The Rolex Military Submariner

An almost perfect example of a Royal Marines Rolex Submariner, reference number 5513, and serial number in the 39xx xxx range. Furthermore, the G.I. (Government Issue) number xxx/75 implies that the watch was put into stock in the Quartermaster’s register in the year 1975. This was confirmed by Rolex, who informed the owner that the watch was indeed supplied to a certain British naval base in 1975; very few records are in fact extant in the Rolex archives, and it is a relief that this example was among those traceable.

A Rolex inscription inside the caseback (I.72) confirms the date of manufacture to be early 1972.

An additional code, 0552/923-7697, is also inscribed onto the back of the watch. The number 0552 refers to the fact that the watch was Royal Navy issue (as opposed to Army or RAF). The rest of this code is a Ministry of Defence identifier that describes the instrument as “Watch, Wrist, Divers”, as defined in the (now cancelled) Defence Standard 66-4 (Part 1). The same code appears on all instruments of the same type supplied to the Royal Navy.

The back of the watch also has a version of the “broad arrow”, or “pheon”, signifying that it was military property.

The hands of this watch are in absolutely beautiful original condition; the slight degree of distress to the luminous filler further reinforces our understanding that the hands have remained unchanged since its manufacture. The dial is in a similarly perfect state of preservation.

The dial has an encircled letter “T” printed in white, a feature only seen on the military-issue versions of this watch. The symbol was used by the M.O.D. at the time to indicate the presence of Tritium, the luminous compound used to render instruments readable in low light. The mark would have been especially printed by Rolex at the time of manufacture.

There are four additional aspects, ordered by the M.O.D. specification referred to above that differentiate this model of Naval Submariner from other types:

• The outer bezel  has minute-marks all the way round its circumference, as opposed to those with minute calibrations only to “15”.
• The hands are of the “Sword” pattern, ostensibly more legible than the traditional “Mercedes” type.
• The watch has solid stainless steel bars rivetted into the case, replacing the sprung telescoping-style that are usually used to fasten watch straps. The rivetted-in type affords much greater security against loss, particularly when used in conjunction with the NATO G10 watch strap.
• The movement, Rolex calibre 1520, was to be fitted with a “hacking” or stop-seconds device, allowing the watch to be stopped and set to the second—the ability to synchronise a number of different watches being an important aspect of military operations.

In short, a very rare type of Rolex, as borne out by the solid prices these watches regularly command.