This is a heartwarming story about a man who bought a Rolex in Germany in 1960, when he was stationed in the U.S. Army. He paid $120 for it, and freaked out when Antiques Roadshow advised him that his Rolex is worth between $65,000 and $75,000 today!!! That means it increased in value by 625 times in 55 years. That's a 6000% return on his initial investment. I highly recommend watching this video.
An obvious question is how many more of these valuable watches are sitting around in drawers, slowly collecting dust, and the answer is many, many, many!!!! Most people see these old watches, and if they can't get the watch to work, they think its broken and worthless...What a World!!?!
Academy Award Winning Actor & Writer Vintage Rolex Explorer
Jason Bourne is Back!!! Coming To Theaters July 29th
Academy Award Winning actor and writer, Matt Damon is pictured below wearing his Rolex Explorer. Matt started in Good Will Hunting (1997), Saving Private Ryan (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (2000), The Ocean's series (2002), the Bourne Identity series, Syriana, The Good Shepherd (2007) and The Departed (2006), The Martian (2015).
In the photos in this post you can see photos of Matt Damon wearing his vintage Rolex Explorer on an Oyster bracelet.
One of Matt Damon's most famous roles is as Jason Bourne, from the Bourne Identity Series. Matt Damon just announced his fourth movie in the series, simply named "Jason Bourne", which will be released in theaters on July, 29, 2016. You can see the official trailer below, inch which Jason Bourne suddenly regains his memory.
This is Matt Damon's fourth time playing the iconic character of Jason Bourne.
Sir Tom Jones is a world-famous Welsh singer that has sold over 100 Million records in his career that has spanned 6 decades. He has so many iconic hits that are immediately recognizable like, "It's Not Unusual", "Delilah", and "Green Green Grass Of Home." We see Tom pictured below sporting his vintage yellow gold Rolex Submariner.
I realize this probably sound funny, but Tom Jones always reminds me of the father on the Brady Bunch :-)
Like everybody else, I was stunned to learn recording superstar, Prince died today :-( So here is a tribute to Prince with Tom Jones and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd fame performing Purple Rain.
I found this fascinating image in the NASA Archives a long time ago. The photo was taken August 14, 1967 during Apollo desert survival training. Apollo 13 Astronaut Jack Swigert is pictured on the far right and he is wearing his Rolex GMT that he wore when he flew to the moon.
Pictured from left to right: Charles M Duke Jr., Thomas K Mattingly, Col. Chester Hohart, and John (Jack) L. Swigert.
No. These guys are not wearing Halloween costumes, and yes they are Sheiks of sorts. In the photo above, the three astronauts are in Washington state during desert survival training. During desert training the astronauts have to simulate what would happen if they land by mistake way off-course in the desert and have to do without human help for several weeks.
So how and why does this make them Sheik's? Arab Sheiks wear cotton scarfs to protect their heads, known as Keffiyeh and robes to stay cool in the extreme heat of the desert. Arab Sheiks also always wear sunglasses, often times indoors because the sun is extremely bright in the desert. The difference between the NASA Astronaut's headpiece and robes is that they are had crafted by the Astronauts from parachutes.
The photo below is of a close up of Jack Swigert's trademark Pepsi Rolex GMT Master. If you look closely it appears that Col. Hobart is also wearing a GMT but on a Jubilee bracelet. Also, digg those chic white Jack Taylor Converse Canvass high-tops Swigert is wearing. I had a pair of those when I was little kid.
Jack Swigert is pictured below in his NASA space suit wearing his Rolex GMT Pepsi.
When Jack Swigert returned from the Apollo 13 Moon Mission, Rolex traded-in his Pepsi GMT Master for a yellow gold Mocha GMT on a Jubilee bracelet as seen below. Jack Swigert's Pepsi GMT Master which traveled to the Moon and back is in Rolex's private collection in Geneva, Switzerland. If you want to learn much more about all of the Rolex Moon watches, you should check out my series aptly named "The Rolex Moon Watch Conquest & Beyond"which covers the entire gamut of Rolex in space.
I originally wrote this story back on November 16, 2008. I just stumbled across it in my archives, and thought I would share it: I noticed the Rolex Turn-o-graph for sale in the upcoming Christie's Auction with a the white honeycomb dial and I wanted to learn more about the watch and get a better look at it.
I found this great image on the Antiquorum.com Auction site. This watch was part of Lot 151 which was sold on April 17, 2008 at the Antiquorum auction titled The Evolution of the Rolex Sports Watch. It sold for $44,400 U.S.
The Antiquorum description reads: "The Turn-o-graph Reference 6202 was touted by Rolex as The watch with a thousand and one uses." This watch was manufactured by Rolex in 1953 and its diameter is 35mm and thickness is 13mm.
I refer to this color combination of a Rolex with a white dial and black bezel as the Oreo Cookie. I really like the design of this watch and in particular I really like the Dauphine hands.
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.