Rolex Submariner

The Rolex Submariner is the culmination of a decades-long quest to build the most durable—and water-resistant—watch. It owes its genesis to two men—Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of Rolex, and Rene Jeanneret, the president of the brand in the 1950s. Hans Wilsdorf was shucking oysters at a dinner party when a thought struck him. With the knife in one hand, the oyster in the other, he wondered: “Why couldn’t I make a watch with a case as watertight as this oyster’s?” He rushed to register the name in Switzerland in July of 1926, and followed suit two months later in London. He took his idea to case manufacturer C.R. Spillman, who secured a patent for him for a screw-down crown. This, combined with a watertight crystal and a threaded case-back created by Aaron Dennison (founder of Waltham Watches), went into the making of the Oyster case. Upon its triumphant debut in 1927, there was nothing in the world quite like the “famous Rolex Oyster.” Although it took to the waves almost immediately—around the neck of Mercedes Gleitze, the first woman to swim the English Channel—it didn’t delve deeper until the 1950s saw the emergence of SCUBA diving as a sport. René Jeanneret was himself an avid SCUBA diver, and when Blancpain released the Fifty Fathoms, he saw that the market was ripe for another purpose-driven dive watch. Under his aegis, the Oyster case was enlarged to a sturdy 39mm, and capped with a rotating bezel that tracked elapsed time—crucial for underwater use. The dial, as inky black as the murky depths, had symmetrical hour plots with healthy dollops of luminescent material. Rather than being an aesthetic choice, this was borne from necessity, and went into making the Submariner the no-nonsense tool watch that it is today. By the time the Reference 5513 debuted in the 1960s, its legacy was assured. Ours dates from 1981 and features a matte black Maxi IV dial. The hands and dial have taken on a lovely light creamy patina over time. That, coupled with signs of a professional polishing, suggest a life spent in its intended use—and then well-cared for, as all good tools should be.