B-58 Hustler: Rolex GMT-Master 1675

The Complete History Of The Rolex GMT-Master Series

Rolex X-Files

The Right Stuff

I FEEL THE NEED, THE NEED...

3 Rolex GMT-Masters at Mach 2

on a Nuclear Bomber

Breaking the Sound Barrier

Newly Discovered History 

Rolex and the Right Stuff 

"Peace is our Profession" 

(Motto of the Strategic Air Command)

When the delta-winged supersonic bomber flared over France, it had flown from New York to Paris in just three hours and 19 minutes—setting a remarkable world aviation record!

It was 1961, Kennedy was President, the Beatles were playing in Liverpool, and a wall was being built in Berlin. A month earlier, a human had entered space for the first time. He was Russian. The Cold War was in full swing. 

In the U.S., Rolex GMT-Masters were strapped onto the wrists of jet pilots both in the military and at Pan Am. It took a B-707 airliner almost twice the time to cross the Atlantic than it did this sleek B-58 bomber powered by four jet engines with afterburners. 

The USAF Bomber B-58 "Hustler"

The B-58 flight to Paris not only commemorated the 34th anniversary of Charles A. Lindbergh's Atlantic crossing, which took ten times longer; it also marked the opening of the 24th Paris International Air Show. 

The B-58 crew inspects the Lindbergh plaque at Le Bourget

The trans-Atlantic record breakers, still wearing their flight suits, patched jackets, black boots and Pepsi-bezeled Rolex watches, would kneel next to the Lindbergh plaque at Le Bourget airport in Paris, in a moment of relaxation and recognition of historic flight history nostalgia. 

The press was there, a few pictures were taken; they would make the front page of The New York Times, above the fold. 

Maj. William R. Payne, pilot, with Capt. William L. Polhemus, navigator, and Capt. Raymond R. Wagener, defense systems operator, earned both the Mackay and Harmon Trophies for the first supersonic Atlantic crossing, the time set by the bomber having almost halved the previous record. 

Including refueling periods that day, the B-58, nicknamed "The Hustler," averaged about 1,050 miles an hour inflight. 

This B-58 broke the speed record; seen refueling by a KC-135

Introduced by Convair only 12 years after the sound barrier was first broken, the Hustler became the first large long-range supersonic bomber to take to the skies, capable of Mach 2 at 63,000 feet. 

Faster than its contemporaries and agile enough to escape most interceptors, the B-58 was a remarkable feat of engineering, setting 19 world speed records and epitomizing the Cold War power of USAF Strategic Air Command. 

...Rolex Super Coolness... 

Precision Navigation over the Atlantic

Maj. William Payne, Capt. William Polhemus, Capt. Raymond Wagener flight-planning...

The Rolex 1675 GMT-Master on the pilots' wrists could track two time zones. The watch had exceptional visibility, and its bi-directional blue-and-red bezel made it the ideal watch for criss-crossing the globe. 

...with a Rolex GMT-Master on their wrists

The B-58 crew jumped six time zones in three hours—and they had done it 15 years before the first Concorde entered service. "If you were flying a Concorde tomorrow..." 

Each B-58 crew member had a separate cockpit.

A Crash

The story of the B-58 that set a speed record from New York to Paris ended tragically. On June 3rd, 1961, the Hustler took off from Le Bourget for its return trip to the U.S. The pilot performed a low-altitude roll as the aircraft entered a low cloud base and disappeared from view. The Hustler crashed into a potato field near Louvres and exploded in a huge fireball, killing all three crew members. 

In a bizarre twist of fate, the speed-record breakers were not onboard. Three different Air Force officers had crewed the B-58 for its flight back to the U.S. 

As for the original crew, they continued their careers in the U.S. Air Force, a Rolex on their wrists—keeping the time of their lives. The pilot, William R. Payne, would later be the first to break the 1,000 hours flying a supersonic jet. 

I found the local news reel marking the event, which can be seen below. As far as I know this is the only video available of him. There is no sound, but I've added the transcript in the description. 

This video has no sound. Here's the transcript from the local TV station:

    "The white puff of smoke boiling up from the wheels of this B-58 Hustler signifies the ticking off of 1,000 hours of supersonic jet time for the sleek jet's pilot, Lieutenant Colonel William R. Payne of 41-01 Tara Lane in Fort Worth. He is the first pilot in the United States Air Force to log a thousand hour of supersonic flight. Brigadier General Brick Holstrom, 43rd Bomb wing commander, is on hand as Col. Payne extricate himself from the pilot's seat. A B-58 weapons system operator and navigator are the only officers in the Air Force to have logged 1,000 supersonic hours. Col. 

    Payne's family is on hand as he leaves the plane, named "Wild Child Two," and is greeted by B. G. Reed, vice-president of operations at Fort Worth's General Dynamics plant. Reed presents the 39-year-old jet pilot with a certificate honoring his achievement and a thousand-hour pin. Col. Payne's B-58 career has been a string of firsts ... he is a member of the first crew in the Air Force to become combat ready in the B-58. With Col. Payne at the controls in 1961, a B-58 set two international speed records during a Fort Worth-to-Paris run, winning the coveted Mackay trophy, also for the first time."

Sincere thanks to my friend Phil from Moon Watch Universe for helping me with this story.

What is Rolex Syloxi? An In-Depth Look At Rolex's Latest Innovation by Kyle Stults...

A note from Jake: Kyle Stults is the Founding Editor and publisher of @Perpetuelle which is a superb horological resource. Kyle published a Rolex story on Rolex's innovation with Syloxi which blew my mind with how well written and researched it was, so I asked his permission to republish it on Jake's Rolex World, and he graciously agreed. The following article is extremely detailed, and I love how Kyle was able to take a typically complex story, and make it really easy to understand. 

What Is Rolex Syloxi?

An In-Depth Look At Rolex's Latest Innovation

by Kyle Stults

Rolex Syloxi Hairspring pictured above

“Syloxi” is a Rolex trademark, derived from the materials from which it is made — silicon and silicon oxide composite.  In this article, I will explore Syloxi in the context of the first component Rolex has elected to make with it — the hairspring.  After many years under development, the Rolex Syloxi hairspring was introduced in March 2014 as “the optimal silicon hairspring”, according to Rolex.   Rolex is of course not the first to introduce a silicon hairspring.  The technology is available to certain Swiss manufacturers/groups:  Ulysse Nardin (the first to introduce a silicon hairspring), Patek Philippe, the Swatch Group (Breguet, Omega et al.), though it remains still somewhat of a niche technology.

Though not the first, Rolex brings its first silicon (or ‘silicium’ as it is also called) component to market with its own set of innovations, with full in-house production capability, and in the peculiar manner (as is oft the external perception, at least) that Rolex often takes to introducing new products.  Yes, chances are you have not even have heard of Syloxi until now.  The Syloxi hairspring debuted at Baselworld 2014 — as part of the new Rolex Caliber 2236, a new generation of movement’s for women’s watches.  That’s right — Rolex quietly introduced one of its most important technical innovations in years as part of a woman’s watch. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!  And after all, what’s Rolex to do with all those Parachrom hairpsrings which currently reside in Rolex men’s watches?

Follow along as I explore in-depth the new Rolex Syloxi hairspring technology.

The Case for Silicon

In a mechanical watch, the oscillator is the guardian of time.  Comprising a hairspring and a balance wheel, this regulating organ determines the precision of the watch by the regularity of its oscillations.  Ensuring the oscillator’s regularity is one of watchmaking’s great challenges. It can only be achieved by minimizing the effects of environmental disturbances that affect the oscillator’s performance, notably temperature variations (which cause materials to expand or contract), magnetic interference, gravity and other external shocks.

Silicon, used selectively in watch components for about a decade now, has proven an ideal solution for overcoming many of the deficits of traditional hairsprings.  In particular, the performance properties of silicon are further enhanced when covered by an oxide layer, thereby largely mitigating silicon’s tendency to be affected by changes in temperature.  Thus oxide coated silicon, being thermo-compensating as well, makes for an ideal material to confront the challenges faced by the humble hairspring.

Sharing in the general performance attributes of silicon, Rolex’s new Syloxi hairspring counters the shortcomings of traditional ferromagnetic hairsprings and significantly improves the regularity of the oscillator and the precision of the watch.  It is insensitive to magnetic fields, while offering great stability when exposed to temperature variations. While intuitively more accurate than a traditional hairspring, Rolex naturally touts the Rolex Syloxi as particularly innovative among the realm of existing silicon technology.  Attributes it has achieved by using new patented solutions, including optimized geometry of the hairspring and an efficient design of its fixation systems.

Syloxi Patented Innovations

The Syloxi hairspring’s performance is based on five patents. The first concerns the material of which it is made, a silicon and silicon oxide composite (as noted, mashup “sil” and “ox” and you get ‘Syloxi’), whose thermo-compensating and non-magnetic properties allow the Syloxi hairspring to maintain its high precision when subjected to temperature fluctuations and magnetic fields.

Rolex has also developed a patented geometry that optimizes the isochronism of the hairspring as well as its chronometric regularity. The variable pitch and thickness of the coils, optimized along the whole length of the hairspring, ensures constant development in all positions, compensating for the effects of gravity.   In the close-up image below, one can observe how the coils not only increase in thickness as they progress further from the center pivot, but are increasingly spaced farther apart.

A closer look at the (patented) geometry of the Syloxi Hairspring

Rolex also refined and patented the manner of fixing the ends of the hairspring to the balance staff and the balance bridge, thereby enhancing its flatness and concentricity.  A flexible central part allows it to be attached to the balance staff without the need for glue. The hairspring remains perfectly perpendicular, flat and is self-centering.

The Syloxi hairspring terminates in a more rigid, reinforced crescent-shaped part that allows a two-point fixation to the traversing balance bridge.  These fixation points are located at opposite sides of the balance staff ensuring that the hairspring is perfectly centered, perfectly flat and free of any residual mechanical stress in its active zone.  This type of fixation also allowed Rolex to optimize the beat adjustment using the Paraflex shock absorber that features a fluting for this purpose, and which is also the signature of calibres equipped with the Syloxi hairspring.

A Rolex Paraflex Shock Absorber

Manufacturing of Syloxi

The Syloxi hairspring is manufactured entirely in-house by Rolex via a high-precision manufacturing process known as deep reactive ion etching (DRIE).  This is a well-understood and commonly used technique as it pertains to the manufacture of silicon components.

The First Rolex Caliber with Syloxi 

Rolex Reference 2236

As noted, the Syloxi hairspring was introduced in 2014 in calibre 2236, the first of a new generation of movements for Rolex women’s watches.

Rolex Datejust Pearlmaster

The first Rolex watches with Syloxi hairspring

As part of the new Caliber 2236, the Syloxi hairpsring sits alongside the brand’s range of high-performance hairsprings, namely the Parachrom hairspring that equips men’s models.

As of today, all Rolex men’s models are equipped with the blue paramagnetic “Parachrom” hairspring which was developed and patented by Rolex in 2000 and first launched in the 4130 movement in the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona.  Parachrom is made in an exclusive alloy of niobium, zirconium and oxygen.  In 2005, Rolex introduced a new patented process to modify the surface of the Parachrom hairspring and thereby further reinforce its longterm stability.  It is this same treatment that produces its characteristic blue color.  Even at a glance, however, one can see the vast differences between Parachrom and Syloxi.

Pictured above is the Rolex Parachrom Hairspring, and pictured below is the Syloxi Hairspring.

The Future of Rolex Syloxi

So without much pomp and circumstance behind it at the moment, where does this leave Syloxi today?  Rolex’s decision to introduce the Syloxi hairspring in a very low-key manner, and in a woman’s watch — appears to be a matter of tactics.  It is a cautious approach for a cautious brand.  Which is understandable for the world’s most valuable watch brand — nee, one of the world’s most valuable brands period.   At least in the near term, there is much more to lose than to gain by the hasty and unthoughtful introduction of a profound new technology into the marketplace, particularly when Parachrom hairpsprings work quite well already.

But there is no doubt that the introduction of the Syloxi hairspring is a major advancement for Rolex, and the possibility that it could one day be a major part of the Rolex caliber families is a real one.  Which naturally brings us to the “what’s next” question.  Likely, introduction into a caliber used for Rolex’s mens range.   Whether that happens one year or ten years from now is pure conjecture.  Beyond this, the question is more broad:  what’s next for Syloxi?  Watch components other than just hairsprings could be made of the high-tech material, and that’s where things could start to get really interesting over at Rolex.

One thing is for sure, these are exciting times for Rolex’s new high-performance silicon heart known as the Syloxi hairspring.

Leonardo DiCaprio is The New Face of Rolex

...The New Face of Rolex...

Leonardo DiCaprio

Leo and The Family Rolex

Did you notice the subtle reference I made to “Sly and the Family Stone” in the subtitle of this story, when I used “Leo and the Family Rolex”? The title is a play on the band’s iconic songs, 'Everyday People', 'Family Affair', and 'I Want To Take You Higher', which celebrated the unity and diversity within their group. Despite coming from diverse backgrounds and having varying roles within the band, the members were all included and considered part of the same family! Same with Rolex...

Academy Award Winning Best Actor, Leonardo DiCaprio is now the face of Rolex, or in Rolex parlance, or nomenclature—a Rolex Testimonee. (Maybe Testimonee is French, or something!?!! :-) I'm 99%++ certain "Testimonee" is Rolex's way of saying "Ambassador", in the same way Rolex has long referred (since 1932) to two-tone yellow gold and steel watch models, (including platinum & stainless) models as "Rolesium". Rolex quietly added Leonardo DiCaprio to "The Rolex Family", today—without much fanfare. 

Jake's Take

If you think about it, the metaphor, "The Rolex Family", is a brilliantly powerful metaphor on many levels!?!! The two things that stands out most about "The Rolex Family", are first and foremost, how inclusive it is; and secondly, it almost sounds like an invitation of sorts. You see, we, as human beings are very tribal creatures, that yearn to run with the most successful pack of our fellow humans. The slogan of "The Rolex Family" to my way of thinking reminds me of  Frank Sinatra singing, "Come Fly With Me!"

So "The Rolex Family" is almost a call to action of sorts...In my option it sounds like, if you wear a Rolex, you are part of "The Rolex Family"—by default...

Over the decades, I've seen Rolex come up with some pretty brilliant marketing slogans and campaign, but I think "The Rolex Family" is probably the best one yet! Kudos to Rolex!!!! Speaking of which, this new Rolex "Reach for the Crown" video that just dropped is also totally next-level inspirational...

Of course, Leonardo has been wearing a Rolex Daytona for many years, as I first reported 15 years ago, back in 2010.

ACQUIRED PODCAST on ROLEX

 

ACQUIRED PODCAST

ROLEX

Features Much RolexMagazine.com

 Storytelling Content & Insight

The ACQUIRED Podcast is world-famous, very popular, and has run for 16 seasons, and was started 10 years ago, back on March 17, 2015. If you are not familiar with the ACQUIRED Podcast, they are renowned for doing super-deep-dives into the history of successful companies, and they just published a 5-hour episode on The History of Rolex!

I listened to the entire podcast version of the Acquired Rolex podcast, and noticed that even thought they are passionate and do a great job of offering a comprehensive overview of Rolex's history, they seem to have gotten confused on a number of Rolex history details. Thus, I reached out to them in order to make some clarifications, and share further insight.

Ironically, it was Captain Danny, from Coronet that reached out to share this fascinating news with me, and Captain Danny said, "Five hours of podcast about Rolex from the famous 'Acquired' podcast channel published yesterday. Sources quoted mention RolexMagazine.com a lot in the episode's page." 

I am highly flattered they studied and were inspired by so much of my Rolex history stories I have published over the past 17 years, (They Referenced 9 Articles from RolexMagazine.com in their research notes) and listening to their podcast for me is superb, as it's kind of like they are narrating a great deal of the Rolex history I researched, discovered, and shared. In particular, the ACQUIRED Podcast went into a lot of detail on my story about the Founder of Rolex, Hans Wilsdorf.

I first heard about the ACQUIRED Podcast about a month ago, when I watched an interview with Eric Ku, who is a top vintage Rolex dealer. Eric said the ACQUIRED Podcast is his favorite podcast by far, as they do deep dives into the history of many luxury brands, like Louis Vuitton and Hermès. I was planning to take a listen, but hadn't had a chance to, so I was pleasantly surprised when Captain Danny shared the link with me.

The ACQUIRED Podcast slogan is "Every Company has a story", and they go on to say, "Learn the playbooks that built the world's greatest companies — and how you can apply them as a founder, operator, or investor."

You can listen to and enjoy the ACQUIRED Podcast episode on Rolex by clicking here.

Rolex Bubble-Back Unique Queen Mary Dial

Rolex Bubble-Back

Unique RMS Queen Mary Dial

John "Crash" Moittel is a daily reader of Jake's Rolex World. He is also a Trustee of miottelmuseum.com. John wrote in recently to share some fascinating insight on is RISitus condition. John said:

"Here is a very interesting item that may now be unique—and as such—may be of interest to you. It’s a Rolex “Queen Mary.” I am attaching some photos. The photos didn’t catch it, but in actuality, the name “Queen Mary” is clearly visible on the bow of the ship image."

Seeing this beauty for the first time took my breath away! To the best of my recollection, this is the earliest known "Exotic Dial" Rolex, or, in other words, Rolex dial with graphics on it.

The RMS Queen Mary Ocean Liner is pictured below as she cruises by Manhattan back in the 1930s.

John continued: 

"You seem like the most prolific and eclectic RISitus victim around my newly discovered field of interest so I’d be interested in any medications that you can recommend &/or what you think about my affliction."

RISitus, if you are not familiar with the term, stems from the term WISitus, which is a condition of sorts. "WIS" is the acronym for "Watch Idiot Savant", thus "RIS" is the acronym for "Rolex Idiot Savant". This is a condition I have happily suffered from for four decades now ;-)

John, my best advice is to "Keep Truckin'!!!". WISitus and RISitus, are some of the best conditions one can suffer from, as the cornerstone of them is The Spirit Of Inquiry, or if I am speakin' wif a cockney accent  (fink: Michael Caine), The Spirit Of Enquiry :-)

Wikipedia.com Definition:

RMS Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner that sailed primarily on the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line (known as Cunard-White Star Line when the vessel entered service). Built by John Brown & Companyin Clydebank, Scotland, Queen Mary along with her running mate, the RMS Queen Elizabeth, were built as part of Cunard's planned two-ship weekly express service between Southampton, Cherbourg, and New York City. The two ships were a British response to the superliners built by German and French companies in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Queen Mary was the flagship of the Cunard Line from May 1936 until October 1946 when she was replaced in that role by Queen Elizabeth.

Queen Mary sailed on her maiden voyage on 27 May 1936 and captured the Blue Riband in August of that year; she lost the title to SS Normandie in 1937 and recaptured it in 1938, holding it until 1952 when she was beaten by the new SS United States. With the outbreak of World War II, she was converted into a troopship and ferried Alliedsoldiers for the duration of the war.

Following the war Queen Mary was refitted for passenger service and along with Queen Elizabeth commenced the two-ship transatlantic passenger service for which the two ships were initially built. The two ships dominated the transatlantic passenger transportation market until the dawn of the jet age in the late 1950s. By the mid-1960s, Queen Mary was ageing and, though still among the most popular transatlantic liners, was operating at a loss.

After several years of decreased profits for Cunard Line, Queen Mary was officially retired from service in 1967. She left Southampton for the last time on 31 October 1967 and sailed to the port of Long Beach, California, United States, where she remains permanently moored. Much of the machinery, including one of the two engine rooms, three of the four propellers, and all of the boilers, were removed. The ship serves as a tourist attraction featuring restaurants, a museum, and hotel. The ship is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has accepted the Queen Mary as part of the Historic Hotels of America.^[2]

Baguette Diamond Daytona...

...Rolex Time Machine...

Baguette Diamond Daytona

Set 2009 Auction Record of $315,000

The Antiquorum Auction house in Switzerland set an auction record in April of 2009, when the price realized for an 18kt gold Rolex Daytona was auctioned for $315,000.00 (U.S. dollars). Of course, the record has been broken many times since then, but I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at this Rolex auction record from 16 years ago.

This very interesting looking Daytona [Reference 6270/6263] was made in 1985 and has 28 baguettes surrounding the bezel along with 240 diamonds and 9 sapphire indices on the bezel. I believe this one of a kind Rolex watch was custom made for the Sultan Of Oman.

Christopher Plummer Belongs To The Ages...

Academy Award Winner
Christopher Plummer
1929-2021
Christopher Plummer passed away in 2021 at the age of 91, and was born the grandson of a former Canadian Prime Minister, and went on to become one of the most iconic and beloved stage and movie theater actors. Nick Gould discovered the fact that Christopher Plummer wore a vintage Rolex Daytona [Reference 6265] for at least five decades.

Christopher Plummer wore his Rolex Daytona on both a Rolex Oyster and Jubilee bracelet as seen in the photos above and below.

Christopher Plummer also wore a Rolex Datejust as seen on his wrist in the photo below.

Rolex Macro Shots Of The Day: Mr. K Datejust Dial with Jubilee Bracelet

Rolex Macro Shot Of The Day

Datejust Dial with Jubilee Bracelet