Romain Jerome Titantic DNA Watch!!! (Hey Subfiend!!)

[leopardprey]

While in Malaysia they had the unveiling of the Titantic DNA watch. Very nice. Got to meet and talk with the designer of the watch from swiss-land. Watch uses stabilized rusted steel from the Titantic for the bezel. And coal from the Titantic's boiler room was used for the dial. Very nie watch. Cost about $8000 and up.

[joe100]

Interesting concept but I'm sure I'm not the only one that realizes 1500 people lost their lives on Titanic. Disrespectful is a word I'd use for starters.

Owning such a thing certainly couldn't bode well for one's Karma

Best regards,

J.

[leopardprey]

Unless, you look at wearing the watch as a Tribute/memorial to those who died and to honor those who gave their lives that fateful day to rescue others.

If you read the Magazine that came with the unvieling of the watch, and all the history of the Titantic and the Watch both, you would see it is not at all disrespectful, but the opposite.

[joe100]

Since November 2003 the wreck of RMS Titanic and surrounding area has been established as a protected grave site under a coordinated treaty with the UK, US Canada and France. The removal of any object from the wreck or vicinity of the wreck is extremely illegal.

Titanic was operated by the White Star Line and not many people know that the WSL was owned by an American company called International Mercantile Marine or IMM chaired by J.P.Morgan. That's right, Titanic was OWNED by an American company. She was operated by a British company, White Star. White Star Line merged with Cunard in 1934. The wreck was discovered by Dr. Robert Ballard in 1985 and at the time Cunard was still a British company. Since the wreck was in international waters it could be claimed by anyone. In the mid to late 90s the French did a bit of plundering on the ship and removed hundreds of objects. Some where sold (in transactions that bordered on illegal and in many cases were) others where sent to museums. As of Novermber 2003 the removal of anything from the Titanic site is illegal. Since 1998, the Cunard Line has been owned by the American parent company Carnival Cruise Lines of Miami. Not sure how the laws work but Carnival/Cunard may still have claim to the wreck.

If the items that went into the construction of this watch where retrieved after 2003 then they are in direct violation of the France, UK, US, Canada treaty. I haven't read the details of it but the sale of items recovered before or after Nov. 2003 may be prohibited as well. The governments involved take this treaty very seriously and have made life rough for a few well-known Titanic collectors over the past few years.

I'm not going to say their intentions were anything other than a tribute but setting aside the legal factors it's not in good taste. Think of it like this, would anyone dare think of stealing steel from USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor Hawai'i to make a watch. Removing items from a grave site for profit is just wrong.

This is just my opinion on the matter. I've been interested in martime history for years, I've cooperated on more than one book on the German navy during WWII, the Kriegsmarine. The topic at hand is just near and dear to my heart.

Best regards,

J.

[Mike734]

Originally Posted by joe100

The removal of any object from the wreck or vicinity of the wreck is extremely illegal.

It's not just illegal, it's EXTREMELY illegal. Give me a break. There is nothing special about this rusting hulk. It is a monument to man's arrogance and stupidity. As far as I'm concerned they should raise what they can and display it as that monument.

How come it is OK to display cave man bones or mummies or other relics of old? Whys is it OK to plunder wrecks with gold and silver? Because they are soooo old, nobody has a personal relationship with them. Yeah, I know, The Titanic is still "fresh" in the minds of some. It was a horrible human tragedy but so what? No one is really hurt by poking around and removing pieces of the wreck. To those with the technology to do so. Feel free. I'd love to own a set of silverware and china from The Titanic for example.

[Teofilo]

Two interesting opinions on this one.....enjoyed reading both.

[Julian,Sea Dweller]

$8000 for a rusty watch??

Go buy a timex and leave it in salty water

$25

[Andad]

Well you would need more than 3 Sea Dwellers to get down to the wreck and recovering some steel from that depth would make for an expensive item.

[joe100]

To Mike 734:

Your comment above are less than I'd expect from a gentleman. I'll "give you a break" this time but going forward if you disagree with me communicate your feelings in a more adult manner.

Regards,

J.

[Mike734]

Originally Posted by joe100

To Mike 734:

Your comment above are less than I'd expect from a gentleman. I'll "give you a break" this time but going forward if you disagree with me communicate your feelings in a more adult manner.

Regards,

J.

Aren't we a little oversensitive J?

My points are valid. Your dislike of my tone is of little concern to me. Just because the US, Canada, the UK and France say it's illegal to dive on the wreck doesn't make it so. The fact is, they have no jurisdiction to protect a wreck in international waters. You may disagree but that is for the courts to decide. Hmmm, which court?

I have no beef with you and don't really care to continue this conversation as it is off topic. If my apology is needed then you have it but I really don't think you should have been offended.

[jamesthejeweller]

I have seen the watch, its okay i suppose, but like many people have said, its a bit of a shameless marketing campaign, i was reading an article and the reviewer said "...if your looking for something to time exactly when kate winslet takes her top off, this baby will do fine..." hmm 1500+ people freeze to death in the Atlantic and the watch is already a little bit in bad taste, you would of thought that the manufacturers would try and dignify or atleast justify its commission but no they want to use it to time the exact moment when kate gets her babylons out and thats the best application for this watch!?

[jamesthejeweller]

Also did anyone reply to my post about Bill Paxtons Gold sub? i think thats what he is wearing!

[kakalika]

Found these on the web.

[Gaijin]

Must admit that is a seriously cool watch. Would not wear one though out of respect for those who perished.

[jamesthejeweller]

yeah its not bad, but seeing as they went too all the trouble of salvaging the parts, i would of thought that they would of turned the coal from the boiler rooms in diamonds?

[Subfiend]

I am probably the only member of this forum that has actually recovered items from the Titanic wreck site and spent time there on the bottom. Personally, I find this watch appalling and in bad taste.

Joe, two corrections: (1) it is not illegal to recover artifacts from the Titanic wreck site; however, only one company has the legal right to do so and its activities are carefully supervised by a U.S. federal court; and (2) the Titanic is not protected by a treaty. It is the subject of an international agreement that was negotiated by four countries, but only Great Britain has actually signed it, and that was after an illegal salvage operation conducted by British citizens using a British vessel. The French and American salvage expeditions were all conducted legally. The agreement has suggested protocols for activities at the wreck site, but they are not mandatory.

[Letsgodiving]

I would say this is a blatant and distasteful opportunistic venture.

[TheDude]

Originally Posted by Letsgodiving

I would say this is a blatant and distasteful opportunistic venture.

Any more so than making a movie about it?

[Incurable]

I would much rather have a watch constructed from materials collected from places such as the moon, meteorites, asteroids, etc. The Rolex meteorite dial is one such example. The implications and wonder these materials evoke are much more intriguing to me and carry no associated negative implications. JMHO...

[Subfiend]

Originally Posted by Incurable

I would much rather have a watch constructed from materials collected from places such as the moon, meteorites, asteroids, etc. The Rolex meteorite dial is one such example. The implications and wonder these materials evoke are much more intriguing to me and carry no associated negative implications. JMHO...

Me too.

[Hammer]

I'd say regardless of the moral issues, the Watches look ugly to me, but different strokes and all that.

Now the Rolex Meteorite is a different matter altogether.

[Downing]

I read an article in a watch magazine a couple of months ago about this. As I recall, everything was above board, RJ had the proper permissions and support, etc. They even had some sort of document or certificate from some authority giving them the green light. I'm a little fuzzy on the details, obviously.

So no one's going to jail for this.

Having said that, it's not a watch that I'm particularly interested in. And even it's is supposed to be a "tribute" rather than an "exploitation," the watch feels more like the latter than the former to me.

[CPCC]

Rusty watches.Hmmmmmmmmmmm
Just make sure your tetnus immunizations are up to date.

[DJF881]

The rusted looking watch is cool looking, but it's essentially an $8000 novelty.

However, I'm not particularly moved by people's objections to the disrespect to the site or the commercial exploitation of the wreck. There are plenty of people looking to exploit various shipwreck sites for economic value. If there was no money to be made, there would be no salvage diving. Presumably, dead people in all of the shipwrecks. It seems like a perfectly valid activity to me.

Anyway, if I remember my international law class, what laws exist that cover ships seem to be a lot more concerned with the ownership of the booty, such as whether it's a finders-keepers rule on behalf of the salvagers, or whether the original owners (or their heirs) still have some claim, and also about who gets to tax the haul. I bet the Titanic agreement is at least as concerned with these issues as it is about the memory of the dead.