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ROLEX SUBMARINER AWESOME HISTORY IN 5 MINUTES

ROLEX SUBMARINER

Rolex Submariner the Beginning 

In the beginning of 1950s scuba diving became a rising sport among young Americans therefore the need of a watch that would be waterproof and precise in order for the divers to have an accurate way of the time they spend underwater was created. In 1953 Rolex created the Rolex Submariner, a watch exclusively designed for the specific needs of scuba diving waterproof to a depth of 100m that has been evolve over the years up to 300 metres. Its unique characteristics such as its rotatable bezel and large hands has made it a unique watch among scuba divers.  

 

Rolex Submariner 6204 & 6205

Introduced officially a year later in 1954 the Submariner 6204, with an A260 movement and certified as waterproof up to 200 meters. The Submariner 6205, with a A260 movement and the Submariner 6200 fitted with A296 movement and a larger crown marked Brevet (patented) waterproof also up to 200 meters. In the following years quite a few collectors have questioned the chronological order of the first three models of Submariner but as a logic consequence we can safely say that as Submariner 6204 and 6205 share the same movement they were produced together and Submariner 6200 follows with a different and better movement A296. 

Rolex Submariner History

Auguste Piccard the incredible mind behind Rolex Submariner evolution

Are you up for it? It is always fascinating when two minds that don’t think alike join their forces and their creative minds. This happened when August Piccard and Rolex connected, but lets dive a little bit to the life of this incredible mind. August Piccard was a Swiss physicist and explorer that came into publicity due to his record breaking hydrogen balloon flights that allowed him to study Earths upper atmosphere and became the first person to enter the Stratosphere.  Piccard after this incredible journey on space, in 1948 he invented the first bathyscaphe that allowed the divers to explore the ocean in depths that they have never imagined before. 

In 1953 two very different Submariners were produced for the Swiss scientist Professor Auguste Piccard for his dives in Trieste named Deep Sea Specials and Piccard. On the 30th September 1953 with Deep Sea Specials, Rolex made a world record dive to 3155 with Auguste Piccard team. Seven years later in 1960 under Jaques Piccard’s son August  Piccard 7205/0 conquered a new world record to 11000 meters. 

1954 what an interesting year for Rolex Submariner!

1954 was a fascinating year for Submariner and Rolex fanatics as it is the year that Rolex is experimenting with the name of Submariner and launching Frogman, Skin Diver, Dive-O-Graph and Deep Sea Diver and does not conclude until the ten years later in the 1960s.

Rolex Submariner 1030 Movement

In 1955 Submariner re-released 6204 and 6205 with the new 1030 movement. 6204 was renamed as 6538 and 6536 replaced 6205 adding to them a larger crown. Rolex re offered 6536 with a chronometer version named 6536/1.

Rolex Submariner Reference Guide

This is your quick reference guide that includes the reference and the years of production, if you require more information regarding all the Submariners models please check our article “THE 32 AMAZING ROLEX SUBMARINER MODELS”

Rolex Submariner References (1953-Present)

6204  First Submariner A.260  (1953 – 1954)

6205  First Submariner A.260  (1954 – 1955)

6200  Mercedes Hands – A.296 (1954)

6538  First Submariner with Big Crown “James Bond” worn by Sean Connery in Dr. No  (1955 – 1959)

6538A Military Submariner  1030 “Coroncione” (1955 – 1959)

6536  Small Crown  1030 (1955 – 1959)

6536/1  Chronometer  1030 (1955 – 1959)

5508  Small Crown  1530 (1957 – 1961)

5510  Small Crown  1530 (1958)

5510 (1958 only – Big Crown)

5512  Chronometer- The Cornini  1530-1560-1570 (1959 – 1978)

5513  First Crown Guard  1520-1530 (1962 – 1989)

5514  Comex Submariner  1520 (1969 – 1977)

1680/8  First DATE in Yellow Gold  1575 (1969 – 1978)

1680  First Submariner Date  1575 (1969 – 1979)

5517  Military Submariner  1520 (1977)

16808 Submariner Date  Sapphire crystal Gold  3035 (1979 – 1987)

16800 Submariner Date  Transitional model  3035 (1979 – 1988)

16803 Submariner Date  Sapphire crystal SS/YG 3035 (1983 – 1988)

16610 Submariner Date  Superluminova Dial  3135 (1986** – Today)

16613 Submariner Date Superlum. Dial SS/YG  3135 (1986** – Today)

16618 Submariner Date  Superlum. Dial Gold  3135 (1986** – Today)

14060 First with Sapphire crystal  3000 (1988*- 2001)

14060M  Updated Automatic Movement  3130 (2001 – Today)

14060M  Submariner 

16610LV 50th Anniversary

114060 Submariner Ceramic bezel (2012-2019)

116610LN Submariner Date with Ceramic bezel (2012-2019)

124060 Submariner (2020 – present) equipped with caliber 3230

126610LN Submariner Date (2020 – present) equipped with 3235

Want to learn more about Rolex History? Check out our article that describes how everything started.

Feel free to contact and share your thoughts with us your feedback is important as we are trying to create a unique interactive community for all the watch fanatics.

Author

  • Julien Favre

    Vallée de Joux, Switzerland — Contributing Editor, high complications & independent watchmaking
    Julien Favre learned the difference between good silence and bad silence before he was ten. Good silence was his grandfather at the bench in Le Sentier, loupe screwed into one eye, breathing shallow over a disassembled minute repeater. Bad silence was the moment a hairspring pinged off the peg-wood and disappeared into the floorboards. The family atelier — three generations of movement servicing for the maisons that carpet the Vallée de Joux — was never framed as a legacy Julien was expected to join. It simply was the house, the way weather is the house in a mountain valley.
    He resisted it, predictably. He studied economics in Lausanne and spent two years in Geneva watch retail, selling the objects rather than opening them. What pulled him back was not sentiment but frustration: he found he could describe why a movement was beautiful far better than anyone selling it could, because he had seen its underside. He started writing — first a blog dissecting finishing under macro photography, then commissioned work for the trade press, then features that treated escapements the way music critics treat a fugue.
    Julien now covers high complications, restoration, and the fragile economics of independent watchmaking for European and English-language titles. His reporting is unusually technical without being cold; he is as interested in the person hunched over the bench as in the tolerances they hold. He is skeptical of hype, allergic to press-release adjectives, and reliably the first to notice when a "revolutionary" caliber is a reworked ébauche.
    He still returns to the family workshop each winter to service a single pocket watch on his grandfather's bench — a discipline, he says, that keeps his writing honest. A critic who cannot do the thing risks worshipping it.
    Byline version: Julien Favre is a contributing editor covering high complications and independent watchmaking. He grew up in a movement-servicing atelier in the Vallée de Joux and still works the family bench each winter

    Author
ROLEXROLEX SUBMARINER
Author

Vallée de Joux, Switzerland — Contributing Editor, high complications & independent watchmaking Julien Favre learned the difference between good silence and bad silence before he was ten. Good silence was his grandfather at the bench in Le Sentier, loupe screwed into one eye, breathing shallow over a disassembled minute repeater. Bad silence was the moment a hairspring pinged off the peg-wood and disappeared into the floorboards. The family atelier — three generations of movement servicing for the maisons that carpet the Vallée de Joux — was never framed as a legacy Julien was expected to join. It simply was the house, the way weather is the house in a mountain valley. He resisted it, predictably. He studied economics in Lausanne and spent two years in Geneva watch retail, selling the objects rather than opening them. What pulled him back was not sentiment but frustration: he found he could describe why a movement was beautiful far better than anyone selling it could, because he had seen its underside. He started writing — first a blog dissecting finishing under macro photography, then commissioned work for the trade press, then features that treated escapements the way music critics treat a fugue. Julien now covers high complications, restoration, and the fragile economics of independent watchmaking for European and English-language titles. His reporting is unusually technical without being cold; he is as interested in the person hunched over the bench as in the tolerances they hold. He is skeptical of hype, allergic to press-release adjectives, and reliably the first to notice when a "revolutionary" caliber is a reworked ébauche. He still returns to the family workshop each winter to service a single pocket watch on his grandfather's bench — a discipline, he says, that keeps his writing honest. A critic who cannot do the thing risks worshipping it. Byline version: Julien Favre is a contributing editor covering high complications and independent watchmaking. He grew up in a movement-servicing atelier in the Vallée de Joux and still works the family bench each winter

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