First released in 1953, the Submariner was the brainchild of Rolex board member and keen amateur diver René-Paul Jeanneret, who suggested that the company manufacture a watch capable of being worn underwater, but also elegant enough to wear every day. Since its launch, Rolex has released over 20 iterations of the Submariner and it continues to be one of the most popular watches on the planet. The Sub’s iconic design is defined by its uni-directional rotating divers bezel etched with a 60-minute track, which is used to read elapsed time while underwater. Elsewhere, the dial design features a mix of dot and baton markers coated in luminous paint to aid legibility in low light. The Sub’s understated design has remained largely unchanged for nearly 70 years and is the perfect blend of form and function. The Submariner is one of the few watches to break outside of watch collecting circles and into mainstream culture. It’s been seen on the wrists of many public figures and has credibility with hardcore collectors for its association with COMEX saturation divers and the British armed forces. Perhaps the most famous wearer of the Submariner however, is James Bond. The British secret agent wore several references on screen throughout the 60’s and 70’s, including Dr No, Goldfinger and Live and Let Die. The Submariner’s bezel is often mistaken to be used for measuring how much air a diver has left in their tank, where in fact it is only capable of tracking elapsed time up to 60 minutes. The bezel is also uni-directional meaning it can only be rotated counterclockwise. This is to prevent the bezel being knocked in a clockwise direction during a dive, which would show a reduced time underwater, leading to a potentially dangerous situation. To track elapsed time with the Submariners bezel, rotate it so that the triangle zero marker is aligned with the minute hand before you begin the task you want to time. From there, the minute hand now indicates the minutes elapsed, for example if the minute hand points to 20 on the bezel, then 20 minutes have elapsed. In a diving situation, this is usually used to keep a check of the amount of time spent underwater, but is equally handy keeping track of the timing of any task that takes an hour or less.
