Niki Lauda's Formula 1 racing career saw the highest highs and the lowest lows and back in 2019 he breathed his last breath and stepped back into eternity.
His story is an amazing example of great achievement in the eye of diversity. Niki was born Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda on February 22, 1949 in Vienna, Austria.
Niki Lauda is pictured below in 1973 racing a BMW 3.0CSL during the Spa 24 Hours.
Niki Lauda is pictured below racing in a BMW M1 in 1979 @ Zandvoort.
Niki Lauda's career racing achievement is amazing as he won the F1 World Championship three times (1975, 1977, & 1984). Niki Lauda raced for the Ferrari team from 1974 to 1977, and later moved to race for McLaren. He remains the only Formula 1 driver to have been a champion with both Ferrari and McLaren.
In 1976, a week prior to the German Grand Prix held at the treacherous Nurburgring Nordschleife track, Niki Lauda attempted to boycott the race due in large part to the lack of safety considerations and most of the other drives voted against Lauda, so the race was held.
In a bizarre twist of fate, Lauda's Ferrari swerved off the track because its rear suspension failed and his car hit an embankment and burst into flames, trapping Lauda in his car.
Before Lauda could be pulled out of his car, he suffered severe burns and inhaled highly toxic fumes which severly damaged his lungs and blood. Lauda went into a coma in the hospital and a priest administered last rites.
In what appeared to be nothing short of a miracle, Niki Lauda made it out of the coma and came back to life and even continued his racing career. In the photo below we see Niki Lauda awarding Arturo Merzario a yellow gold Rolex he won when setting pole position at the 1976 Monaco Grand Prix. Niki wanted to award Arturo the watch as a token of appreciation for saving his life.
Niki Lauda is pictured below with fellow legendary Formula 1 race car driver, Alain Prost who is sporting his two-tone Rolex Datejust.
In this next photo, taken on May 1, 1994 we see Niki Lauda speaking with McLaren Brazilian Formula One champion Ayrton Senna just hours before a tragic racing accident Senna's life. Ayrton Senna is still regarded as being on of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time as he won Formula One Championships on Team McLaren in 1988, 1990 and 1991. During the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, Italy he was in an accident that took his life.
Niki Lauda is pictured below checking out a Mercedes SLR Roadster and he is wearing his vintage Big Red Panda Rolex Daytona.
In this next photo we see Niki Lauda sporting his Coke Rolex GMT-Master.
A Pocket-full Of Miracles
In 2008 Niki Lauda was 59 years old and married Birgit Wetzinger (pictured below) after a most unusual 4-year romance. A year after Niki Lauda started dating Birgit, he was diagnosed with kidney failure, and his then girlfriend, Birgit successfully donated one of her kidneys which saved Niki Lauda's life. Niki Lauda is pictured below with fellow legendary Formula 1 racing legend, Sir Jackie Stewart who is a Rolex brand ambassador.
Niki Lauda's intense rivalry with fellow Formula 1 driver James Hunt was made into a movie by Ron Howard in 2013, and the movie was an international success.
Charlie Rose interviewed Ron Howard and Nicki Lauda when the movie "Rush" came out. The first video below is the full episode where Charlie interviews Ron Howard and Niki, and the second video below is just the interview with Nicki.
All at McLaren are deeply saddened to learn that our friend, colleague and 1984 Formula 1 World Champion, Niki Lauda, has passed away. Niki will forever be in our hearts and enshrined in our history. #RIPNikipic.twitter.com/Ndd9ZEfm6B
When NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell's GMT-Master that flew on Apollo 14 received a bid of half a million dollars this week, exceeding the estimate by $100,000, I decided to call Bobby Livingston, the executive vice-president at Boston-based RR Auction, which is consigning the astronaut's watch.
After all, the bid still had another 10 days before it closed. The sky was the limit, or, rather, space.
"It's really looking great, Danny, but you never know," Livingston said. "You're trying to keep your expectations moderate. In my line of business, at least, we are very conservative about how we deal with things, and we'd rather exceed expectations," he said.
Edgar Mitchell's Rolex GMT-Master 1675
Watch collectors are very familiar with Sotheby's, Phillips and Antiquorum for historically significant Rolex watches, like Paul Newman's personal Daytona which shattered records at Phillips seven years ago next week.
So, I wondered why Edgar Mitchell's daughter Karlyn had picked RR Auction to consign arguably the most important GMT-Master in Rolex history. After all, this is the first Rolex that flew to the moon.
"Our auction house sells a lot of astronaut-sourced materials," Livingston told me. "Edgar Mitchell was a client of ours in his lifetime, as well as Gene Cernan, Alan Bean and many of the Apollo astronaut moonwalkers, Dave Scott, Charlie Duke."
NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell
Livingston said he wasn't totally surprised when he received a call from Karlyn Mitchell whose father had sold many space-related items through the auction house during his lifetime. Still, excitement was in the air. "When you get a call like that, you get pretty excited when the children decide to sell," he told me.
As a matter of fact, Livingston was so excited, he had a visit scheduled within 24 hours of Karlyn Mitchell reaching out to RR Auction.
"These opportunites don't come often. The watch has never been on the market. This is coming directly from the daughter of the astronaut," Livingston said.
I could almost feel Livingston's pulse quicken as he said this. "The condition is gorgeous. The provenance is perfect. There's a letter from the astronaut. There are photos of him wearing it. It's got everything you want in a watch that went to the moon."
In one of the black-and-white pictures I remember seeing of Edgar Mitchell, he is leaning over a table, carefully winding his Rolex during mission-prep. Or maybe was he setting the time? He wore the white astronaut suit, a NASA-logo patch strapped on his chest, the U.S. flag on his arm. On the table lying behind two big white astronaut gloves was a second Rolex.
I also remembered the story told among space and watch enthusiasts — a dangerous crossover — that Mitchell wanted each of his daughters to have an Apollo-flown wristwatch. Two daughters, two Rolex watches. Bingo.
So, I decided to ask Livingston whether another Edgar Mitchell Rolex will be auctioned off by Mitchell's second daughter Elizabeth. "I've not been approached about the second watch," he carefully said while weighing each word.
I felt there was more to the story, but I didn't press. Livingston said, almost to appease me, the auction house's focus was on this watch.
Bobby Levingston, Executive Vice-President of RR Auction
The GMT-Master 1675 being auctioned is over 50 years old. Livingston told me the watch had mostly resided in a safe deposit box for years. "[Karlyn] wasn't eager to consign it. It was very sentimental to her," he said. "But she understood it had incredible value and it should get into the hands of the next generation of watch collectors and institutions that are going to take care of it."
As I finished speaking with him, Livingston admitted to me he wasn't a watch guy. I wish I could say I judged him, being the executive vice-president of such an important auction house — of such an important piece — but I didn't. I almost envied him, to be honest. He, unlike me, was free of this consuming passion.
But then he added: "I just think it's fascinating, Danny, the crossover that exists between watch collecting and the space program. The government went with Omega, but the astronauts love their Rolex. I think that's wonderful that the astronauts themselves were watch enthusiasts."
We are heading into Fall in the Northern Hemisphere again, and soon we should see some snow. So I thought it would make sense to take a look at Quentin's vintage Pepsi GMT-Master.
I thought it would be interesting to look at this magnificent Rolex Magazine ad from 30 years ago. I remember seeing this Adrienne Vittadini ad 23 years ago, in 1997, and it only took me nine years to find it in high-resolution?!! This is a fairly major piece of Rolex history, and it is probably the first Rolex advertisement that shows a woman wearing a man's 40mm Rolex...
Adrienne Vittadini is an American designer who was born Adrienne Toth in 1944. Andrienne's father was a physician and a staunch anticommunist and was a supporter of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Below we see a photo of Adrienne Vittadini taken in 2018 and, notice, she is wearing a stainless steel Rolex Daytona with a white dial...
In this next photo taken in 2012, we see Adrienne wearing a Lady-Datejust...
Petter from Hungary wrote in and said:
Hey Jake,
Just saw your post on the blog about Adrienne Vittadini. She was born in Győr - Hungary, my hometown.
There is nothing more interesting than when a famous, super-iconic singer covers a song or songs that they just love and do it better than the original singer, and that is exactly what occurred with Bruce Springsteen's hauntingly great cover of The Commodores "Night Shift".
Bruce is unusual, in the sense he performs a significant number of covers—meaning singing songs other people made famous, but he does it so well, and always ads his own unique "Boss-like-flavor", which I find to be infinitely interesting... As usual, he offers a command performance, and one thing Bruce has in common with Rolex is they are both highly charismatic timeless icons that have endured...Bruce is 75 years young, and still going full-speed-ahead...
I feel like I would be remiss if I didn't include the original version of The Night Shift (below) by The Commodores, as it is an amazing classic...and it's filled with Rolex watches...
THE BOSS
Bruce Springsteen
Vintage Rolex Collector
Bruce Springsteen is one of the greatest singer, songwriter, guitarist who has ever lived, and to say he is an international treasure would be an understatement. I first reported on Bruce Springsteen wearing a Rolex Submariner back in 2009, and with this story we learn that 'The Boss' is an avid vintage Rolex collector. Special thanks to Nick Gould for discovering these images of The Boss...
Bruce Springsteen is pictured below back in 1974 in an amazing photo taken by Barry Schneier which appeared in a superb story by Rolling Stone Magazine.
I first became a fan of Bruce Springsteen when I was 14 years old back in 1980 when he came out with his landmark double album named "THE RIVER" which featured highly iconic songs like "Jackson Cage", "Sherry Darling", "Hungry Heart", "The River", "Cadillac Ranch", "Point Blank" and "Fade Away"—just to name a few.
Bruce Springsteen's followed up with what might perhaps be his most famous and iconic album of all time that was BORN IN THE U.S.A. which is pictured below which was released in 1984.
In the first photo above we see Bruce Springsteen rocking his vintage Pepsi GMT-Master on a Jubilee Bracelet, and in the next image below we see The Boss wearing his Single Red Submariner (Reference 1680).
In this next photo we see Bruce rocking a vintage Rolex Daytona [Reference 6263] when he recently appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Over the course of two years, teams of Explorers on the Rolex and National Geographic Perpetual Planet Amazon Expedition have studied the Amazon River Basin from source to mouth – across six countries. In this bonus material to National Geographic’s “Expedition Amazon” documentary, premiering on 10 October, National Geographic Explorers Thomas Peschak, Fernando Trujillo, Thiago Silva and Julia Tavares guide us from the farthest source of the river, the Nevado Mismi in Peru, to the official start of the Amazon at the Brazilian Meeting of the Waters.
Along the way we meet an adored Colombian rescue manatee named Moechi, and travel to rare Bolivian clearwaters, where gilded catfish are plentiful. Discover more of the Amazon's incredible wildlife, nature, and communities through the immersive experience on National Geographic.
Nicholas Foulkes interesting new book on the Rolex Submariner goes into some detail on the role Dimitri Rebikoff played in the development of what went on become the most famous dive watch in history. I have been working deeply on researching Dimitri Rebikoff's role in the genesis of the Rolex Submariner watch model for many years now, and have been preparing to publish a detailed story with my clarifying findings sometime soon, so the timing seems perfect to share this preview with you now:
In my upcoming story we will hop in the Rolex Time Machine and travel back to yesteryear to learn all about Dimitri Rebikoff (pictured above and below) and his amazing lifetime career achievements from many people I have interviewed who were close with and knew him well. This is an amazing story about a man and his machines he brought to life as necessity compelled. The photo and excerpt below on Dimitri Rebikoff were published in 1957.
The Rolex Submariner is one of the most iconic and famous sport watches on earth. It's handsome, rugged, and sporty, yet super versatile.
The late art-deco design language from the early 1950s that still permeates the Rolex Submariner continues to transcend time. The Submariner can be dressed-down with everything from a pair of shorts and a T-Shirt with flip-flops, to being dressed-up with a formal black tie. The photos below of Hollywood actor and producer, Brian Kelly rocking his Rolex Submariner illustrate this point perfectly as they were taken more than a half-century ago, yet they almost look like they could have been taken yesterday...Brian Kelly played Porter Ricks on the 1960 aquatic show named Flipper.
One of the great unanswered questions is 'Where exactly did this timeless Rolex Submariner tool watch come from, and how—precisely—did it get its name? And, how is Submariner properly pronounced? This upcoming story will answer these and many of other seminal questions for the first time.
The Life Aquatic
In this upcoming story we will learn all about how the Rolex Submariner began its humble life as a Rolex Explorer variant, which of course, began its Maratime career as an Oyster Perpetual variant, which we witness with the 1929 Rolex Magazine ad (pictured below) for the then avant-garde Rolex "Oyster" tool watch.
Just to be crystal clear, on the simplest level, I am saying the Rolex Submariner evolved from the Rolex Explorer, which had previously evolved from the Rolex Oyster Perpetual.
This early 1929 Rolex Oyster advertisement pictured above appears in my upcoming book series in Volume 1 and is the earliest known aquatic themed Rolex Magazine advertisement I am aware of, but suffice it to say Rolex's founder Hans Wildsorf was always very aware of the role it could play in the life aquatic.
Below we see another magnificent art deco Italian Rolex mermaid Rolex Magazine advertisement which is so beautiful...
Basel Fair was the biggest watch trade show in Switzerland and was founded in 1917. Rolex first exhibited their watches at Basel Fair in 1939, and in 1942, Rolex flexed their technological prowess when they displayed Rolex watches easily withstanding their environment in a tank pressurized to 120 Meters (394 Feet), as we see in the image below that was published in the Revue internationale de l'horlogerie.
If you look closely, you will notice there is an unusually large watch located on the left side of the tank displayed on the bottom image of the page seen above and it features a black dial. Below we get a closer look at the mysterious Rolex Diving Watch from 1942, and it's located in the bottom left hand corner, and appears to have a black dial.
My best guess is this may be the highly elusive Rolex Reference 2533 with a cushion case that was published in a 1935 Rolex Catalog, but unfortunately today there are no known examples out in the wild, although it has been rumored Rolex has an version of it in their private museum collection in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Rolex Reference 2533 formed the basis for which the original Panerai Watches were based upon, and essentially Rolex took a 47MM Rolex Oyster Pocket Watch as illustrated below, and rotated the case 90 degrees to the right, then soldiered lugs on the case, and removed the hanging watch chain fob as seen below in this image from the ultra-knowledgable horological forensics expert, Jose, at Perezcope.com.
The supreme irony with the oversized 47MM Rolex Oyster pictured above is in many ways it represents the genesis of the Rolex diving watch in the sense it was the first watch destined to conquer the Deep Sea, and when I publish the full version of this article, it will go into great detail on the evolution of this watch model and how it ultimately led to the advent of the Rolex Submariner.
Basel Fair 1954
The Birth of Rolex Cosplay
In 1954, Basel Fair radically expanded and modernized their facilities in Basel, Switzerland when they launched Hall 2, which is pictured below in the Ariel photo on the right. If you look closely at the photo below you will see the original Basel Fair Hall 1 on the left.
Basel Fair Hall 1 and Hall 2 pictured above in 1954 in Basel, Switzerland
Basel Fair in 1954 represents and demarcates a seminal year in which classism gave way to modernism in the world of horology—as the world raced ahead into the space age—and Rolex was there front and center with a cadre of new Rolex Sports Tool Watch models as seen in this page from Europa Star published in 1954.
Keep in mind that despite the fact the Rolex Submariner today is considered to be an absolute classic design, it was once considered to be extremely bold and modern. At the time many people ridiculed Rolex sport watches saying they were way too big and heavy.
"All that was great in the past was ridiculed, condemned, combated, suppressed—only to emerge all the more powerfully, all the more triumphantly from the struggle."
—Nikola Tesla
The Rolex Magazine advertisement seen below for the Rolex Explorer is from 1964 and captures the core essence of Rolex tool watches, as it features the Rolex Explorer, but there is much more to the Explorer than meets the eye.
Where's The Beef?
Where's the Submariner? Show me the Submariner!?!! One of the interesting details I couldn't help but notice in Nicholas Foulkes recently released Rolex History book named Oyster Perpetual Submariner, The Watch That Unlocked The Deep, which I will be reviewing soon here on Jake's Rolex World, is it strangely didn't contain any photos of Dimitri Rebikoff wearing a Rolex Submariner?
This seems like a supreme irony to me as Rebikoff helped bring the Submariner to life, so I thought I would share some images in this preview, and mention I have many more never before seen exclusive photos coming up in my full article. The photo below shows Rebikoff rocking his prototype Submariner back in 1955 as he is working in his back yard on an underwater lighting "Torpedo".
Talent does what it can... Genius does what it must...
Below we see a Rolex Magazine ad featuring the Submariner from 1957 that was taken during prototype testing.
Speaking of books on Rolex History, I have been working for years now on a series of 15 books, or volumes, that cover the entire historical arc of Rolex, and my chapter on Dimitri Rebikoff is featured in VOLUME 3, which is titled, "The Complete History of Rolex MAD MEN: How They Created The International Mark of Success, by JAKE EHRLICH", and we see the cover art for that volume below.
Speaking of Rolex Mad Men, the reason Volume 3 of my book series is titled "Mad Men" has to do with the role the original Ad Men of Madison Avenue played in making Rolex the most reputable brand on earth today.
Many people have been asking me when I plan to begin publishing my upcoming series of 15 volumes on the history of Rolex? Essentially, I have been researching and writing the equivalent of an Encyclopedia on Rolex History, which is a massive undertaking. My goal is to leave no stone unturned, and I wan't to make certain I deliver books that are as magnificent as Rolex itself, and as they say, 'good things take time.' As soon as I have a firm ETA I will post a story here on RolexMagazine.com.
In the meantime, I hope you have enjoyed this teaser for my upcoming story on Dimitri Rebikoff, and when I publish this full story later this year, I am certain it will shed substantial light and immense insight on the genesis of the Rolex Submariner that has never been previously documented—so stay tuned...Special shout out to the Uber talented horological historian, Nick Gould for his invaluable contributions to this story...
Also, thanks to Dimitri Rebikoff for his invaluable design and utilitarian engineering contributions to the Rolex Submariner which he wore his entire career, and we see it on his wrist in the exclusive photo below that has never been published before from the collection of Captain Litt, who worked with Dimitri Rebikoff many years ago. In my upcoming article on Rebikoff, we will see many more action photos of him rocking Rolex Submariner watch models which he kept the time of this amazing life with.
ROLEX
The Timeless Time Machine
I put together a bunch of cool images that depict what I illustrated in the story above, as they tell a story without me having to write words beyond this:
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.
