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The Top 5 Dive Watches: The Rolex Submariner
And so we come to the number one spot on our list of the top 5 dive watches of all time, and the only watch that could ever fill it…
There have been other timepieces created throughout history which could be described as influential; Speedmaster, Royal Oak, GMT-Master, etc.
But in terms of all-round importance, of a single model being the catalyst for a complete paradigm shift in the way things are done, of being more instrumental in popularizing an entirely new wave of thinking than any other, then the Rolex Submariner is the Beethoven’s 9th, it’s the Picasso, the Muhammad Ali, the Sgt. Pepper.
It is the watch everyone aspires to, the one without which any collection has to be considered incomplete. Now more than 70-years old, the Sub has been through over a dozen different generations and is still at the top of the tree—the most copied, emulated, recognizable, counterfeited and downright iconic watch ever made.
Let’s dive in.
A Little History
The Submariner’s story starts in the very early 1950s, the beginning of a decade which would shape Rolex’s entire direction and pave the way for the brand to become the giant it is today.
Only recently freed from the horrors of global conflict, the world was entering into an era of optimism and prosperity. This newfound wealth, coupled with technology developed during WWII gave rise to the fledgling sport of recreational diving.
Cousteau’s invention of the Aqualung, the world’s first open circuit, self-contained underwater breathing equipment meant more people than ever could experience the wonders of the deep. Buoyed on by movies and documentaries of the undersea realm, including those from Cousteau himself, Scuba diving exploded in popularity.
As with anything experiencing that level of widespread appeal, before long an entire industry sprang up to provide all the assorted gear required. And among the most fiercely contested arenas was the establishment of the perfect dive watch.
Waterproof timepieces were already in existence prior to the ‘50s, mainly thanks to Rolex’s invention of the Oyster case. Italian brand Panerai, for example, have Rolex to thank for providing the housing and movements for the original Radiomir models they supplied to the Regia Marina, the Royal Italian Navy, frogmen in the 1930s. There is also plenty of evidence of pre-Submariner Rolex Oysters performing perfectly well on leisure dives in the late 1940s too.
However, it was clear the door was open for a watch dedicated solely to the sport, with the necessary functionality to act as both timekeeper and safety backup.
According to some sources, Rolex’s director of public relations, René-Paul Jeanneret, a keen diver himself, tested a prototype Submariner as early as 1951, taking it to a depth of 50m.
That led to the development of the watch itself, and two crucial patents were filed in 1953. The first, in February, concerned the model’s rotating bezel. The second, from the April, was for a new type of crown called the Twinlock, which offered superior water resistance due to the presence of two O-rings.
With the copyrights in place, Rolex produced the first batch of Submariners in the second quarter of 1953, and a number of them were issued to some of diving’s most important pioneers. Dimitri Rebikoff, French engineer, photographer and inventor of the first underwater flash, film camera and the first remotely operated vehicle received his in May of that year, with Jacques Cousteau given his in the September. Both went on to extensively field test their watches, Cousteau wearing his throughout filming of his Oscar-winning documentary Le Monde du Silence.
The following year, Rolex presented the Submariner to the world officially at the 1954 Basel Watch Fair.
The Start of it All
Like much of mid-20th century Rolex, the initial few years of the Sub’s life was somewhat chaotic.
Including the debut model, the ref. 6204, the Submariner would clock up some 10 different references by the start of the 1960s.
Some of these were around for mere months, several ran concurrently and others differed from the one which had come before in only the most minor ways.
But right from the outset, from the very first sighting of the watch itself, all of the major underlying foundations which would ensure the Sub’s ageless longevity were already in place.
Most notable is the bezel. The idea for a rotating bezel which could be used to measure elapsed time was not new; U.S. Navy officer and inventor Philip Van Horn Weems applied for a patent for a ‘method of and apparatus for navigator’s time keeping’ using a rotating bezel in 1929, although it wasn’t granted until 1935. Originally used on pilot’s watches, such as the Weems Watch from Longines, Rolex’s first model with a turnable surround stemmed from 1937 and the wonderful Zerographe ref. 3346.
On the Submariner, it was jet black and marked with a simple 60-minute scale in white to allow divers to see at a glance exactly how long they had stayed underwater. However, until the late ‘70s, the Sub’s surround would move both clockwise and counterclockwise (bidirectional) before the added safety consideration of making it unidirectional was introduced.
The Submariner would actually be the second piece the brand issued in the 1950s with a rotating bezel, the other being the Turn-O-Graph. And if you held up the debut reference of both you would be hard pressed to tell the difference.
As well as near-identical surrounds, the two also shared matching dial furniture in the shape of dot and baton indexes with an inverted triangle at the 12, and each was given straight Alpha-style pencil hands at first before quickly upgrading to the Mercedes handset we know today.
It was a visual which managed to be at once purely symmetrical, perfectly functional and yet somehow elegant enough for either model to be worn far beyond their confines, with the versatility to serve as both tool and dress watch.
But the Submariner had the added allure of being tough enough for the new breed of underwater adventurer, a reputation which led to it being adopted by real men of action; real and fictional.
By 1957, the Submariner’s status as the definitive dive watch saw it sequestered to the British MOD to be used by the Royal Navy. There it served with great distinction in the most destructive hands possible when it became standard issue for both the SAS and SBS.
Yet the biggest marketing boost came when it appeared in the first Bond film, 1962’s Dr. No. The Big Crown ref. 6538 Sean Connery wore in the movie will forever be known as the Bond Sub, and the character would wear a version of the watch in a total of eight outings.
The Submariner Through the Years
In 1959, the Submariner hit on the basic form it would keep for the next 50-years.
The ref. 5512 came out with a new 40mm case, equipped for the first time with crown guards.
This was the shape which put the tin lid one of the most successful illustrations of industrial design ever made and the ref. 5512 stayed in unbroken production for nearly 20-years. Its non-chronometer, and therefore cheaper, cousin, the ref. 5513, was released in 1962 and lasted even longer. Indistinguishable in all other respects, it was not replaced until 1989.
But long before either of those legendary references were retired, the Submariner had transcended its original purpose as a highly capable diver and was now the ultimate status symbol. And Rolex leant into it heavily.
1969 saw the biggest shakeup in the Submariner’s history with the arrival of the ref. 1680. Not only was it the first Sub to come with a date display, it was also the first time the watch was offered in full gold and with a choice in colorway. The ref. 1680/8, an 18k yellow gold piece, could be had with either a black or blue dial and bezel, and the move split the Sub collection in two.
The standard no-date model would carry on as it always had, strictly in stainless steel with black detailing the only option.
The date Sub has been released in both white and yellow gold, two-tone Rolesor and with a wide selection of different colors and even flamboyant gemstone enhancements. Even so, as disguised as some of these pieces are, there is still no mistaking the watch underneath.
Most recently, the Submariner has gone through two relatively large upheavals in quick succession; well, quick for Rolex anyway.
In 2010, the manufacture debuted the Super Case, a beefed-up version of the Sub’s time-honored form with thicker lugs and crown guards. While still only 40mm on paper, it gave the impression of being a far larger model.
That was replaced with the current iteration in 2021, which did in fact increase the diameter to 41mm while reinstating the vintage curves, a decision which seems to have been appreciated by just about everyone.
The contemporary range now consists of some eight models, including the single no-date, all sitting on the most workmanlike of Rolex’s bracelets, the Oyster.
And its celebrity is undiminished. The list of famous fans is one for the record books; everyone from Steve McQueen to Orlando Bloom, from Mark Wahlberg to Sly Stallone and from Brad Pitt to Queen Latifah has or had worn the Sub as their watch of choice.
It remains an absolute high point of wristwatch design, often copied but never bettered, and will continue to lead the field for many years to come.
Featured Photo: BeckerTime’s Archive.
