An updated edition of Rolex Submariner Story has recently been released by Guido Mondani Editore
Guido Mondani begins his Editor’s Note by writing that with this publication of his Rolex Submariner Story, “enthusiasts, collectors and traders can really feel satisfied” by the “history and an ‘encyclopedic’ knowledge of all modern and vintage Submariner models.”
That’s quite a tall order.
Stop to think about the number of in-depth texts that have already been written on this subject, in whole or part.
Unauthorized histories. Approaches that narrowly focus on sports models. Magazine features based on unprecedented access to Rolex facilities. Auction catalogs. And all that before we start talking about other Guido Mondani Editore imprints.
Yet Rolex Submariner Story delivers. In fact, it exceeds Mr Mondani’s opening promise.
The first edition, published in 2009 and limited to a 2,000-book printing, is a cornerstone and regularly referenced part of my personal research library. I cited it for my piece on James Bond and Rolex in the current Revolution magazine, as well my post-BaselWorld observations that ran on the CommanderBond.net James Bond fan site.
Guido Mondani is also our personal source for identification of the Rolex 6538 Submariner on display (courtesy of Bob Ridley, Watchmakers International) as part of our “Bond Watches, James Bond Watches” exhibit at the National Watch & Clock Museum in Columbia, Pennsylvania.
So it is with a great deal of hands-on, practical-use experience that I come to this review of Rolex Submariner Story — and happily announce that a new edition has just been released, featuring a section on the 2010 Rolex Submariner models and an updated price estimate supplement.
Authorship credits to Franca E Guido Mondani and Lele Ravagnani, with acknowledgement to Gabriele Vittozzi, Paolo Spinello and Mario Baroncini for collaborative input. A limited edition of 500 copies will be signed by Guido Mondani this time around.
The first paragraph of the first watch group they cover reads, as all copy, in Italian and then in English. It nicely sets the tone for what’s fundamentally important to my James Bond Watches Blog readers.
It is since 1927, with Mercedes Gleitze, that Rolex has paid great attention to its advertising image by choosing the most suitable testimonials to effectively promote its new models. However, some famous personalities have indirectly given even greater advertising success to the Genevan Company, by wearing a Rolex watch during their public appearances.
We’re talking about Bond, James Bond….
It seems the authors and I come from the same starting point.
Although specifically noting that the Rolex Submariner worn by Sean Connery as James Bond in Dr No features an 8 millimeter “Big Crown” (called “‘coroncione’ by Italian collectors”), 7 models (and a total of 9 variations) are detailed in this opening section, titled, “Submariner ‘James Bond’” — following the general convention of referring to “all Submariner watches without crown guards ‘James Bond’ watches.”
The text then unfolds in a logical, highly organized presentation. Models, production dates, mechanism calibers, markings, and bracelet options are clearly associated in a manner that truly serves to educate the reader on all that constitutes and differentiates on reference from another.
I can’t overstate how truly rare this sort of complete coverage and clarity is among the many (many) Rolex references I’ve read.
Too often, previous attempts to reconstruct any meaningful histories of Rolex wristwatches have by design or lack of discipline taken an apparently haphazard approach to a chronology that can only be truly understood by the logical sequencing they simply do not provide.
Conversely, Guido Mondani, et al., thoroughly present their material in the required “encyclopedic” organization.
For example, “Submariner ‘James Bond’” succinctly lists reference numbers and production dates. It also presents those same models with crown-size indications. For the researcher studying James Bond Rolex Submariner alternatives, this clearly sets out which pieces, then, are options for first-cut review — further to the authors’ call for a Big Crown on the one worn by Sean Connery as James Bond in Dr No.
And what about the question of the Rolex Submariner 6538 without individual minute-markers between the zero and 15-minute indices on its rotating bezel? Clearly this is the watch configuration in Goldfinger, which the current James Bond actor, Daniel Craig, as specified as a 6538 reference.
Rolex Submariner Story nicely justifies its 12½” x 16” page size (“the world’s biggest book on Rolex watches,” they emphasize) with a macro-photograph showing Rolex Submariner 6538, case number 418924, from 1958, captioned as follows.
The rotating bezel, or rim, as it is called by Rolex has no minute markers between 1 and 15, just as in the advert from 1957 in the previous page and from 1958 on page 31. On the previous page, in the picture extracted from the official Rolex catalogue, the bezel has the minute markers between 1 and 15. Therefore it could have been replaced with a bezel from an earlier period.
That, my friends, is how real professionals get to the heart of historical fact. And why such necessary details have eluded so many others with less access to all the various pieces that must be examined as a whole, in context, to tell these rich Rolex stories.
Go to “‘Rolex Submariner Story,’ by Mondani and Ravagnani: Review (part 2)”
‘Rolex Submariner Story,’ by Mondani and Ravagnani: Review (part 1)”
“‘Rolex Submariner Story,’ by Mondani and Ravagnani: Review (part 2)“
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