The Submariner Is Still In a Class by Itself
First produced in 1953 and unveiled to the public at the famous Swiss Basel Watch Fair in 1954, the Submariner has gone on to become perhaps the most storied watch in the long history of Rolex. The
Datejust may be the most popular and best-selling Rolex for a host of good reasons, but few other than watch collectors and dealers would know it by that name. The
Submariner on the other hand is not only well known, but downright famous. Even people who are not hardcore collectors or ‘watch guys’ have heard of the Rolex Submariner. The story of how it came to be seen as the quintessential,
ultimate sports watch is interesting and calls for a bit of history.
In the early 1960s the Submariner would have been known to a relative handful of professional and amateur divers as the best divers’ watch on the market. The sport of SCUBA diving was new and Rolex had answered the call for a reliable, waterproof watch with the Submariner to aid divers in timing their dives. In the UK the Royal Navy already issued the watch to its salvage divers and Special Boat Squadron (SBS) Commandos. This was many years before the advent of the digital dive computers that divers rely on today. Then in 1962 something happened that can be summed up in two magical words: James Bond.
That was when Dr. No, the first Bond film starring the incomparably cool Sean Connery as British secret agent 007, hit the big screen. Author Ian Fleming had originally outfitted Bond with an un-named Rolex with “big phosphorous numerals” in his novels, but the Connery film was the first time a specific model was associated with the super-spy. The choice of the film company—the Submariner—was the starting point of the Submariner legend and the rest as they say is history.
Since the days of those early Bond films, many heroes in both Reel and Real life have used the Submariner.
Steve McQueen, the once and future King of Cool, wore a Submariner in his personal life as well as in the movie
The Hunter. Robert Redford wore one in All the President’s Men, and more recently Nicholas Cage used one in National Treasure, and that’s just scratching the surface of the Submariner’s celluloid usage. More importantly to some, the watch was a favorite of US Navy SEALS and US Army Special Forces (the so-called Green Berets) as well as other globe-trotting adventurers and explorers during the Vietnam War period. In his ground-breaking anthropology work, Norwegian scientist Thor Heyerdahl used his ever-reliable Submariner in the sea-going Ra II expedition of 1970. The expedition proved that ancient mariners could have traversed the Atlantic using the Canary Current. Through it all, the Submariner was there.
Today the Submariner survives in a form that is remarkably similar to the Sub of the 1950s. I own two Subs; one made in 1978, the other in 2008. Externally they are almost identical, and that continuity of design is a big part of the Sub’s appeal and helps them hold their value so well. When you buy a Submariner you don’t have to worry about it looking outdated next year. That timelessness makes the Submariner a true watch for the ages. It looks just as at home with a tuxedo and a dry martini as it does with a wet suit and an underwater torch. Sometimes I’m asked which Rolex a first-time buyer should consider and I usually advise the buyer to get the one that appeals to them the most…but the Submariner is never a bad choice!
