![]() Throughout the years, Rolex iterated upon the initial design, adding crown guards, upsizing the case somewhat, and, eventually, offering a model with a date. (The Zodiac Sea Wolf and Blancpain Fifty Fathoms launched at almost the exact same time.) Water-resistant to 100m and featuring a rotating dive bezel, it proved the prototype to thousands of watches that followed it into the murky depths. In 1953, as recreational SCUBA diving was taking hold in the public consciousness post-WWII, Rolex launched the Submariner, one of the world’s first dedicated diving watches. Today, all Oyster-cased, automatic Rolex watches bear this nomenclature in addition to their individual model names. In the early 1930s, he combined the Oyster case with an automatic movement, giving birth to the Oyster Perpetual. Rolex first employed a water-resistant (“waterproof,” in its own early terminology) watch case in the 1920s, which it dubbed the “Oyster.” Company founder Hans Wilsdorf was a brilliant marketer, and even had English swimmer Mercedes Glitz wear one of these watches around her neck as she attempted to swim the English Channel in 1927, taking out print advertisements featuring her with the watch. It’s wildly detailed.) We’re here to give you a “comprehensive overview,” so to speak. (If you want that type of breakdown, we recommend this post from our good friend Stephen Pulvirent at Hodinkee. (Alternatively, if you need to put normal, non-watch people to sleep, this is great ammunition to stuff into your Boredom Cannon.) But we’re not going to get into every single variation within every single reference. It gets intense.īut that’s what we’re here for - we’re going to break down each reference for you so that you can fit in at your next Red Bar meeting. glossy 5513s, for example, or red or white 1680s. In fact, the taxonomy has become so dense that said nerds will differentiate different versions within a single reference number - matte vs. Watch nerds love to get into the minutiae and really pick apart what differentiates one Sub from another. All of the classic Sub hallmarks were present in ‘53: the black, luminous dial the rotating dive bezel the matching steel bracelet the screw-down crown.Īnd yet. Though the Submariner was in fact an outgrowth of the water-resistant, Oyster-cased watches of the 1930s and 1940s, it emerged largely fully formed - to the extent that if a time-traveling Hans Wilsdorf (Rolex’s founder) suddenly emerged in the 2020s, he would certainly recognize a modern version. ![]()
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