I must begin this story by thanking Nick "Eagle Eyes" Gould for discovering and sharing with me the fact that Chiang Kai-shek wore two different Rolex models, including an OP and a Rolex Bubble Back. Nick is one of the greatest Rolex historians and we have learned and discovered so much together. Thus, I wish to dedicate this story to Nick who has remained a constant source of inspiration and invaluable insight and I just wanted to thank you for being super awesome!!!
This is a fascinating story about a Chinese family that ruled China and Taiwan and wore Rolex watches for at least 3 generations which begins with Generalissimo, Chiang Kai-Shek. Chiang Kai-sheck was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and military commander.
Chiang was the head of the Nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) party, as well as serving as the General of the National Revolutionary Army, where he was commonly referred to as Generalissimo, and went on to be the leader of the Republic of China (ROC), in mainland China from 1928 to 1949.
Chiang was ultimately defeated during the Chinese Civil War by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1949, and he fled to the Island then known as Formosa, which today is commonly referred to as, Taiwan, where he lived until he passed away in 1975. Taiwan is an island 100 miles off the southeastern east coast of China, which is about twice the size of New Jersey. Taiwan today is a technological powerhouse that is the world leader in the fabrication and production of microchips, like you would commonly find in an Apple iPhone.
Chiang Ching-kuo
1910-1988
President of Republic of China (ROC)
Chiang Kai-Shek's only son, Chiang Ching-kuo is pictured below wearing his Rolex GMT-Master, Reference 6542. Chiang Ching-kuo served as the Premier of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1972-1978, and went on to serve as the President of the Republic of China from 1978 to 1988.
Chiang Hsiao-wu
1945-1991
Chiang Kai-Shek's is pictured below walking with his grandson, Chiang Hsiao-wu, who also wore a Rolex GMT-Master [Reference 6542], which you can see in the photo below on his left wrist.
Jake Ehrlich Sr.
1900-1971
As they say, it's a small world after all. Chiang Kai-shek was a client of my grandfather, Jake Ehrlich Sr., who is pictured below wearing a pair of yellow gold cufflinks that Chiang Kai-shek gave him as a gift. The cufflinks are of Chinese foo dogs that guarded the Emperor's Temple in the Forbidden City in China. These dogs were also know as Chinese Guardian Lions.
Generalissimo
Chiang Kai-Shek
In the photo below taken in November of 1943 in Cairo, Egypt af the First Cairo Conference, which was codenamed, SEXTANT we see Chinese Generalissimo, Chiang Kai-Shek, chatting with U.S. President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, while we see Sir Winston Churchill chatting with Chiang Kai-shek's wife, Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, Lay-ling.
In the video below, we see Madame, Chiang Kai-shek address the Congress of the United States, during World War II in 1943.
In the photo below we see Chiang Kai-Shek wearing a Rolex Bubble Back on an early Rolex Oyster Bracelet.
A Tale of Two China's & Two Rolexes
Chiang Kai-shek v. Mao Zedong
One of histories greatest rivalries existed between Chiang Kai-she and Mao Zedong, who are pictured together below in August of 1945.
The documentary below goes into great detail on the Chinese Civil War, and explains how the history to make it easy to understand.
Chairman and founder of The People's Republic of China (PRC) Mao Zedong, also wore two different Rolex watches.
The two really cool photos below are of Taiwanese Frogman taken during the Second Taiwan Straits Crisis in 1958 and notice both of them are rocking Rolex Submariner tool watches. The 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis was also referred to as "The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis", and U.S. Secretary of State Christian Herter (1959–1961) was said to have later referred to the antagonism as: "the first serious nuclear crisis".
This event was part of an altercation between the Republic of China (ROC), A.K.A. Taiwan, formerly know as Formosa, prior to 1945and The People's Republic of China (PRC) A.K.A. Mainland China. During this conflict the PRC shelled Kinmen (Quemoy) and Matsui Islands located on the East Coast of Mainland China—part of the Taiwan Straits) as part of a mission to try to take control of Taiwan from the Chinese Nationalist Party, which was also known as the Kuomintang (KMT).
This scrimmage was regarded as a test to explore the United States resolve and defense capabilities of Taiwanese territory. A fierce naval battle ensued near Dongding Island as the Taiwanese ROC Navy defeated an attempted amphibious landing by the Mainland Chinese PRC Navy.
Notice the tachymeter scale on this vintage Rolex chronograph is on the outside of the dial, as apposed to the Daytona which has it on the outer bezel.
It's been said reality-is-stranger-than-fiction, and President Trump recently appeared on Adin Ross's, Adin Livecast on YouTube, and the interview was filled with MANY YOUUUGE surprises, including Adin gifting President Trump with a new EverRose 40MM Rolex Day-Date which is commonly referred to as a "Rolex President".
As we see, Adin gifted President Trump with an 18 kt Rolex Day-Date 40, in EverRose Gold, with an Olive Green Dial, featuring raised rose gold Roman numerals. Adin Asked President Trump if he liked Rolex, and Trump responded:
"That's a beautiful watch. That's a great watch company. They're (Rolex) a good company. They like Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player and Arnold Palmer—all the golf guys, and all the other guys. This is beautiful. Thank You! Don't they have nice boxes? WoW!!!"
—President, Donald J. Trump
President Trump is no stranger to rocking a Rolex President, as he has been wearing a Rolex Day-Date for decades.
Golf's Big 3
President Trump mentioned in his solilaquie to Adin, which I quoted above, golf legends, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Arnold Palmer, who are commonly referred to as Golf's Big Three.
Trump specially offered his assessment or opinion on Rolex being The International Mark of Success, as he waxed poetic, by apparent way of an unrehearsed, off-hand-remark, that seemed more like a stream of consciousness flow—kind of like a scat singer, or jazz musician who was simply riffing on Rolex:
"They (Rolex) like Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player and Arnold Palmer—all the golf guys, and all the other guys." —U.S. President, Donald J. Trump
Gary Player, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus have all been Rolex brand ambassadors, which Rolex refers to as Testimonies.
Golf's Big Three are featured below in a vintage Rolex Magazine ad.
The screen capture below appeared on Rolex a few decades ago, and featured The Big Three.
Golf legend, Arnold Palmer was the first major Rolex brand ambassador in modern history.
Speaking of firsts, President Eisenhower was the first U.S. President to publicly rock a Rolex, as we see in the photo below, Eisenhower is wearing his trademark yellow gold Rolex Datejust on a Jubilee bracelet back in the 1950s while serving as the President of the United States. This may be what Trump was referring to when he quipped, offering his off-hand-remark, when he said "all the golf guys, and all the other guys."
In other words, it's safe to assume Adin caught President Trump off-guard, and truly surprised him with gifting him a Rolex President, something that Trump is intimately familiar with the symbolism and power of. It was fascinating watching Adin gift Trump the Rolex, as Trump responded like a small child getting his first Big Wheel, or BB gun, or G.I. Joe—with a Kung Fu grip.
I mean, what could you possibly give a man who is a billionaire and seemingly already owns everything money could buy!?!! Yet, when you examine Trumps response, his eyes lit up like a Christmas Tree, when he received the Rolex "President" as a gift. You see, for Trump, it's not the gift per se, but recognition of the symbolism of the surprise gift that emotionally charged him so much.
It's also interesting to note, and yes I am going deep in my psychological evaluation of The Teflon Don, that Trump with his rudimentary prose, offered the world his first and only verbal evaluation of Rolex being The International Mark of Success.
I mean wearing a Rolex President, as a political tool watch is one thing, but actually expressing or articulating in words, is quite a different thing, and I found "The Donald's" verbiage to be fascinating. As a matter of fact, I believe this might be the first time a President of the United States has actually offered up their specific opinion of the Rolex brands symbolism and what it means in its broader context!?!!
President Nixon
The Summer of 74
Speaking of The Rolex President, and Arnold Palmer, we see him pictured below in the Oval Office hanging out with President Nixon and Palmer is rocking his yellow gold Rolex Day-Date. It's interesting to note today marks precisely the 50th Anniversary of Nixon's resignation of the U.S. Presidency.
Ironically, when I was a young child, I was 7 years old, and I was at summer camp in Northern California, at a magnificently beautiful summer camp named "Forest Farms", which was located north of Marin County, in Northern California—and I will never forget how the camp counselors quickly rounded us up late on the afternoon of August 8, 1974, and brought us to the owners residence on the camp grounds, and sat us down to watch President Nixon resign the presidency. I remember watching Nixon's resignation speech as seen below.
I specifically remember all the Forest Farm Camp counselors were all freaking out, saying "this is the first time in American history an American President has resigned". I added the photo of me, pictured below, at Forest Farms with my camp counselor, Tom, which was taken when I was 7 years old. I was too young, obviously to be wearing a Rolex, but I was rocking my favorite, gold Hang-Ten T-Shirt with the two feet logo, with my Levi's jeans, and Jack Purcell, low-top Converse All-Star sneakers.
As a very confused 7-year old, I had no idea or interest really of what was going on with President Nixon's resignation. For all intents an purposes, at the time, I was far more interested in The Easter Bunny, and the tooth fairy, who might leave some money under my pillow if I devoured enough watermelon, cherry, or grape Jolly Rancher bars.
PresidentialCyberTruck
ONE MORE THANG!
Adin also presented President Trump 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 complexity 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 entire Adin Ross, President Trump interview below.
Every great story deserves to have it's own soundtrack, and in this case, Trump be like:
Our Captain Danny,who now publishes his Coronet Rolex Blog sent me this picture after he flew his Delta Airbus A330 widebody aircraft from Paris to Seattle. Both pilots wear GMT-equipped Rolex watches—the ultimate instrument for a transcontinental pilot.
For some reason, I couldn't stop staring at this image, trying to figure out the significance and context of all the details. For instance:
Question: Why are the time and GMT hands set differently on each Rolex watch?
The Left Watch (Supercase Espresso GMT-Master with 50th Anniversary Green GMT Hand) belongs to the Captain of the Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft. The Captain's hour hand is set to Mountain time (home base), and his green GMT hand is set to GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).
The Right Watch (Rolex Explorer II, Orange Hand) belongs to our Captain Danny, although aboard the Airbus A330 Wide Body Aircraft he is NOT the Captain, but the First Officer (Copilot), which explains why his jacket only has 3 gold stripes. Normally, as you can see on his PILOT STORIES banner on the right, he normally sports 4 gold stripes. I didn't realize it, but the ranking is contextually based upon the type of aircraft the pilot is flying. Danny's watch has its hour hand set to SEATTLE time, which is their destination, and his orange GMT hand is set to Mountain time, his home base.
The Airbus A330 is a super state of the art airplane that can fly really long distances without having to refuel. (Range of 11,750 km, which is 6,350 nautical miles, which is 7,300 miles) with 277 passengers. The global A330 fleet is tried and true with over 60 million flight hours since it began flying.
Note: Nick Gould mentioned: "The first generation Rolex Explorer II, 'Orange Hand' [Reference 1655] couldn't track a second time zone. The orange hand was just an AM/PM indicator. Now the new version of the Explorer II can track a second TimeZone."
Introduced in 1970 on the Sea-Dweller, our Triplock winding crown, with a triple lock that creates three sealed zones. As early as 1926, our Oyster case came with a screw-down crown to stop water, sweat or dust entering. In 1954, we devised the Twinlock winding crown and its added waterproof barrier to counter any incident that could harm a gasket on a dive. As for our Triplock winding crown, it is a further safeguard in the unlikely event of the crown unscrewing itself 11,000 metres (36,090 ft) down.
This is a really cool ROLEX Magazine ad from the later Patrick Heiniger era, where Rolex took a high fashion approach to showcase their diamond-adorned dial Royal Black Datejust that came on a Stingray leather and rubber strap. The bezel insert on this model was featured baguette cut black sapphires.
The model featured in this Rolex ad was Miss Universe, 2007, who was Japan's Riyo Mori. Riyo Mori won the pageant in Mexico City and interestingly, was the first Japanese contestant to win the pageant in 48 years, since 1959.
The Rolex Grand Prix at The CHIO Aachen is one of the four equestrian Majors that form the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping and is one of the most prestigious Grand Prix on the international circuit. Re-live the excitement of this competition at the world’s leading venue, as the finest riders compete for this prestigious title.
Deputy Director of Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center
One of the most fascinating things about Rolex history is the fact that we keep discovering new puzzle pieces that keep changing and enhancing the course of Rolex history. This story being a perfect case-in-point! Pointed Crown Guard (PCG) in particular...
The photo above of Soviet Cosmonaut, Andriyan Nikolayev appears courtesy of TASS and was shared by Philip from Moonwatch Universe. Philip wrote the third chapter in the 3rd edition of Moonwatch Only, and was also a recent guest on the podcast Time 4 A Pint where he discussedA Brief History of Watches in Space.
In the photo above which was taken in August of 1963 we see Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin (left), Pavel Popovich (second left), German Titov and Andriyan Nikolayev (right). Andriyan Nicolayev was the third cosmonaut to travel into space.
Nikolayev traveled to the United States in 1971, where he met with NASA Astronauts who gave him signed photos.
Many U.S. Test pilots and NASA Astronauts wore Rolex GMT-Master models, including to and on the moon! What would you think if I told you a Russian Cosmonaut wore a GMT-Master before an American Astronaut? It's hard to belive but true as we see in the photo below taken in 1965 that shows Russian Cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolayev sporting his Pepsi GMT-Master in photos with his wife and daughter discovered by Nick Gould. To the best of my knowledge this predates any American Astronaut wearing a Rolex GMT-Master.
As a Soviet Cosmonaut, Andriyan Nikolayev was number 3, and flew two space flights. His wife, Valentina Tereshkova is pictured below with their daughter, Elena who is considered the first space child in history, since both her parents with spacefarers.
Adriyan Nikolayev was married to Valentina Tereshkova (pictured above and below) and she was the first women in Space, whereby in 1963 she orbited earth 48 times in her Vostok-6 over the course of 3 days!!!
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.
