Screenshot from a video of the Apollo 14 crew during their luner transit in space. Astronaut Mitchell smiles at the camera, his Rolex GMT Master "Pepsi" on his right wrist. The crew was "hamming it up" over shaving their beards. Question: if you're a) really into watches and you b) learn about a watch that is older than you that has travelled more than 400,000 miles through the vastness of space to the surface of the moon and back and c) discover the watch is within easy driving distance, what do you do?
Answer: you get in the car, drive to the watch, and you check it out. So that's what I did.
The watch in question is a Rolex GMT Master reference 1675 "Pepsi." This particular GMT Master has out-of-this world provenance. Literally. And I thank the team at RR Auctions for granting me some time to check it out, they were gracious and generous hosts.
Here's the deal: on January 31, 1971, NASA astronaut CAPT Ed Mitchell, PhD USN launched from Florida aboard a Saturn V rocket. Screenshot from a video of Astronaut Mitchell checking the setting on his Rolex GMT Master during suit-up for launch. His Omega Speedmaster is visible affixed by an elongated strap on the left wrist of his suit. Archival video and photo records indicate that he wore two watches at launch. One was an Omega Speedmaster, the so-called "Moonwatch." That was on his left wrist. On the right, tucked under an elastic shirt cuff, was the Rolex GMT Master. This is the Rolex I put on my own wrist a few days ago.
Now, I haven't gone down the rabbit hole enough to learn exactly why the Apollo 14 astronauts outfitted themselves this way (for reasons I don't need to go into here, I believe all three Apollo 14 crew members chose to wore a Speedmaster and GMT Master). Screenshot from a video of Astronaut Mitchell checking the fit on his Rolex GMT Master during suit-up for launch. His Omega Speedmaster is visible affixed by an elongated strap on the left wrist of his suit. The most obvious explanation is redundancy. If you have many watches running (six among the three astronauts plus whatever timekeeping the spacecraft offers), it is easier to figure out if any one is gaining or losing time more than the others. Also, keeping track of time was (and is) a multidimensional challenge for astronauts. During the Apollo 14 mission, time was measured using a "Ground Elapsed Time" which started at 0 at the moment of liftoff. The launch took place in Florida, which is in the Eastern Standard timezone but ground control was located in Houston, which is in the Central Daylight timezone. Apollo missions were tracked by stations in Madrid, California and two cities in Australia, providing even more potential need to track multiple timezones. A few Rolex GMTs would no doubt help with this task. The Speedmaster would help with any effort to track elapsed time over periods lasting twelve hours or less.
With that behind us, let's talk about Mitchell's GMT Master. Mitchell's Rolex GMT Master, photo taken at RR Auctions.
Crown side profile view of Mitchell's GMT Master, photo taken at RR Auctions. The timepiece is in very good condition with wear you would expect for a watch that is over 50 years old. The bezel has slightly faded. There are some light scuff marks on the crystal. The dial is quite attractive, the lume has picked up a patinated hue which is generally sought after by collectors.
The case appears unpolished. The bevels on the lugs are sharp and the crown guard also maintains a sharp profile. The bracelet has folded links with hollow end links. The only question mark I have with respect to originality comes from the hour and second hands. The lume on those hands does not quite match the color of the other lume plots. There are highly experienced dealers who believe that, in general, such color differences are not necessarily an indication that the hands have been swapped. And, I have seen a similar color difference on another Rolex GMT Pepsi which flew on an Apollo mission of this era (can't really go into more details than that). After moving the watch around a bit to take different photos, I noticed that the seconds hand started running.
One of the more striking features of the watch is the engraving on the caseback. It reads "Worn by CDR E. Mitchell on Apollo 14, 1971 To Karlin - My Daughter." This engraving is extraordinarily touching and serves as some corroboration of the watch's provenance. There is a footnote, though, when it comes to the caseback. Mitchell's daughter spelled her name Karlyn, a point first made to me by Nicholas Gould, aka @niccoloy, on Instagram (in fact, I tip my hat to Nick because it was his post which drew my attention to this watch). Nick also shared that these type of engraving errors did happen on some more famous watches (in addition, I asked a very well known dealer if he had concerns over this watch's provenance but he did not offer any).
Mitchell's GMT Master on my wrist. In sum, spending time with Michell's space-flown and moon-landed watch was one of those moments where I kind of had to pinch myself. When I returned from my visit, I found video of Mitchell floating in one of the Apollo modules in transit between the Earth and the Moon, the Rolex GMT on his wrist. I saw pictures of Mitchell wearing the watch while "suiting up" before launch and setting the watch's time. And I just couldn't believe that I was fortunate enough to place the very same watch on my own wrist.
Interest in Michell's Pepsi Rolex GMT is running very high. Even as I finish writing this post, bids have reached six figures, $132,000 to be exact. There are still sixteen days left of bidding. My hope is that Mitchell's Rolex ends up in either a museum or in Geneva, alongside the other historically important watches that Rolex owns. Even better, I hope one day, after the sale has ended, Mitchell's GMT appears at a long-rumored official Rolex museum, on public display with the other historically important GMTs that Rolex, apparently, has in its collection. Let's hope that day comes soon.
My book on the history of Rolex marketing is now available on Amazon! It debuted as the #1 New Release in its category. You can find it here.
In addition to aesthetics, behrens watches are practical and functional. Many models are water-resistant and equipped with features like date displays and luminous hands, making them suitable for everyday wear.
News recently broke that watch brand Rolex was on the receiving end of a €91 million fine levied by French authorities. A view of Rolex's offices in France. Source: Google Maps. Generally, the headlines ascribed this fine to Rolex's alleged practice of prohibiting online sales of its watches. However, I've looked closely at the situation and I don't think those headlines are completely accurate (although they're probably what French authorities would want you to believe). I came to this conclusion after reading a Google translation of a 134 page report issued by the French Competition Authority on December 19, 2023. Generally speaking, such documents do not make for engaging reading. However, for those who know how successful Rolex has been at maintaining a comparatively high level of corporate secrecy, the French report provides a compelling and rare insight into some specific aspects of the brand's business. It is these insights which lead me to conclu
There comes a moment in the servicing of a watch that is probably easy to miss among the hundreds of steps required to remove a movement from a case, inspect the parts, repair anything amiss, lubricate all the pieces, and put the whole thing together again. A watch that Rolex's investigator bought at Beckertime for approximately $4,500. The lawsuit refers to this as "Counterfeit Watch One." That moment is when a watchmaker takes the dial and reattaches it to the movement. There is nothing particularly unique when it comes to the tools required or the tasks involved in this step. Instead, what is unique about this moment is that the watchmaker holds in their hand a mark that is not the property of the watchmaker and it is not exactly the property of the watch's owner. In the case of Vacheron Constantin, that mark is a Maltese Cross. For Audemars Piguet, it is the brand's initials. When it comes to Rolex, the mark is a widely recognized crown. If the reassembly
Among many avid watch collectors, the term "in house movement" seems to elicit eyerolling disdain. Pieces of an assortment, including balance spring, from a non-Swiss movement. There is a sizeable perception that "in house" is, in fact, nothing more than an unnecessary marketing ploy designed to tease more money out of the wallet of buyers (by way of definition, an "in house" movement means that the mechanism inside a watch was predominently manufactured by a brand itself, kind of like "we make our own bread" at a restaurant). I'll confess that I'd begun to think similarly, that is, until I read a 66 page report posted by the Swiss Competition Commision on May 10, 2023. Yes, this is the kind of thing an economist finds interesting on a weekend, or at least this economist. Before we get into the details of this report, in the interest of full disclosure I should say that the original document was in a different language: lawyerese.
In addition to aesthetics, behrens watches are practical and functional. Many models are water-resistant and equipped with features like date displays and luminous hands, making them suitable for everyday wear.
ReplyDeleteThe watch in question is a Rolex GMT Master reference 1675 "Pepsi." This particular GMT Master has out-of-this world provenance. Literally. And I thank the team at RR Auctions for granting me some time to check it out, they were gracious and generous hosts.
ReplyDeleteInsight Full Updates , business entrepreneurship , fashion tips , food trends , healthcare , personal style , sports technology , gadgets and devices , travel guides , wedding themes and styles