Studio Shot Of The Day: Roberto's Pre-Daytona Rolex Chronograph

...Studio Shot Of The Day...

Roberto's Pre-Daytona Rolex Chronograph

Notice the tachymeter scale on this vintage Rolex chronograph is on the outside of the dial, as apposed to the Daytona which has it on the outer bezel.

Bill Russell: The Greatest Basketball Player In History

 

Bill Russell

The Greatest Basketball Player In History

Belongs to the Ages

Bill Russell, who was one of my childhood heroes passed away today at the age of 88. Russell was arguably the greatest NBA basketball player in history, and certainly the winningest having been an 11 time NBA champion. 

Russell was also the first black basketball player in the NBA and was a major role model. Nick Gould discovered this superb photos of Russell, rocking his yellow gold Rolex Day-Date.

I will never forget, when I was a kid (more than 40 years ago), Bill Russell was interviewed on 60 Minutes, but Morley Safer. I remember Morley asked Bill: 

"Many professional athletes these days have drug and alcohol addictions. Did you ever experiment with drugs?"

Russell responded:

"You know Morley, that's an interesting question, as my two sons asked me the same question to which I responded 'No. I have not tried drugs, which are stupid. There is something to be said for living life at its own speed.'"

For some reason, Bill's eternal words have stuck with me to this day, and I often remember them! 

1971 Rolex Porsche 911 E Targa Ad

1971 Rolex Porsche 911 E Targa Ad

Nicolas from Adpatina.com shared this vintage Rolex ad that features a bejeweled Platinum Day-Date from 1971, which is AMAZING!!!!

Below, we see a photo of a Porsche 1971 911E Targa which was a basically a convertible 911 with a built-in heavy duty roll-bar.

President Trump Receives A Rolex President...

President Trump

Receives a Rolex President 

+ A Wrapped Tesla CyberTruck

A few weeks ago, I ran a story on Rolex Spotting @ The 2024 Republican Convention, and today we witness yet another potentially inevitable Rolex Presidential historical puzzle piece being unveiled. 

It's been said reality-is-stranger-than-fiction, and President Trump recently appeared on Adin Ross's, Adin Livecast on YouTube, and the interview was filled with MANY YOUUUGE surprises, including Adin gifting President Trump with a new EverRose 40MM Rolex Day-Date which is commonly referred to as a "Rolex President". 

As we see, Adin gifted President Trump with an 18 kt Rolex Day-Date 40, in EverRose Gold, with an Olive Green Dial, featuring raised rose gold Roman numerals. Adin Asked President Trump if he liked Rolex, and Trump responded:

    "That's a beautiful watch. That's a great watch company. They're (Rolex) a good company. They like Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player and Arnold Palmer—all the golf guys, and all the other guys. This is beautiful. Thank You! Don't they have nice boxes? WoW!!!"

 

—President, Donald J. Trump

President Trump is no stranger to rocking a Rolex President, as he has been wearing a Rolex Day-Date for decades.

Golf's Big 3

President Trump mentioned in his solilaquie to Adin, which I quoted above, golf legends, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Arnold Palmer, who are commonly referred to as Golf's Big Three. 

Trump specially offered his assessment or opinion on Rolex being The International Mark of Success, as he waxed poetic, by apparent way of an unrehearsed, off-hand-remark, that seemed more like a stream of consciousness flow—kind of like a scat singer, or jazz musician who was simply riffing on Rolex: 

"They (Rolex) like Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player and Arnold Palmer—all the golf guys, and all the other guys." —U.S. President, Donald J. Trump 

Gary Player, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus have all been Rolex brand ambassadors, which Rolex refers to as Testimonies.

Golf's Big Three are featured below in a vintage Rolex Magazine ad.

The screen capture below appeared on Rolex a few decades ago, and featured The Big Three.

Golf legend, Arnold Palmer was the first major Rolex brand ambassador in modern history.

Speaking of firsts, President Eisenhower was the first U.S. President to publicly rock a Rolex, as we see in the photo below, Eisenhower is wearing his trademark yellow gold Rolex Datejust on a Jubilee bracelet back in the 1950s while serving as the President of the United States. This may be what Trump was referring to when he quipped, offering his off-hand-remark, when he said "all the golf guys, and all the other guys." 

In other words, it's safe to assume Adin caught President Trump off-guard, and truly surprised him with gifting him a Rolex President, something that Trump is intimately familiar with the symbolism and power of. It was fascinating watching Adin gift Trump the Rolex, as Trump responded like a small child getting his first Big Wheel, or BB gun, or G.I. Joe—with a Kung Fu grip. 

I mean, what could you possibly give a man who is a billionaire and seemingly already owns everything money could buy!?!! Yet, when you examine Trumps response, his eyes lit up like a Christmas Tree, when he received the Rolex "President" as a gift. You see, for Trump, it's not the gift per se, but recognition of the symbolism of the surprise gift that emotionally charged him so much. 

It's also interesting to note, and yes I am going deep in my psychological evaluation of The Teflon Don, that Trump with his rudimentary prose, offered the world his first and only verbal evaluation of Rolex being The International Mark of Success. 

I mean wearing a Rolex President, as a political tool watch is one thing, but actually expressing or articulating in words, is quite a different thing, and I found "The Donald's" verbiage to be fascinating. As a matter of fact, I believe this might be the first time a President of the United States has actually offered up their specific opinion of the Rolex brands symbolism and what it means in its broader context!?!!

President Nixon

The Summer of 74

Speaking of The Rolex President, and Arnold Palmer, we see him pictured below in the Oval Office hanging out with President Nixon and Palmer is rocking his yellow gold Rolex Day-Date. It's interesting to note today marks precisely the 50th Anniversary of Nixon's resignation of the U.S. Presidency. 

Ironically, when I was a young child, I was 7 years old, and I was at summer camp in Northern California, at a magnificently beautiful summer camp named "Forest Farms", which was located north of Marin County, in Northern California—and I will never forget how the camp counselors quickly rounded us up late on the afternoon of August 8, 1974, and brought us to the owners residence on the camp grounds, and sat us down to watch President Nixon resign the presidency. I remember watching Nixon's resignation speech as seen below.

I specifically remember all the Forest Farm Camp counselors were all freaking out, saying "this is the first time in American history an American President has resigned". I added the photo of me, pictured below, at Forest Farms with my camp counselor, Tom, which was taken when I was 7 years old. I was too young, obviously to be wearing a Rolex, but I was rocking my favorite, gold Hang-Ten T-Shirt with the two feet logo, with my Levi's jeans, and Jack Purcell, low-top Converse All-Star sneakers.

As a very confused 7-year old, I had no idea or interest really of what was going on with President Nixon's resignation. For all intents an purposes, at the time, I was far more interested in The Easter Bunny, and the tooth fairy, who might leave some money under my pillow if I devoured enough watermelon, cherry, or grape Jolly Rancher bars.

Presidential CyberTruck

ONE MORE THANG!

Adin also presented President Trump with a Tesla CyberTruck with an over-the top-custom vehicle wrap graphic which is seen below with its American Flag wrap design with a highly symbolic image of Trump fist-pumping the crowd with blood on his face, after he overcame the recent alleged assassination attempt on his life in Pennsylvania.

 

I publish TeslaMagazine.org, so I am quite familiar with the CyberTruck and have written about it extensively on RolexMagazine, as well as on TeslaMagazine. I also published a story about Elon Musk rocking his Rolex Datejust in the past, as well as Tesla's lead designer, Franz von Holzhausen, who wears a Black dial Rolex Paul Neman Daytona [Reference 6263]. 

Since we are on the subject of Paul Newman's Daytona #2, it strikes me there is a good chance that Franz von Holzhausen may very well be wearing Paul Newman's actual "Big Red" Rolex Daytona #2, which he may have purchased at auction back in 2017.

So what exactly is the symbolism of this fascinatingly bizarre and exotic CyberTruck gift from Adin Ross to President Trump? I almost can't believe what I am seeing when I look at the wrap design of this CyberTruck. Also, it's worth drawing an analogy between the two gifts Adin Ross gave President Trump, being a Rolex President and a CyberTruck. 

Both gifts are hardcore masculine symbols of over-the-top, alpha-male status symbols. Yes, the Rolex President watch model has been around since the mid 1950s, and the CyberTruck is much newer, but they are both extreme symbols of cutting edge, avante-garde, modern technology designed for masculine men.

One could argue, the Rolex President it no longer modern, but complexity classic today, and that the CyberTruck is not classic, but completely modern, to which I would respond: everything today that is considered classic, was once considered to be modern. 

If you really think about it, the 40MM version of the Rolex Day-Date that Adin Ross gifted President Trump, represents Rolex's brilliantly and flawlessly executed attempt to modernize their timeless and classic 36MM version of the Rolex Day-Date.

You can watch the entire Adin Ross, President Trump interview below.

 

Every great story deserves to have it's own soundtrack, and in this case, Trump be like:

Transcontinental Pilots Prefer GMT-Equipped Rolex Models

 ...Rolex Pilot Wrist shot of the Day...

Transcontinental Pilots

Prefer GMT-Equipped Rolex Models

Fascinating Captain!

Our Captain Danny,who now publishes his Coronet Rolex Blog sent me this picture after he flew his Delta Airbus A330 widebody aircraft from Paris to Seattle. Both pilots wear GMT-equipped Rolex watches—the ultimate instrument for a transcontinental pilot.

For some reason, I couldn't stop staring at this image, trying to figure out the significance and context of all the details. For instance:

Question: Why are the time and GMT hands set differently on each Rolex watch? 

The Left Watch (Supercase Espresso GMT-Master with 50th Anniversary Green GMT Hand) belongs to the Captain of the Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft. The Captain's hour hand is set to Mountain time (home base), and his green GMT hand is set to GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).

The Right Watch (Rolex Explorer II, Orange Hand) belongs to our Captain Danny, although aboard the Airbus A330 Wide Body Aircraft he is NOT the Captain, but the First Officer (Copilot), which explains why his jacket only has 3 gold stripes. Normally, as you can see on his PILOT STORIES banner on the right, he normally sports 4 gold stripes. I didn't realize it, but the ranking is contextually based upon the type of aircraft the pilot is flying. Danny's watch has its hour hand set to SEATTLE time, which is their destination, and his orange GMT hand is set to Mountain time, his home base.

The Airbus A330 is a super state of the art airplane that can fly really long distances without having to refuel. (Range of 11,750 km, which is 6,350 nautical miles, which is 7,300 miles) with 277 passengers. The global A330 fleet is tried and true with over 60 million flight hours since it began flying. 

Note: Nick Gould mentioned: "The first generation Rolex Explorer II, 'Orange Hand' [Reference 1655] couldn't track a second time zone. The orange hand was just an AM/PM indicator. Now the new version of the Explorer II can track a second TimeZone."

Triplock Winding Crown: The Power of Three

Triplock Winding Crown

The Power of Three

Introduced in 1970 on the Sea-Dweller, our Triplock winding crown, with a triple lock that creates three sealed zones. As early as 1926, our Oyster case came with a screw-down crown to stop water, sweat or dust entering. In 1954, we devised the Twinlock winding crown and its added waterproof barrier to counter any incident that could harm a gasket on a dive. As for our Triplock winding crown, it is a further safeguard in the unlikely event of the crown unscrewing itself 11,000 metres (36,090 ft) down.

Riyo Mori Miss Universe 2008

...Rolex Hotness...

Riyo Mori

Miss Universe

2008

This is a really cool ROLEX Magazine ad from the later Patrick Heiniger era, where Rolex took a high fashion approach to showcase their diamond-adorned dial Royal Black Datejust that came on a Stingray leather and rubber strap. The bezel insert on this model was featured baguette cut black sapphires. 

The model featured in this Rolex ad was Miss Universe, 2007, who was Japan's Riyo Mori. Riyo Mori won the pageant in Mexico City and interestingly, was the first Japanese contestant to win the pageant in 48 years, since 1959.

Ladies Special Edition Datejust

Bejeweled Masterpiece
34mm Ladies Rolex Watch

CHIO Aachen 2024...

CHIO Aachen 2024

Highlights Presented by Rolex

The Rolex Grand Prix at The CHIO Aachen is one of the four equestrian Majors that form the Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping and is one of the most prestigious Grand Prix on the international circuit. Re-live the excitement of this competition at the world’s leading venue, as the finest riders compete for this prestigious title.

From Russia With Rolex Love: Adriyan Nikolayev Soviet Cosmonaut

From Russia With Rolex Love

Andriyan Nikolayev

Soviet Cosmonaut

Deputy Director of Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center

One of the most fascinating things about Rolex history is the fact that we keep discovering new puzzle pieces that keep changing and enhancing the course of Rolex history. This story being a perfect case-in-point! Pointed Crown Guard (PCG) in particular...

The photo above of Soviet Cosmonaut, Andriyan Nikolayev appears courtesy of TASS and was shared by Philip from Moonwatch Universe. Philip wrote the third chapter in the 3rd edition of Moonwatch Only, and was also a recent guest on the podcast Time 4 A Pint where he discussed A Brief History of Watches in Space. 

In the photo above which was taken in August of 1963 we see Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin (left), Pavel Popovich (second left), German Titov and Andriyan Nikolayev (right). Andriyan Nicolayev was the third cosmonaut to travel into space.

Nikolayev traveled to the United States in 1971, where he met with NASA Astronauts who gave him signed photos.

Many U.S. Test pilots and NASA Astronauts wore Rolex GMT-Master models, including to and on the moon! What would you think if I told you a Russian Cosmonaut wore a GMT-Master before an American Astronaut? It's hard to belive but true as we see in the photo below taken in 1965 that shows Russian Cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolayev sporting his Pepsi GMT-Master in photos with his wife and daughter discovered by Nick Gould. To the best of my knowledge this predates any American Astronaut wearing a Rolex GMT-Master.

As a Soviet Cosmonaut, Andriyan Nikolayev was number 3, and flew two space flights. His wife, Valentina Tereshkova is pictured below with their daughter, Elena who is considered the first space child in history, since both her parents with spacefarers.

Adriyan Nikolayev was married to Valentina Tereshkova (pictured above and below) and she was the first women in Space, whereby in 1963 she orbited earth 48 times in her Vostok-6 over the course of 3 days!!!

Clyde Beatty 1964 Datejust Ad

Clyde Beatty

1964 Datejust Ad 

Circus Impresario 

Lion Tamer with Two Tiger Cubs

One of my absolute favorite aspects of journaling Rolex history is discovering brilliant vintage ads that had previously disappeared into the abyss. In other words, I think vintage Rolex ads are often times even more interesting than the Rolex watches featured in them. Every so often I discover a vintage Rolex ad that takes my breath away and this beauty from 1964 is one of them. 

There is something so cool about the overall composition of this ad I recently acquired that makes it so cool looking. As I have mentioned before, I perceive these vintage ads as being high-art in-and-of-themselves.

1964 Clyde Beatty Rolex Datejust Magazine Ad

Another one of my favorite things to do when exploring vintage Rolex ads is to do a deep dive into the backstory behind the person featured in the ad, which often times offers me a fascinating history lesson and this ad is no exception. Let's begin by examining a photo that Nick Gould discovered that features Clyde Beatty wearing his Rolex Datejust on a Jubilee Bracelet. In the photo below we see Clyde Beatty with Prince Rainier of Monaco along with his son, daughter and beautiful wife, Princess Grace of Monaco with Clyde Beatty pictured on the far right rocking his Datejust which is featured in the 1964 Rolex ad seen above.

What can be said of a man long after he has departed the living world? That he left the world having made it a better place than when he entered it? That he made a significant contribution to mankind's understanding of the world we still share? Or, as Saroyan brilliantly said:

"In the time of our life, live—so that in that wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite delight and mystery of it." 

—William Saroyan 

(Pulitzer Prize winner who wrote: The Time of Your Life, 1939)

Clyde Beatty was born in 1903 in Bainbridge, Ohio and passed away at age 62 in 1965 in Ventura, California. Clyde was a famed animal trainer, actor, circus mogul, and zoo owner. 

Clyde Beatty stood 5 foot 6 inches and was nicknamed  'Scrap-Iron Shorty' was the first lion tamer to be featured in a circus and was best known for his 'fighting Act' where he would enter the cage only equipped with a chair, whip, pistol on his hip and a tremendous amount of courage and confidence. 

I was not familiar with Clyde Beatty until I saw his really cool 1964 Rolex ad featured toward the top of this story, but researching and sharing his career achievements has been fascinating. My takeaway from this story is that he personally exhibited many of the characteristics that make a Rolex a Rolex which are strength, value, competent, timelessness, elegance and precision.