Today is the 80th Birthday of King Harald of Norway. So on behalf of all the readers of Jake's Rolex World, I would like to with King Harald a happy 80th Birthday!!!
So how did I learn it's King Harald's 80th Birthday? Morten who has been a reader of Jake's Rolex World for years now read my recently published story named, "The Complete History Of The Rolex GMT-Master", and was inspired to send in the email below:
Hello Jake,
I have enjoyed your blog for some years now, and when I read your recent story on the Rolex GMT I came to think of the most famous GMT in my country, Norway.
Our king, King Harald(Harald V) is having his Jubileum this Tuesday (21st of February) when he turns 80.
I enclosed a photo of him sporting his Rolex GMT 1675, which he has worn almost daily since it was new and the bezel has almost no pigments left...great watch on a beloved monark.
Happy birthday King Harald!
Thank you Jake for a great blog, and have a nice day.
Even thought Rolex watches are the international mark of success, very little is known about Rolex as a company because, from all my research, I would say Rolex is kind of shy. In other words, Rolex is a very low-key company, and many people don't realize that Rolex is a highly philanthropic company. There is an organization named, "The Rolex Institute" that governs Rolex's philanthropic endeavors. The Rolex Institute consists of two fascinating entities which are "The Rolex Awards For Enterprise", and "The Rolex Mentor & Protégé" In this article we are going to get in The Rolex Time-Machine and go back to explore the history of The Rolex Awards For Enterprise. The Rolex Awards For Enterprise just celebrated their 40th Anniversary, and were founded by Rolex CEO, André Heiniger who is pictured below when he became the CEO of Rolex in 1963.
Rolex CEO André Heiniger pictured above in 1963
1976 Rolex Ad
The first Rolex ad below was published in 1976, and give a superb overview of the genesis of The Rolex Awards For Enterprise.
1978 Rolex Ad
The next two images below were published in 1978 by Rolex in magazines. The first image is fascinating because it appears to be a wrist shot of sorts, but if you examine it closer, you might notice the remarkable similarity to the Rolex crown logo.
1987 Rolex Ad
The next two images below were published in 1987 and offer a fascinating perspective.
1993 Rolex Ad
The images below were published in 1993 and go into detail on the overall history of The Rolex Awards For Enterprise.
2006 Rolex Laureates Ad
What an amazing photograph!!!!! It's incredible to contrast the size of the human swimming above the whale shark. Just awe inspiring!!! The whale shark is like the size of a house–but swimming through the ocean!!! I can't imagine any dinosaur could have been larger than the whale-shark!!! Inner-Space really is every bit as fascinating as Outer-Space, if not more!!!!
Best 2017 Super Bowl Commercial Peter Fonda Return of Born To Be Wild (with a twist)
What is the best part of the Super Bowl? Watching the Commercials...of course!!! This years Super Bowl commercials are reported to have cost $10 Million per 60 seconds to air. That makes sense when you have over 100 Million people watching it. My absolute favorite this year was the Mercedes-AMG GT Roadster commercial that starred Peter Fonda and was directed by The Coen Brothers.
It is worth noting the Mercedes Super Bowl commercial takes place almost a half-century later than the movie, Easy Rider.
Easy Rider was before my time...in other words I was a baby when it debuted in theaters. That being said, I have heard that Easy Rider defined a generation, and as a result, remains highly iconic to this day...Steppenwolf's song, Born To Be Wild, was like an anthem for the hippy generation. Easy Rider has been described as a "touchstone for a generation", as well as a landmark counterculture film.
Peter Fonda wore a yellow gold prototype Rolex GMT-Master in the seminal 1969 pop-culture Classic titled "Easy Rider". You can see Peter Fonda's Rolex GMT-Master on his wrist in the photos below.
"I'm Hip About Time. I Just Gotta Go."– Peter Fonda
You can actually see the yellow gold Rolex GMT-Master pictured above on Peter Fonda's wrist in the famous 1969 Easy Rider opening scene it appears briefly on-screen 47 seconds in to the video below.
Below is a screen grab of Peter Fonda's Rolex GMT-Master that appeared in the 1969 movie, Easy Rider.
The photo below is of the actual Rolex GMT-Master watch Peter Fonda wore in Easy Rider.
Bruno Mars is a Grammy Award winning singer and is one of the top recording artists today, and he wears a yellow gold Rolex Day-Date as seen in the photo below.
Recently Bruno Mars recorded this hilariously entertaining episode of Carpool Karaoke with James Coren, as they drove through The City Of Angels...and you can check out Bruno rockin' his yellow gold Rolex Day-Date...So click on the full screen button, turn the volume way up enjoy some happy, health smiles ;-)
In the photo below, we see Bruno Mars wearing a two-tone Rolex Datejust.
Below we see Bruno Mars perform his megahit song named, "When I Was Your Man", which to date has had close to a HALF BILLION Views on YouTube!!!!!!!
So you think a quarter of a billion views is impressive this next song by Bruno Mars named "Just The Way You Are" has is quickly closing in on a Billion Views on YouTube!!!
Bruno Mars performed during the Halftime show at the 2014 Superbowl, and it was just amazing!!! You can view the entire amazing performance below...
24K Magic
Bruno Mars' 24K Magic video, which can be seen below, has already been viewed close to 750 Million times!!! In this video, we can see Bruno rockin' his yellow gold Rolex Day-Date...
Roger Federer just won the 2017 Australian Open Finals against Rafael Nadal. This came after Roger Federer took a 6 month break from tennis to refresh himself.
If you did not have a chance to watch the match live, the video below offers a great overview of the Finals. Obviously it was a really close match, and represents some of the finest tennis...Also, it is kind of funny [T. Walkerism] if you watch the footage below as Roger Federer's and Rafael Nadel's outfits, including their shoes and socks, are almost identical...
The BATMAN
Rolex GMT-Master
Roger is wearing his stainless steel Rolex GMT-Master in the photos above with the trophy that were taken when he won the 2017 Australian Open. This watch is nicknamed The Batman as it has a "Night & Day" Ceramic Bezel that is black and blue.
Rolex collectors and enthusiasts love to use nicknames for different Rolex Sport models, like The Pepsi, or Coke GMT-Master or the 7up Submariner for the original LV Submariner. The all Green LV Submariner is nicknamed The Hulk, and Rolex collectors have affectionally nicknamed the Night & Day Rolex GMT-Master as "The Batman" since it is silver, black and blue like Batman's uniform. Very cool!
I have a confession to make. I hate writing obituaries. Every time I write one, I feel like a part of me has died, but maybe I should celebrate it instead as if a part of me has lived. Lived to enjoy another great part of the world we all share. Mary Tyler Moore was one of the most icon women in history. Her career achievements were amazing as a Television Pioneer, so I thought I would take this opportunity to look back at one of the most genuinely beautiful and delightful women the ever lived.
Who Can Turn The World On With Her Smile...
The Dick Van Dyke Show
Mary Tyler Moore launched her epic career when she was cast on the Dick Van Dyke show which debuted in 1961 on CBS, and ran until 1966. The Dick Van Dyke Show recorded 158 half-hour episodes over 5 seasons. The show was created by legendary writer Carl Reiner, and today is considered to be one of the great classics.
The Dick Van Dyke Show debuted in the 1961, which was in the beginning of the JFK Presidential ERA. It featured an idealic All-American family that was VERY FUNNY.
Below are a few full episode of the Dick Van Dyke Show, and if you watch them, it is like going back in a time machine to 1962...It's Deja Vu all over again ;-)
Dick Van Dyke is one of my favorite people of all-time. He is an amazingly humble and unassuming man, and equally talented. He is also arguably one of the greatest, if not the greatest Physical comedian of all time—up there with Cid Caesar, Jerry Lewis and Jim Carrey.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore show debut on the CBS Network and it premiered in 1970 and ran until 1977. Mary Tyler Moore played the role of Mary Richards in a revolutionary role as it was the first to feature a career woman who had never been married as the main character. The show was based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Ryan Gosling is the top male actor in Hollywood today. His most recent mega-hit movie named "La La Land" just got nominated for 14 Oscars Awards. So it looks like he will be dominating at the 2017 Academy Awards this year. By the way the 2017 Academy Awards are just around the corner and will be airing live on February 27, 2017.
If the look Ryan Gosling is sporting with the white dinner jacket and red carnation seems familiar, it's because its straight-up Sean Connery as James Bond in Goldfinger.
In the photo below we get a close-up wrist shot of Ryan Gosling's vintage Rolex Air-King he is wearing in the above photo from The Golden Globes.
In the photo at the top of this story, we see Ryan Gosling giving his moving 2017 Golden Globes Win Speech, and we see the video below. La La Land won 7 Golden Globe awards that evening...
Welcome To La La Land
The Ultimate Chick-Flick
I recently got dragged against my will & desire to see the chick-flick La La Land, and I was really surprised! It was really good!!! I am not the only person who thinks this as the movie has been met with critical acclaim, and as I mentioned it is up for 14 Academy Awards.
Crazy Stupid Love
Rolex Date-Date & Bubbleback & Submariner
Ryan Gosling costarred with Emma Stone in La La Land, as well as in the 2011 movie Crazy Stupid Love. In the Crazy Stupid Love he wore a Rolex Day-Date in yellow gold, a stainless steel Submariner, as well as an Art-Deco yellow gold Rolex Oyster Perpetual Bubbleback with a California dial as seen in the poster above, and in the photos below.
Not the clearest shot, but if you look closely you can see ALL of the unique tell-tale characteristics of the vintage Art-Deco "California Dial". This includes the classic upside down triangle at 13, along with the verticle rectangles at 3, 6 an 9. Also we see the Arabic Numerals on the top half of the dial, coupled with the Roman Numerals on the bottom half of the dial.
In the next two images we see Ryan Gosling sporting a yellow gold Rolex Day-Date.
In the next three images we see Ryan Gosling sporting a stainless steel Rolex Submariner, as he sits next to Steve Carell.
Blade Runner
2049
The much anticipated sequel to the original Blade Runner movie from 1982 completed material filming in November 2016 and is scheduled to debut in theaters around the world on October 6, 2017.
Blade Runner was written by leading Science Fiction writer, Philip K. Dick who is referred to by fans as PKD. PKD wrote many books that have been converted into movies, including Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly. The amazing Amazon Studios TV series named The Man In The High Castle is also based upon Philip K. Dick's 1962 novel by the same name, and Ridley Scott is ironically an Executive Producer of that show. Philip K. Dick's The Man In The High Castle imagines a world where the Nazi's and Japanese won World War II, and in the early 1960s are sharing a tension-consumed United States. The Man In The High Castle is an amazing piece of science-fiction and if you have not seen it, I highly recommend checking it out.
Philip K. Dick wrote a book that was published in 1968 named "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep", which Blade Runner was based upon. Unfortunately Philip K. Dick did not live to see the original Blade Runner, as he passed away on March 2, 1982 after suffering a major stroke. That being said, Ridley Scott was able to show Philip K. Dick some of the footage five months before he passed away, and he loved and endorsed it. Ryan Gosling will be costarring with Harrison Ford in Blade Runner 2049, and apparently Gosling will be playing a Bladerunner named "K".
In the recent photo below, taken in Budapest, Hungary in October of 2016, we see, from left to right, Director, Denis Villeneuve, Ridgley Scott, Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling, as they chat about details in the new Blade Runner 2049 movie. Notice Ryan Gosling is sporting his vintage Rolex Oyster 34MM Super-Precision Air-King Reference 5500, with a Calibre 1530 movement.
In the photo above it appears that there are two guns on the bar, which appear to be the model Harrison Ford used in the original Blade Runner movie, sitting next to the updated model.
Blade Runner 2049 is scheduled to be released in theaters on October 6, 2017, and it has a lot to live up to. After all, the Original Blade Runner movie which was released in 1982, is considered to be one of the greatest Science Fiction Masterpiece movies of all time. Below is the first movie trailer preview for Blade Runner 2049.
Blade Runner
1982
The original Blade Runner movie was shot in 1981 and released in 1982. The movie itself was supposed to take place in Los Angeles, California in 2019, which is only two short years away. Ironically, the movie Blade Runner takes place in a Los Angeles that seems to have rainy weather all the time, unlike the LA of today, where it almost never rains...
"You're in a desert, walking along in the sand, when all of a sudden you look down... "
Ridley Scott directed the original Blade Runner movie, and is serving as the Executive Producer on the new Blade Runner movie. He has maintained for a long time that Harrison Ford's character, 'Decker' was a replicant. The challenge is that replicants typically have a four-year lifespan only. Thus, they rebel violently as they don't want to die.
The photo below of Harrison Ford was taken in 1981 when he was filming Blade Runner. Notice he is sporting his stainless steel Rolex Datejust, with a white gold bezel, along with Dark Purple Converse All-Star Sneakers, with red shoelaces :-) He looks so early 80s, and so mod... I can almost hear Vangelis music playing in the background...Also note that Ryan Gosling's Rolex Air-King looks somewhat similar to Harrison Ford's stainless steel Datejust...
Update: Lawrence de la Haba wrote in just after I pushed this story today and said:
Subject: Blade Runner Connection to Flipper.
Hello Jake!
Your website is great! However, I have to point out a small oversight in your recent Blade Runner article. I know you love "Rolex connections”! If you take a close look at the original 1982 Blade Runner Movie poster you’ll see the Executive Producer is one Brian Kelly. I think you know who he is and what watch he wore!
Keep up the great work!
Regards,
Lawrence
Or course, he was talking about Brian Kelly who played Porter Rick on the 1960s TV Show named Flipper.
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.
