Rolex Horror Stories...

[SteyrAUG]

Death of a President

It would have been the late 1970s when we went diving that day. I was in my youth and one of the few who was snorkeling rather than using a tank. This meant I was party to a few of the deep dives of the day. But as a couple of my Dad's buddies were new to SCUBA we weren't necessarily in deep water either.

And as most of my Dad's buddies had a "Dr." in front of their name there were several Rolex's on peoples wrist. And while Submariners were clearly in the majority I still remember the sight of that big 18k Day Date Presidential.

I'm not sure what Dr. Name Withheld actually did to cause his DD to unclasp and slip past his hand but I do remember seeing it fall through the water and land right down there in a puff of sand. Problem was I was the only person to actually see it land and I was on my way up for a refill of O2.

And when I got another lung full I couldn't exactly say where "right there" was. I was pretty sure of the general area, and you can bet we looked around till those tanks all ran dry, but we never did turn up that watch which was probably covered with less than a 1/2 of sand.

We returned with several lobster and some red snapper, but there was one guy who just wasn't really thrilled with the day. Not that I can blame him.

But I did learn one thing that day. If you can afford a 18k DD, you can afford a Submariner. And it is probably wise to wear your Sub on certain occasions and leave your DD at home.