ROLEX AMBASSADORS

Among its long path, Rolex has been represented by many figures of many kinds. Ambassadors coming from the arts such as Cecilia Bartoli, Michael Bublé or Plácido Domingo; equestrians like Meredith Michael – Beerbaum or Rodrigo Pessoa; golfers such as Luke Donald, Retief Goosen or Trevor Immelman to tennis players like Roger Federer or Ana Ivanovic.

Yachting

Paul Cayard

Paul Pierre Cayard was born May 19, 1959. Rolex Ambassador’s Cayard is an American yachtsman who has participated in a wide range of world championship sailing events including the America's Cup, the Volvo Ocean Race and the Olympic Games, between many others. In 1998 he was selected as the Rolex Yachtsmen of the Year. Cayard has twice participated in the Olympic Games and five times in the America's Cup, in addition to winning seven world championships.

Oyster Perpetual Yacht-Master II

Tennis


Roger Federer

Roger Federer was born on the 8 August, 1981. Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player currently ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), having previously held the number one position for a record 237 consecutive weeks. Many sports analysts, tennis critics, former and current players consider Federer to be the greatest tennis player of all time

Oyster Perpetual Day-Date

Ana Ivanovic

Ana Ivanović was born in November 6, 1987, in Belgrade, Serbia. Ivanovic is a former World No. 1 Serbian tennis player ranked as World No. 11 by the Women's Tennis Association. She won the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open.

Oyster Perpetual Datejust

Skiing


Hermann Maier

Hermann Maier was born on December 7, 1972, in Altenmarkt im Pongau. Maier is an Austrian alpine ski racer that won four overall World Cup titles (1998, 2000, 2001, 2004), two Olympic gold medals (both in 1998), three World Championship titles (1999: 2, and 2005) and 54 races on the World Cup circuit.

Oyster Perpetual Datejust Turn-O-Graph

Golf

Luke Donald

Luke Campbell Donald was born on 7 December, 1977. Campbell Donald is an English golfer who plays mainly on the U.S. based PGA Tour but, is also a member of the European Tour. In 2006 he reached the top ten in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time in his career. In January 2007, he reached a career high ranking of 7 and was briefly the highest ranked European golfer. He has spent over 50 weeks in the top-10.

Oyster Perpetual Datejust Turn-O-Graph




Retief Goosen

Retief Goosen was born 3 February 1969. Goosen is a South African professional golfer who has been in the top ten in the Official World Golf Rankings for over 250 weeks between 2001 and 2007. His main achievements have been two U.S. Open wins (in 2001 and 2004) and also heading the European Tour Order of Merit (money list) in 2001 and 2002.

Oyster Perpetual Datejust












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The importance of Divers' watches precision.

The quality of the equipment while diving turns to be more than an important issue before descending into deep ocean. Diver’s watches are specially designed for deep depths and equipped with its special case, as protecting the case is the main goal.
In order to be considered a diving one, a watch must be qualified as suitable for up to 150 metres / 450 feet, even though most of the watches considered to be suitable for diving are appropriate for more than 200 meters.
The “O” rings, usually made of nylon, are a very important part of submersible watches as it works as a protection sealing for the case and also for the crown. In order to avoid case deformations caused by the pressured of depth, most of the cases are produced with extra thick walls.
Even though, because of the potential risks, divers do not usually reach such deep profundities, watches show such depth capabilities because of the way their hermetecism is tested. This procedure is done in a static way and pressure in real life is much more, as the watch is being moved attached to a diver’s arm. As a direct consequence of this fact, a watch that is just used to swim must be at least submersible up to 50 meters at least.
The unidirectional bezel is what gives divers’ watches their most popular characteristic, as each immersion has a limit of elapsed time. That’s why it is more than important to have precise elements as divers life is in constant risk.
Just by rotating the bezel till the minute hand at the moment in which the immersion starts, the diver will perfectly know for how long he has remain in depth. The reason of featuring a unidirectional rotating bezel is that if by accident it moves on its own, it would only short time remaining instead of extending it, keeping the diver’s life safe.
Another important part of the watch related to keeping diver’s life safe is the seconds hand which when ascending it marks how fast the diver is ascending as one feet per second is recommended.
Some of the well-known diver’s watches are:

Omega the first wristwatch brand to produce a diver’s watch, the Marine. (1932)

Officine Panerai (1938)

From LIP and Blancpain, the Fifty Fathoms (1953)

Rolex Submariner (1956) revolution.

Rolex Dweller (1967)

Omega Seamaster Professional 600m, known as Omega PloProf between the circle of collectors.












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Eric Clapton's Watch Collection

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(Eric Clapton)

Eric Patrick Clapton was born in 30^th March, 1945. Eric is an English blues-rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of the Yardbirds, then Cream and also as a solo performer. He was often considered to be by critics and fans as one of a kind musician, one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Clapton was ranked fourth in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #53 on their list of the Immortals: 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

(Eric Clapton at a concert)

Although Clapton has varied his musical style throughout his career and so he is qualified as an innovator in a wide diversity of genres. These include blues-rock (with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and the Yardbirds) and psychedelic rock (with Cream). Additionally, Clapton's chart success was not limited to the blues, with chart-toppers in Delta Blues (Me and Mr. Johnson), pop ("Change the World") and reggae (Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff").

(Rolex Daytona)

Five of his most well known songs, those that have been sang for years: Before You Accuse Me, Wonderful Tonight, Tears In Heaven, Pretending and Change The World (Between a wide range of great songs).

(Rolex Chronograph Antimagnetic)

Those watches that are able to measure time with extreme precision are those for which we invest more money.

(Rolex Daytona)

Eric Clapton owns a watch collection, a very exclusive one, brought together as a consequence of the beauty and precision they share.

(Rolex Daytona)

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Rolex Sea Dweller Watch

THE SEA DWELLER

While the Submariner was capable of working at the depths the divers did, the long exposure to high pressures had not been anticipated by its designers. The Subamriner was designed to be waterproof and airtight and to survive the pressures of the deep water.

Rolex and Comex (COmpagnie Maritime d’EXpertise) started working together in order to design a watch that would be efficient enough to work properly under the conditions the industrial deep-sea diving as Comex is the world leader in sub-sea engineering and in manned and unmanned sub-sea interventions, scoured all the seas on earth and worked at depths of over 300 meters. Although both companies working together first took one normal Submariner and modified it till they reached the perfect model: “The Submariner 2000 Sea Dweller”. The divers require the best equipment that is available because precision and perfection according to watch quality can mean the difference between life and death. The Sea Dweller differs from a regular Submariner by being much thicker and heavier. It has no “Cyclops” date lens because the glass because of the glass thickness placing the lens at a greater distance from the date disc. According to its bracelet it is machined from solid metal.

The advantage of the Sea Dweller over a Submariner is its ability to undergo repeated compression/decompression cycles in a helium-oxygen atmosphere.

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Rolex Submariner Watch

THE SUBMARINER

In 1954 Basel, Rolex presented the Submariner model, Rolex pride. The model number 6204 watch was waterproof to a more realistic 200 meters (or 660 feet). It was sold as the watch that was the diver’s friend. When the development of the SCUBA (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) diving as a sport really began to take off toward the end of the fifties, a reliable watch was needed as much as a reliable oxygen tank. Rolex developed the Submariner 6204, which had simple parallel hands and it had no protective shoulders by the winding crown and the rotating bezel had only five minute markers. Two years later, this model was replaced by two Submariner models. Theses ones were: the 6538 model (waterproof to 660 feet) and the 6536 model (waterproof only to 330 feet), commonly known by collectors as the “James Bond” models. Then, although the model was redefined it kept the same model number and it introduced a more robust case with bezel markings for the first 15 minutes and a red triangle at the 12 position. Besides, it featured a larger “Triplock” style crown which had the “Brevette” sign under the crown or patented around the circumference. The watch had an officially certified chronometer powered by the new 1030 movement.
When model 5512 was launched in 1959, the new case featured the protective shoulders which defended the weakest part of the watch from inadvertent knocks and harms underwater. The new Submariner was launched on the back of Jacques Piccard’s latest adventure where he dove into a new record depth of 25, 798 feet (10.916 meters). The watch was exposed to pressures of over seven tons per square inch, the watch was found in perfect conditions with no evidence of moisture inside the case.
In 1965, when the 1565 calibre movement was fitted to the Submariner divers had the joy of combining the benefits of both chronometers movements and date function in one watch. The new model’s number was: 1680.












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Rolex Explorer Watch

THE EXPLORER

With black dial, large luminous triangle marker at 12 and luminous Arabic numerals for the other quarters, The Explorer is one of the most recognizable Rolex watch together with the Datejust. An explorer watch is the one that has its dial described. It was first designed and made in honor of Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay, the first to reach the summit of Everest wearing Rolex watches. The Explorer was design for explorers and so it had a high visibility dial, an extra strong case and, under request, they could even be lubricated with a special oil which could withstand temperatures between -20ºC and + 40 ºC without changes in its viscosity. The Rolex Explorer line was designed with extremely challenging conditions in mind. This Rolex watch line was the one that received first the triangle marker at the top of the dial.












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Rolex Datejust Watch

THE DATEJUST

In 1942, with the introduction of the bubbleback powered by a perpetual version of the classic 10 - 1/2”’ Hunter, Rolex made one of the most significant movements of its history. This new model had two additions: a sweep seconds hand and a date disc visible though and aperture in the dial at 3.
The first Datejust was a seminal one, a model and a design that would last for the next 50 years. This model is still the most beautiful of the Datejusts. Even though the registered name was Ritedate, by the time the watch was presented, it was called “Datejust” and the model was “Jubilee”, applied later to the bracelet.
The date function also retained its alternating red and black numbers, presumably to let the wearer know that the date had indeed changed. The only obvious change was when Rolex introduced the Cyclops date magnifier at Basel becoming a signature for the Rolex line.
The stainless and gold Datejust was introduced around 1962 and has proven to be one of the most popular models Rolex has ever produced. The new “two-tone” look not only fit the times, but also enabled Rolex to increase the margins on a very popular watch.
Since the end of the 1980s, all Datejust have been equipped with a “sapphire” crystal. This crystal is sliced out of a lab-grown sapphire with the Cyclops date window cut from a smaller crystal and the applied.












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Rolex Chronograph

THE CHRONOGRAPH

In 1930, when sportsmen begun to demand chronographs, Rolex started to fulfill that demand. Seven years later, Rolex catalogue shows for the first time the chronographs wristwatches. Rolex chose 10- ½” to 14” movements in one button models allowing the customers to time a single continuous event. The demand came not only from racing spectators, but also from anyone whose profession required having an accurate measuring of and exact elapsed time.
In the late 30s, the real breakthrough happened as a consequence of the two button configuration making possible for the customers to stop the timing for breaks in the action.
The “Zerograph” is one of the most interesting Rolex Chronographs. It was produced in very limited quantities at the end of the 1930s. It had a 10-1/2”’ Hunter sweep seconds movement, it was the first model to feature the Oyster crown.
Afterwards, the first Oyster Chronograph was the model 4500. Models: 6232 and 3668 followed model 4500 and the proved to be as unpopular as the first one. The reason: the depths of World War II.
After years of making imperceptible and trivial changes, Rolex reached the final watch: The Cosmograph (model 6239), one of the most popular watches ever produced.
In the late 1970s, when Rolex introduced the 6263 Cosmograph, the model was the first to have truly waterproofed pushers. The screw down pushers were added because the customers kept trying to operate the push buttons while the watch was underwater so that let water into the movement. Another advantage of the locking buttons was that it also prevented inadvertent operation pushers.












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Rolex Accuracy

ACCORDING TO ACCURACY

Wilsdorf was the visionary man who created an accurate wristwatch that can be compared to the finest contemporary mechanical chronometers around the globe.
In 1905, when Wilsdorf and Alfred James Davis created Wilsdorf & Davis they never imagined how important the company would become. At the very beginning, the company was just two businessmen trying to make a living in a hard environment. When Wilsdorf registered “Rolex” as the trade mark in Switzerland and began to use the name inside the watches on movements and cases, he then started advertising the name in order to make people asking for the watches by their name: Rolex.
In 1914, perfected Rebberg obtained a Kew A certificate for one of their 11”’ movements. The Royal Observatory at Kew (in London) was an outstation of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, where all the initial work on accurate time keeping had been initiated such as: the search for a method of accuracy finding longitude, the institution of an universal time standard, the development of the first marine chronometer and the establishment of a central facility to test timepieces and certify them were all products of Greenwich. Its principal purpose was to teste marine chronometers, whose accuracy was vital to marine navigation until the 1930’s. The Kew tests were designed to time watches for the Royal Navy would offer to purchase it. Beyond that, based on the chronometer tests at Kew major manufacturers could state that their watches were the most accurate in the world becoming another powerful sales promotion device. Wilsdorf put Rolex watches through such test. Rolex was the only watch in the world to hold a Kew A certificate, getting to promote the success.
In order to avoid hurting the watches badly while they were imported to London, Hans Wilsdorf was finally convinced to move the administrative offices of the company from London to Geneva. Later, when it started exporting to United States of America, Wilsdorf made another astute move. While the European market was sinking as a consequence of the war, the American one was rising from the dust. Once again, Rolex was in the right place at the right time.