything from major armed conflicts and seismic political crises to the curious hobbies and eccentric lives of ordinary people. If it happened, British Pathé filmed it. Now considered to be the finest newsreel archive in the world, British Pathé is a treasure trove of 85,000 films unrivaled in their historical and cultural significance.