Jean-Michel (from France) and his diving pal, Olivier are both wearing Rolex Sea-Dweller models in the two photos below. Who says Rolex watches are not still used as tool watches!?!
Jean-Michel is an geophysics engineer and he began his diving career when he was only 8 years old. Jean-Michel started collecting watches when he was 20 years old (He is 43 today) and he is extremely passionate about not only watches, but the history behind them.
Jean-Michel has an AMAZING diving website he maintains that has incredible diving photography as well as diving history and photos and information on his huge diving watch collection. Jean-Michel's site is in French, but if you don't speak French, I highly recommend just clicking around. You can see his site by clicking here.
Jean-Michel also maintains his own French diving forum that you can see by clicking here, as well as the Superb Omega-Speedmaster Mission website which you visit by clicking here, and the excellent Breitling Navitimer site which you can visit by clicking here.
Don Johnson wore many different Rolex watches on the 1980s hit show, Miami Vice and Marrk pointed out that some of the first episodes of Miami Vice are pretty good, so yesterday, I figured I would start Miami Vice Monday, since Monday alliterates with Miami.
It is hard to fathom Miami Vice debuted 25 Years ago!!! It is also interesting to note Miami Vice and Flipper were both filmed in Florida and if you think about it, Miami Vice is kinda like I Spy meets Flipper–you have a black and a white undercover cop who wear shoulder harness holsters under their jackets, running around Florida wearing Rolex watches. On Flipper they have a pet dolphin named Flipper and on Miami Vice Crockett has a pet alligator name Elvis.
Rolex "Presidential"
When I know characters in a TV series wore Rolex, I am always curious to see if they wore Rolex in the first episode from the first season–known as the pilot. In the pilot of Miami Vice, I was shocked to see how many characters wear yellow gold Rolex Day-Date models, also referred to as a "Presidential" or "Rolex President." As a matter of fact, in this episode, one of the characters refers to his Rolex Day-Date as "Presidential."
The star of the show is Don Johnson's character named Crockett and throughout the first episode, he wears a Rolex Day-Date as pictured below. At the time, in 1984, when Miami Vice deputed, Don Johnson was a very handsome actor and considered to be a major fashion plate with his dressy casual look.
Prior to this era in fashion, men never wore sports coats with T-shirts, but Don Johnson made that a very popular look along with his light colored pastel and white color palette.
In the photo above and below we see Don Johnson sporting his yellow gold Rolex Day-Date and in the photo above we also see Don with his casual look with the sunglasses hanging on his T-shirt when he is not wearing them.
In the photo below we see more of the T-shirt with the light colored pastel sport coat look. At the time, Don Johnson was considered to be the most G.Q. dude in the world.
In the photo below, we see Don Johnson in a restaurant with his partner Tubbs.
This next photo below of Don Johnson's wrist shows a close-up shot of his Rolex Day-Date.
In the next photo (below) another one of the characters is wearing a yellow gold Rolex Day-Date.
Ironically, on Miami Vice, both the good guys and the bad guys wear Rolex Day-Date models. The guy pictured below is the main kingpin that Crockett and Tubbs are after and as you can see, he is also wearing a yellow gold Rolex Day-Date.
The shot below is a close-up wrist shot of the kingpin pictured above.
Fashion Impact of Miami Vice
The photo below of Don Johnson is from a later season of Miami Vice and Don Johnson's character has changed from wearing Elvis style aviator sunglasses to Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses and he is also wearing a two-tone Rolex Datejust.
Ironically, Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses have become very popular again today. I know in a later season of Miami Vice, Don Johnson's character switches sunglass brands to Persol, which are probably the best made sunglasses in the world. Persol sunglasses are made in Italy and Persol makes their lenses from hardened crystal instead of glass, because crystal has better optical characteristics.
Amazing Soundtrack
Anther one of the amazing elements of the pilot was the soundtrack which features the Rolling Stones, Phil Collins, and Jan Hammer. When was the last time you saw a TV episode playing Rolling Stones music? Actually it was on the last season of the Sopranos.
Miami Vice Monday
Here is the full-length trailer for Miami Vice. I will post a new episode every Monday with screenshots if the show remains good. Back in the 80s I only saw a few episodes so it might be fun to watch and check out the Rolex watches. I must say that I thought this first episode was surprisingly good:
Speaking of Wayfarers, JFK is pictured below sporting his Ray Ban Wayfarers. Now that I think about it, Ray Ban Wayfarers are classic like a Rolex Submariner.
I never wanted an American car, but wow!!! The new Camaro has pretty amazing lines...I snapped this photo when I was up in Sanoma, California recently with my lousy iPhone camera (which will hopefully be updated next week at WWDC). I can't wait to see the convertible version of the all-new Camaro with racing stripes. All I can say is: Go Speed Racer Go!!!!
Welcome to the third installment of Presidential Watch Sunday. I would like to thank the White House and Pete Souza (The Official White House Photographer) for giving us unprecedented access to photos of the United States Presidency.
This first shot was taken on March 25, 2009 during the Domestic Policy Council Meeting in the Oval Office. President Obama is a huge sportsman in terms of spectating with professional teams as well as participating himself.
Tip: Click on images to see much more detail:
This next photo of President Obama shows off Pete Souza's great artistic talent as he takes the photo of the President's reflection in the window with the beautiful winter background.
This next shot taken on January 27, 2009 of President Obama with his Legislative Affairs Director, Phil Shiliro as they leave to go to the U.S. Capitol to meet with Republican members of Congress.
President Obama runs with his new family dog, Bo down the East Colonnade on the dog's initial visit to the White House on March 15, 2009.
President Obama is seen below on April 8, 2009 as he walks down the stairs of Air Force One upon his arrival to Andrews Air Force Base upon returning from Baghdad, Iraq.
This next shot is fascinating. President Obama is seen practicing his golf swing at an outdoor hold prior to attending an event at the Miguel Contreras Learning Center, located in Los Angeles, California on March 19, 2009.
The following video of President Obama is really interesting and it shows President Obama going out to get some burgers in Washington D.C. with Brian Williams who was interviewing him that day, and you see Brain Williams of NBC appear briefly, and Brian is wearing a Rolex Daytona.
I think one of the appealing characteristics of President Obama is that he even though he is the President, he seems extremely down to earth and unpretentious.
There is a great difference between knowledge and understanding. You can know a lot about something without understanding it. –Charles Kettering
So, here is the deal: I stopped publishing I Spy Saturday, a few weeks ago because I thought some of the episodes were so bad, that they were unwatchable and I did not want to subject, you (my readers) to them.
Just out of curiosity and for historical sake–to make certain I leave no stone unturned–I still watch them on Saturday anyway, hoping the show will get better, hoping for some cool Rolex screen captures and hoping to gain more historical insight.
I decided to bring I Spy back because this episode is alright and there are some cool Rolex shots. Also, Bill Cosby is pretty funny–plus I kinda missed our favorite Rolex Spies. I mean, two cool, mod dudes, both wearing vintage GMT Pepsi watches!!!
I know I Spy is kind or campy, kitchy and stupid, kind of like the original Batman TV series, but for some reason I like it...I am hoping as they move away from Hong Kong and get more familiar with their roles that they get better...Let's keep our fingers crossed...
Daniel Craig is the current James Bond but in his private life he wears Rolex watches and I believe in this photo he is wearing a vintage Big Red Panda, Rolex Daytona [Reference 6263]
In this episode of Flipper Friday I would say we definately have a 100% Positive ID (Short of a dial shot, which I hope to find in the future) on Porter Ricks Stainless Steel Rolex Submariner which appears to be a Reference 5512 or 5513.
I also noticed the other Warden who Porter Ricks has a conversation with has the same uniform and he is also wearing a stainless steel Rolex Submariner. Pretty cool that it was standard issue.
Sandy Submariner
I was watching the episode of Flipper from last week again, and I was tripping on Sandy's watch. At first, I assumed it was not a Submariner because it is not on an Oyster bracelet, and it seems smaller, but when I took a closer look, it appears to be an older 37mm No Crown Guard, Rolex Submariner. I also think I remember seeing a photo from a later season of Sandy wearing a Submariner on an Oyster bracelet.
When we zoom in and look closer, it seems to have all the characteristics of an older, and smaller Rolex Submariner. What do you think?
It appears the watch has a cyclops date lens at 3pm, but I believe that is just a drop of water since he just got out of the water. There also appears to be a drop of water at 12.
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.
