Making a splash
The Rolex Submariner
[ DESIGN CLASSIC ]
IT IS DOUBTFUL THESE DAYS whether many owners of the Rolex Submariner use its rotating bezel – a feature unique to the watch when it was launched in 1953 – to mark the length of the time of their dive. It was made for diving, though; waterproof to a depth of 100 metres, improved to 200 metres the following year. Tested at depth by Swiss father and son hydronauts Auguste and Jacques Piccard, its credentials were furthered when, in 1961, the Compagnie Maritime d’Expertises, or Comex, which specialised in industrial deep-sea diving, started issuing Rolexes to its divers. The partnership resulted in a watch with a 600-metre water resistancy. That’s a little surplus to non-professional requirements, and the standard modern model functions at a more modest 300 metres below sea level.
Its popularity with divers, the military (the Royal Navy issued Submariners to its frogmen) and extreme explorers such as the Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl – who may have chanced his luck attempting to cross the Atlantic in a boat made of reeds, but made sure he had a piece of precision engineering on his wrist – emphasised its toughness and durability, and made this the man’s man’s watch. Naturally enough, former naval officer James Bond wore one in numerous 007 films, including From Russia with Love and Goldfinger – as did Nick Nolte in The Deep, Robert De Niro in The Deer Hunter and Steve McQueen in The Hunter.
A new Rolex Submariner will set you back more than $5,000. Alternatively, you could search the market for an older model: in November last year, the watch worn by Roger Moore in Live and Let Die was auctioned by Christie’s and sold for just under a quarter of a million dollars. Andrew Humphreys www.rolex.com
