Rolex Partners With The Explorers Club

[GradyPhilpott]

The "tool watch" argument for Rolex may just get a boost thanks to this partnership.

Rolex Partners With The Explorers Club For An 'Expedition Watch Program'

Rolex has been a supporting partner of The Explorers Club for decades and, in addition to financial support through event underwriting and grants, has provided three watches to be worn on expeditions: an Explorer (duh!), an Explorer II, and a Submariner. These watches are the subject of what is being called the “Rolex Expedition Watch Program” and will piggyback on existing flag expeditions. Watches will be awarded to worthy expeditions, based on detailed applications submitted to a selection committee that includes the first American woman to walk in space and one of the first men to the deepest spot in the ocean. (In the interest of full disclosure, I am also an Explorers Club member and a member of this selection committee.)

The Chairman of the selection committee is David Concannon, a long-time Explorers Club member who was organizer of the expeditions that found and recovered the F-1 rocket engines that powered the Apollo 11 moon mission. Concannon himself is something of a watch enthusiast. He wore his pre-Moon Speedy while on the Apollo F-1 recovery expedition and various Rolex watches on submarine dives to Titanic. He thinks the Rolex watch program is a perfect fit for the Explorers Club.

“Many of the greatest triumphs in exploration, from finding the Titanic to breaking the sound barrier and reaching the deepest point in the world’s ocean, have been accomplished by Explorers Club members wearing Rolex watches,” Concannon says. “The Explorers Club is thrilled to be partnering with Rolex to further these achievements.”

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/ro...-watch-program

Long time Explorers Club member, Dr. Sylvia Earle, wearing her trusty Datejust.