Last Chance To Bid on One of the Very First Rolex Submariners

Last Chance To Bid on One of the Very First Rolex Submariners

There’s less than 24 hours to go if you fancy bidding on one of the very first Rolex Submariner models, which has already set a new highest bid for auction platform, Watch Collecting.

Bidding on the piece, which was among the inherited possessions of “an oil-industry geologist” and is being sold without a reserve, has already reached £125,000 GBP (approximately $171,000 USD), surpassing the previous highest bid ever made through online auction house, Watch Collecting.

The Rolex Submariner Ref. 6200 was the third version of the iconic design to arrive to market, following 6204 and 6205 references. In the first few years of its life, the Submariner went through a series of rapid changes as Rolex looked for an identity that would stick with customers. This resulted in a number of small production runs and a great deal of variety in terms of design, both elements that appeal to Rolex collectors.

Rolex only made 300 pieces of the 6200 – or Big Crown Submariner – which earned the nickname for its 8mm Brevet crown. The reference also features Arabic numerals at 3/6/9 – now more closely associated with Rolex’s Explorer – and “Mercedes” hands.

This example lacks its original bezel insert and original bracelet, but its dial and hands are described as being “in remarkable condition” with its luminous material “evenly aged,” its case features “clear lines and bevel edges” indicating “a lack of polishing” and its A296 movement is “clean and running well.”

You can join the bidding for this early Rolex Submariner at Watching Collecting.

Check out HYPEBEAST’s Icons series, which looks at the impact of the Rolex Submariner.

A Tale of Two Rolex Deep Sea Specials

No. 35 is said to have been produced in 1965 and, along with being kept for a time by a museum in Germany, it was also offered for sale by Antiquorum in 2002. This example uses the “high glass” spec that is even thicker than the already comically thick “low glass” No. 1 mentioned above. That extra thickness helps to ensure a depth rating of 10 kilometers, which is some 33 times the ability of a modern Rolex Submariner. Also of note, and kindly confirmed by Phillips, is that No. 35 is fitted with a Rolex caliber 1570 that has had its winding rotor removed (presumably for fit). Also, note the caseback, which is different in both design and engraving from what was established by No. 1, showing the date and record depth along with the production number, but no mention of “Deep Sea Special” or the Rolex coronet.

Rolex breaks its silence with a rare comment about the shortage of its watches: ‘The scarcity of our products is not a strategy on our part’

Rolex said the shortage of its watches is “not a strategy” in response to a story by Yahoo Finance.

The Swiss company is notoriously secretive about its production and distribution.

Even with the constrained supply, Rolex commands 25% of the global luxury watch market.

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Back when Rolex collector and expert Jeffrey Hess first published his unauthorized history of the company in 1996, some of the most eager buyers were from the ad agency representing the Swiss luxury watch brand.

“I asked one of the guys and he said, ‘Do you know how hard it is to write ad copy for a company like Rolex that is so secretive and so careful?'” Hess told Insider.

In the decades since, Rolex hasn’t exactly gotten more transparent, even as the company continues to dominate the category it effectively invented over a century ago, and especially as demand for its watches has reached a fever pitch during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In short, during a time of widespread supply disruptions and shortages, getting your hands on a Rolex has arguably never been more difficult or expensive.

Insider has tried repeatedly to seek comment on past stories, but the company has been non-responsive. It does not offer any publicly available press contact information, and attempts to reach out using traditionally formatted media and press email addresses at Rolex.com have been returned with a notice that the messages have been “blocked.”

But shortly after Yahoo Finance published its own report on the Rolex shortage, the company uncharacteristically broke its silence and responded with a written statement.

“The scarcity of our products is not a strategy on our part,” the company said. “Our current production cannot meet the existing demand in an exhaustive way, at least not without reducing the quality of our watches – something we refuse to do as the quality of our products must never be compromised.”

“Rolex does not compromise on what it takes to produce exceptional watches,” the statement continued.

The statement also pointed out that all Rolex watches are assembled by hand at one of its four locations in Switzerland, a process that “naturally restricts our production capacities.”

Lastly, the company said it did not bear responsibility for which customers get what watches, since its network of authorized distributors independently manage their own wait-lists for new product.

To read the statement in full, check out the original story on Yahoo Finance.