Rolex mechanical movements are absolute works of art, and the latest Submariner 41MM Reference 124060 (pictured above) features the Caliber 3230 automatic mechanical movement (Pictured below) as well as the 3235 movement for the Submariner DATE model.
In order for the newest Submariner to keep superb mechanical time it depends on Rolex's waterproof 'Oyster' case which Rolex originally patented and brought to market in 1926. Proper movement lubrication is also paramount for excellent timekeeping which is why Rolex developed its own proprietary new lubricants that were developed in-house. Rolex's special state-of-the-art lubricant is not only a trade secret but significantly increases the dependable longevity and timekeeping performance.
Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823) once responded to King Lois XVI's request for him to make a perfect watch by saying:
"Show me the perfect lubricant and I will show you the perfect watch."
—Abraham-Louis Breguet
Automatic Kinetic Energy Winding
Rolex developed and patented their super innovative 'Perpetual' rotor movement design in 1931, which is considered to be one of the greatest innovations in timekeeping. This free-spinning, self-winding rotor mechanism pivots on a central axle while capturing all the kinetic energy created by the wearers wrist movement, and allows the watch to constantly wind itself while being worn—all without the worry of overwinding.
This game-changing design is beautifully decorated despite the fact the movement inside the case is never seen by the owner. Methinks Rolex should consider implementing exhibition casebacks to showcase this splendor :-) I mean it really is a shame Rolex owners can't witness and enjoy the beauty of their watch movement. The bridges on the movement are satin finished, circular-grained or snailed while the gear trains and plates are circular-grained. All screw heads are mirror-polished coupled with precisely beveled edges.
The Rolex caliber 32XX Series movements feature a traversing balance bridge which isolates the oscillator from the automatic rotor and results in greatly improved shock-resistance and increased chronometric performance. The photo below brings us in for a close-up of the heart of the Rolex movement which shows the Oscillator with the Paraflex shock absorber precisely positioned on top, which is in the lower center of the photo. On the right side we see the gold 'end shake' screw which is surrounded by 7 micro-adjustment markers which remind me of a Keith Haring painting :-) Ironically, the 7 indexes are for balance height/endshake adjustment but 1/4 of a turn of the gold screw equals only .01MM, so the individual marks aren't very helpful per se.
Paraflex Shock Absorber
The ruby red and gold Paraflex (pictured above and below) sits atop the Oscillator, which in a mechanical watch keeps precise time. The Rolex Paraflex (pictured below in detail) is an exclusive and highly precise shock absorber Rolex developed and patented in 2005.
Rolex has fitted their movements with shock absorbers since the mid 1930s which protect the escapement and balance wheel from shock that might cause the watch to become less precise if dropped or subjected to violent shocks like if you were to swing a golf club while wearing a Rolex. Rolex developed and designed the precise Paraflex geometry with 3D modeling which guarantees it remains properly and precisely positioned without risk of distortion or deformation.
Rolex Oscillator
The robust in-house manufactured Rolex Oscillator (pictured below) consists of three superlatively manufactured parts which result in optimal frequency response coupled with peerless reliability:
Balance staff which is the skinny silver spooled part with the red ruby. A balance staff is highly subject and sensitive to shock, and thus needs to be robustly designed and manufactured.
Large Balance wheel which is the gold outer wheel that features adjustable gold microstella nuts (seen better in second photo below) to ensure it maintains high-precision regulating, which results in increased stability while achieving a perfect balance.
Parachrom blued hairspring which is exclusive to Rolex barely measures one centimeter in diameter. This in-house manufactured hairspring is made from a special niobium-zirconium-oxygen alloy and is made in an ultra-hot fusion furnace specifically developed by Rolex physicists and engineers for this purpose.
The proprietary Rolex oscillator beats at 28,800 times per hour, which breaks down to 8 times per second. This results in supremely precise dependability coupled with exacting accuracy.
When I visited Rolex in Geneva in 2013 and toured all four of their factories I saw the super precise machinery that makes the beautiful cobalt blue Parachrom hairspring which completely blew my mind! The Parachrom hairspring is made from a niobium, zirconium and oxygen alloy which has a melting point of 4350.2° Fahrenheit (2399° Celsius) while maintaining a tensile strength of 330-620 MPa.
The exclusive Rolex Parachrom is made from a paramagnetic alloy which is immune to magnetic fields which would normally effect a standard ferromagnetic hairspring, and is an order-of-magnitude more resistant to shock than normal hairsprings. The Parachrom hairspring measures 1 centimeter in diameter yet it's finer than a human hair. If you were to uncoil the Parachrom it would form a 20 centimeter ribbon that is 50 microns thick by 150 microns wide.
Rolex points out:
"The outermost coil of the hairspring is curled towards the centre to counter the effects of gravity. This allows perfectly balanced and concentric (isochronous) oscillations of the balance wheel-hairspring assembly and contributes to greater chronometric precision whatever the position of the watch."
Rolex Escapement
The Rolex escapement (pictured below) is not only a conquest of microtechnology, but what makes the famous 'tick-tock' noise (Think 60 Minutes Stopwatch sound ;-) The 'tick' noise is made by the tooth of the escape wheel locks when they move against the pallets of the lever, then when it is released by the oscillators sweeping motion the pallet fork allows the wheel to 'escape' until is locks against the second pallet which results in the 'tock' noise.
Rolex profoundly points out:
"The pallet fork continues its infinite pendular beat against the oblique teeth for the escapement wheel precisely 28,800 times every hour—14,400 'ticks' and 14,400 'tocks'. That's 250 Million times per year! We are at the very heart of the Rolex Perpetual movement, where its pace is distilled with chronometric precision."
In short, the current Rolex Submariner is as magnificently beautiful and precisely engineered on the inside as the outside as seen is all these highly detailed illustrative photos.
Time...what an interesting companion that is always watching you on the conveyer belt of life! Timekeeping is an age old love story of men and his tools, and—if you think about it—mechanical watches have ALWAYS been fascinating time machines as they really were the first smart personal computers!?!! And just like a smartphone, they were a constant and highly portable companion.
Normal Rockwell remains an international treasure and was one of the greatest artists and draftsmen that ever lived. Rockwell was renowned as being the artist who best captured ideal Americana and it's interesting to note that it carried over to Swiss horology, as seen in this 1954 magazine advertisement which shows a young boy who is mesmerized watching an old watchmaker working on a mechanical movement in this painting aptly named "What Makes It Tick?".
Christie's Lot Essay seen below is beautifully written and highly educational as it exemplifies and contextualizes Norman Rockwell's essence while sharing the fascinating backstory behind this absolute masterpiece:
Norman Rockwell stated, “One of my best, I think,” in his autobiographical book The Norman Rockwell Album (New York, 1961, p. 112) of his painting The Watchmaker painted in 1948 as a commission from The Watchmakers of Switzerland, now known as the Federation of Swiss Watchmakers. The Swiss firm was seeking a marketing campaign that could elevate their brand globally, and they needed an artist who could generate maximum impact in a single image. Rockwell, at the height of his fame, fit the bill. As America's preeminent illustrator, Rockwell was one of the greatest mass communicators of the century.
Painting a sweeping range of topics during a century of extensive technological and social change, he helped forge a sense of national identity through his art. Rockwell was witness to the height of Impressionism as well as the development of Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. He traveled to Europe to study the art of Pablo Picasso and he was aware of the move toward Modernism in America by Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, among others. Despite the trends of the day, however, Rockwell chose to pursue a career as an illustrator, producing more than 800 magazine covers. In doing so, Rockwell became as ubiquitous to the American public as the images he created.
In addition to Rockwell’s countless Saturday Evening Post covers, he was highly sought after for story illustrations and advertisements. Virginia Mecklenburg notes that, during the post-War era, Rockwell’s “advertising commissions picked up…when corporations recognized that his images were especially appropriate for lifestyle advertising that associated a product with an activity or experience rather than providing specific information about the goods being sold.” (Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, New York, 2010, p. 127)
The commission on behalf of The Watchmakers of Switzerland was particularly high profile as the image was to be advertised over a period of many years in the Post and Life magazine, as well as to be displayed in jewelry stores internationally. Rockwell ultimately created two paintings for The Watchmakers of Switzerland, the present work and The Jewelry Shop of 1954.
While Rockwell’s commissioned work differed from his covers of the Post in meeting more specific needs, his approach to his subject was distinctly his own and Rockwell never strayed from his own underlying themes and artistic principles. This is perhaps nowhere more evident than in The Watchmaker, whose subject bore a deep personal connection to Rockwell. As Laura Claridge notes, "John Rockwell's father and mother—Norman's great-grandparents—were Samuel and Oril Sherman Rockwell. Born in 1810 to well-to-do farmers in Ridgebury, Connecticut...Samuel was apprenticed when he was fifteen years old to a watchmaker and jeweler in Manhattan.
After twelve years of applying 'more than ordinary natural aptitude for the business,' the twenty-seven-year-old man bought the modest establishment and developed it into a 'flourishing and profitable business.'...Samuel Rockwell worked so hard that he was soon able to sell his watch shop in 'the crowded city' of New York to establish a real estate business in the 'pure air' of Yonkers.” (Norman Rockwell, New York, 2001, n.p.) This family history would have likely provided a meaningful backdrop to the artist’s conception of the work.
Beyond reflecting the artist’s own specific upbringing, The Watchmaker also embodies a more universal theme Rockwell consistently explored throughout his career—the passage of time. The same year the present work was painted, Rockwell embarked on a series of seasonal images to be published as calendars for Brown & Bigelow. The imagery most often featured a young boy and his grandfather or a boy and his father, the elder of the two imparting valuable wisdom and life lessons to the young pupil. Mecklenburg writes, “In 1948, Rockwell proposed a calendar series featuring images of the four seasons of the year to Brown & Bigelow, the company that produced his Boy Scout Calendars. With the seasonal calendars, he returned to themes about the passage of time that had occupied him during his early years at the Post.
In revisiting the motif in the late 1940s and 1950s, Rockwell approached the idea not from the perspective of a twenty-something but as a man in his fifties. The conception was Rockwell’s own. He wanted, he said, ‘to mirror the average person…leading our kind of life during each of the four seasons of the year,’ adding, ‘I prefer painting either the very old or the very young because they remain strictly themselves; neither type wants to pretty up.” (Telling Stories, p. 151) This theme of the passage of time is echoed in The Watchmaker. Rockwell depicts an earnest young boy mesmerized by a wizened old man. The boy’s face is pressed against the glass as he observes the watchmaker ply his craft, while the watchmaker is deep in concentration as he carefully makes adjustments to the interior mechanics of the boy’s watch.
Rockwell’s work is also often autobiographical. This can be at times literally, such as with his iconic Triple Self Portrait of 1960 (Norman Rockwell Art Collection Trust), or figuratively when small clues suggest that Rockwell in some way identifies with his subjects. In the present work, the watchmaker can be interpreted as an avatar for Rockwell, whose own meticulous craft required fine tools and expert attention to detail. Rockwell labored extensively over every detail in his imagery, ensuring that the sum of the parts equals and betters the whole.
In this way, the fine and delicate tool the watchmaker is using to examine the watch could be a synonym for the small paintbrush that Rockwell employed to achieve the mesmerizing surface of the painting. When the advertisement ran in the magazines, the copy underneath the image underscored this notion, reading: “When you listen to your watch, it speaks not only of the passing of the seconds but of the skills of all of the men whose efforts have gone into its perfection.”
This underlying symbolism within the work perhaps derives from Rockwell’s deep familiarity with Old Master paintings and his delight in touting this understanding of art historical precedent in his compositions. This intellectual aspect of his work can be seen most overtly in paintings such as The Art Critic (Norman Rockwell Museum Collection) but also in more subtle ways, which manifest themselves in his studied compositions. Both the imagery and the meticulous manner of execution found in The Watchmaker can be seen as successor to Renaissance paintings, such as Petrus Christus’ A Goldsmith in His Shop (1449, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), where the artists have relished demonstrating their technical mastery in depicting a profusion of textures.
The interior of the watchmaker’s shop afforded Rockwell a platform from which to highlight these skills. The depiction of glass—perhaps the hardest, most elusive surface to replicate—is here used to expert effect. The warm and subtle light from the lantern overhead also delicately bathes the surface, illuminating flecks of gold from the watches as well as the glint of the watchmaker’s glasses. As the eye dances from one part of the composition to the next, the myriad details are astounding.
To create the intricacy of The Watchmaker, Rockwell took a series of preparatory photographs, a technique he adopted in the 1940s. Rather than isolating his figure or figures against a blank background, as he had done before, he began to paint fully realized and often quite elaborate backgrounds in his best works from this period. In order to achieve the desired effect, Rockwell no longer relied solely upon professional models, enlisting them for hours on end, as he had done in his early years in New Rochelle. Rather, upon his move to Arlington, he began to incorporate photography into his creative process. This method meant he could stage elaborate tableaus as subjects and capture the various expressions of his sitters in an instant. Rarely satisfied with a single photograph, the finished illustration was often a composite of many.
David Kamp writes of this exhaustive creative system, “First came brainstorming and a rough pencil sketch, then the casting of the models and the hiring of costumes and props, then the process of coaxing the right poses out of the models, then the snapping of the photo, then the composition of a fully detailed charcoal sketch, then a painted color sketch that was the exact size of the picture as it would be reproduced, and then, and only then, the final painting.” ("Norman Rockwell's American Dream," Vanity Fair, November 2009, p. 5) This new approach, coupled with towns around the country full of fresh faces willing to pose for the celebrity artist, meant a flurry of artistic inspiration.
Rockwell painted The Watchmaker in a small hotel room with dim light. Armed with several preparatory photographs of both the central characters, as well as the glass store front of the jewelry store, he painstakingly recreated the sanctuary of the elderly watchmaker honing his craft. Laura Claridge writes: “Throughout the spring and summer of 1948, Rockwell worked on several ads, including a first-rate oil painting for The Watchmakers of Switzerland. An old watch repairman is meticulously rendered, from his wrinkled, crepey hands, to his overgrown eyebrows…The crowded pictorial space of the work points to what will be a hallmark of Rockwell’s remarkable achievements in the next decade for the Post.
In the ad, the total effect dramatically exceeds what corporations were accustomed to getting from the commercial artists they paid.” (Norman Rockwell: A Life, New York, 2001, p. 350) Through this consistent high level of execution throughout the room, Rockwell creates what Karal Ann Marling has described as “a kind of ‘Magical Realism,’” where the viewer’s eye can constantly move from object to object and experience every segment with “the same degree of intensity.” (Norman Rockwell: America's Most Beloved Painter, Cologne, Germany, 2005, p. 70) A similar effect has been experimented with in film. Todd McCarthy explains, “In cinematography [it] is called ‘deep focus,’ in which foreground and background objects possess an equal clarity, producing an effect that is sometimes hyper-realistic.
This approach came into vogue in Hollywood in the early 1940s, due especially to the adventurous creativity of cinematographer Gregg Toland on William Wyler’s Little Foxes and Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane.” (in V.M. Mecklenburg, Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, p. 207)
Also as in the often idealized world of the movies, Norman Rockwell's work has been characterized as a reflection of our better selves, capturing America as it ought to be. His work is often viewed as both of a moment and simultaneously timeless, in its communication of the universal truths of human nature. "In the twentieth century, visual imagery permeated American culture, ultimately becoming the primary means of communication. Rockwell's images have become part of a collective American memory. We remember selective bits and pieces of information and often reassemble them in ways that mingle fantasy with reality.
We formulate memory to serve our own needs and purposes. Rockwell knew this instinctively: 'Everything I have ever seen or done has gone into my pictures in one way or another...Memory doesn't lie, though it may distort a bit here and there.'" (M.H. Hennessey, A. Knutson, Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People, exhibition catalogue, Atlanta, Georgia, 1999, p. 64) Indeed, Laurie Norton Moffatt writes, "His images convey our human shortcomings as well as our national ideals of freedom, democracy, equality, tolerance and common decency in ways that nobody could understand. He has become an American institution.
Steven Spielberg recently said, 'Aside from being an astonishingly good storyteller, Rockwell spoke volumes about a certain kind of American morality.' It is a morality based on popular values and patriotism, a morality that yearns above all for goodness to trump evil." ("The People's Painter," Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People, New York, 1999, p. 26)
In his autobiography My Adventures as an Illustrator, Norman Rockwell reminisced of his early career ambitions, “In those days the cover of the Post was (it still is, by the way) the greatest show window in America for an illustrator.” (Norman Rockwell: My Adventures as an Illustrator as told to Tom Rockwell, New York, 1979, p. 63) Beginning with his first cover published in 1916 and continuing through 1963, Rockwell entered American homes through 321 covers of The Saturday Evening Post over the course of his career as the nation’s leading illustrator.
The Watchmaker, which literally depicts a shop window, exhibits the pinnacle of Rockwell’s achievement as a realist painter, compositional master and American storyteller. Drawing inspiration spanning the history of European and American art, and staking a case for his own position as a fine artist in the post-War era, The Watchmaker encases an exquisite range of detail and allusions for the inquisitive eye, while also presenting an image of youthful wonder and idealism contrasted with sage wisdom and expertise.
Jack Black is one highly charismatic dude, and has been wearing Rolex watches for some time now. Jack is also a singer, and musician and has his own band...
I recently came across his absolutely fascinating command performance on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, where Jack is sporting his white gold Rolex Submariner with a blue bezel and matching blue dial.
Jack Black is unusually charismatic as is Jimmy Fallon in this fascinatingly bizarre video I can't seem to stop watching over-and-over again...Also, I can't figure out who is more interesting to watch? As Jimmy Fallon's emotional response to Jack Black, along with his dancing is equally interesting...
I first documented Jack Black rocking a Rolex GMT-Master back in 2011 as we see in the photo below with Shirley MacLaine. Over the years, I have noticed Jack Black wearing multiple Rolex watches, including a green on green LV Submariner.
Sir EltonJohn
Jack Black on Graham Norton
Below is a video that shows different guest appearances Jack Black made on the Graham Norton show in the U.K.
In the first interview I couldn't help but notice Sir Elton John was rocking a yellow gold Rolex Day-Date as we can easily identify from its highly iconic President Bracelet, which is gleaning out from underneath Sir Elton John's jacket cuff... It's so interesting to note Sir Elton John, who has known in his younger days as being extremely flamboyant and extravagant loves wearing different Rolex watch models.
I am sad to report that Chad McQueen, the only son of legendary actor, Steve McQueen passed away. Chad is pictured below with his father, Steve McQueen who completely adored his son:
The family of Chad McQueen published this statement today:
"It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our father Chad McQueen...
His remarkable journey as a loving father to us, along with his unwavering commitment to our mother, truly exemplified a life filled with love and dedication. His passion for racing not only highlighted his exceptional talent, but also served as a way to honor his father’s legacy, a testament to the values instilled in him. He passed his passion, knowledge and dedication down to us and we will continue not only his legacy but our grandfathers as well. As a family we need to navigate this difficult time and we kindly ask for privacy as we remember and celebrate his extraordinary life."
With heartfelt gratitude,
Jeanie, Chase, and Madison
Below is a story I originally published years ago on Chad McQueen:
I recently interviewed Chad McQueen. Chad mentioned to me that his father gave him two Rolex Submariner watches when he passed away—a Reference 5512, as well as a Reference 5513. Chad has his father's charisma is one really cool dude!!! In many ways, Chad followed in his father's footsteps as we will learn in this story...
Chad McQueen in the 1980s wearing his father's Rolex Submariner
The photo below appears courtesy of Charles Tearle and shows Chad's actual Rolex Submariner Reference 5512 that his father Steve McQueen gave him before he passed away in 1980. The provenance of this watch is beyond refuting and as real as the real-deal gets.
The Queen Of Cool
Neile Adams McQueen
Chad's mother, Neile Adams McQueen (The Queen of Cool) is pictured below, and when I interviewed her she told me that her husband, Steve McQueen purchased the two Rolex Submariner models in Zurich, Switzerland around Christmas of 1969.
In the next photo, we see Neile Adams McQueen waiting with her husband Steve McQueen as he prepares to race at Sebring in 1970.
In the photo below we see Steve and Neile McQueen with Chad and his sister, Terry McQueen.
Below is a photo of Steve McQueen at Sebring with wife Neile, son Chad, and daughter Terry talking with Steve during a break.
In the photo below we see Chad with his father Steve McQueen on the set of Le Mans, and notice Steve is wearing his Rolex Submariner.
Steve McQueen is pictured below with his son Chad McQueen in September of 1971 at the California 500 Indycar race in Ontario, California.
In this next photo taken many years later, we see Chad McQueen with his mother, Neile, and sister Terry.
Chad's sister Terry wore a yellow gold Rolex Lady-Date as seen in the photo below on the left side. In this photo, Terry is holding her daughter Molly, who is also pictured on the right photo being held by her grandmother Neile.
Unfortunately, Terry passed away years ago but was raised by her grandmother Neile. When I recently interviewed Neile, she mentioned that Molly has her mother's Rolex Lady-Date today. Terry and Molly are pictured again below with Terry wearing her Rolex Lady Date.
Neile is pictured below in a recent photo with her granddaughter Molly.
In this next photo, we see Chad with his mom and his first wife. Notice Chad is wearing one of his dad's Rolex Submariner models.
Chad McQueen and I also discussed how in the future he will share more details with me about his father's Rolex Submariner watches, which is very exciting!!
Chad McQueen in the 1980s wearing his father's Rolex Submariner
It is interesting to note that Chad wears his dad's Submariner on his right wrist—just like his father did.
Below we see a photo of Neile McQueen with her son Chad and grandson Steven McQueen, who is Chad's son.
Speaking of COOL—below is a photo of Steven McQueen who is Neile & Steve McQueen's grandson, and his parents are Stacey Toten and Chad McQueen. Steven McQueen is a talented actor and appears to be down to earth and very friendly.
I've written so much in the past about Steve McQueen, yet I am still in awe of how cool he really was. Long LIVE THE KING OF COOL!!!!
Rolex Ambassador, Jannik Sinner won the 2024 U.S. Open Men's Singles Championship, which was his second Grand Slam Title this year. You can watch the Full Match below which is AMAZING!!!!
Man, I don't even know where to begin with this story!!! Roger Federer is not only the greatest tennis player in the history of professional tennis, but one of the coolest guys on the planet. Rocking Roger Federer in many ways is the living embodiment of Rolex, in the sense he was born and resides in Switzerland, and is a top Rolex brand ambassador, or to use fancy Rolex parlance, would be to say Roger is 'a Rolex Testimonee.'
So Roger Federer recently was seen at the U.S. Open with Rolex CEO, Jean-Frederic Dufour, (pictured above) who is also another really cool guy, with great style. Jean-Frederic Dufour has always kind of reminded me of Steve McQueen in that he looks like McQueen with his blond hair, and the way he wears his Rolex on his right wrist.
As an example, we see Steve McQueen pictured above in the 1968 movie named Bullitt, where he is roaring through the streets of San Francisco in his Army Green Ford Mustang Fastback, and he is wearing a sports coat. If I told you the man driving the Mustang in the photo above was Rolex CEO, Jean-Frederic Dufour, and you didn't know otherwise, you could confuse them. Also, as I previously mentioned, Steve McQueen also famously wore his Rolex Submariner on his right wrist, as does Dufour. No, that's not Dufour pictured below, but Steve McQueen back in the day...
Speaking of coolness factors, I will let you in on a Rolex strategic marketing strategy that most people probably are not aware of. Watch brands like to associate themselves with cool things. For instance, Omega wanted to associate themselves with the James Bond Franchise, and came out with watches that said "007" all over the dial which was an exercise is kitchy, campy goofiness. Rolex has always taken the opposite minimalist approach and the 100th Anniversary of Le Mans Daytona is a concrete example.
Instead of plastering the name "Le Mans" all over the dial, Rolex ever so subtly added a red 100 on the bezel insert, as well as adding vintage Paul Neman Daytona Subdials, to set this beauty apart from all other Rolex Daytona models. For clarity sake, we see Paul Neman's actual Exotic White Dial Daytona pictured above, which sold at auction for more than $17 Million, and notice the three black subdials have markers that are shaped like a See's Candy Lollipop.
Matthew Bega from PerpeualPassion.com beautifully summarized the significance of Rocking Roger rocking this new Rolex model when he said:
"This model features a yellow gold case with a black ceramic bezel and a dial with 'Paul Newman' style counters, a configuration very similar to the Daytona reference from the era of manual movements, the 6263/8.
The new Rolex Daytona 126528LN-0001 “LeMans” in yellow gold, unlike the references 126500 which mounts the caliber 4131, has a 24-hour totalizer thanks to the caliber 4132, a modified version of the caliber 4131 of the classic Daytona, making it perfectly suited to an endurance race such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
We could consider Roger Federer's appearance with the new Rolex Cosmograph Daytona 'LeMans' in yellow gold, as a real official launch. The most famous and recognized face among the Ambassadors of the Rolex family, with a new reference on his wrist that has found little space in the official communication of the brand.
What better communication strategy than having it worn by Roger Federer, the one who more than anyone else embodies the values of the brand?"
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.
