The Rolex Submariner Replicas was first introduced in 1954 is the most widely copied diver watch design of all. Its mainstream fame was in part due to its use in 11 James Bond movies.

Background

In 1953 on the 30th September a specially made Rolex Submariner was used by Professor Auguste Piccard and Jacque his son in their deep diving expedition in a bathyscaphe (a free-diving self-propelled deep-sea submersible) down to a world record depth of 10,335ft. It was a great marketing coup that creating worldwide attention in the watch. The advanced, groundbreaking technology used to manufacture the special dive watch was utilized for the Submariner models.

In 1954 the Rolex Submariner was released at the Basel World watch fair and became the first dive watch to be guaranteed to water resistant down to 100m. The Submariner represented the pinnacle of achievement in terms of a divers watch, one that other competing manufacturers strived to follow. It featured a number of unique innovations including the unidirectional rotating bezel to help divers time the amount of oxygen remaining as well a flip lock clasp with an extension so that it could be worn over the top of a wetsuit.

Starting out as a tool watch the Submariner was often part of equipment for commercial and military divers and continues to be so. The early period for the Submariner was marked by release of many different models in a short period of time, its believed this was due to Rolex experimenting and trying to come up with the best design.

By the latter half of the 1960's the Submainer had developed into a luxury item and marketed toward the general public.

James Bond

Although many brands of watches have been chosen to be used as spy watches in the Bond movies including Omega, Seiko and Pulsar the Rolex Submariner has been used the most with a total of eleven times. Its also the most authentic since the author Ian Fleming specifies in his books the use of a Rolex Oyster Perpetual. Here's a clip from a scene where Bond uses the watch as a makeshift knuckleduster.

"The man's face hit the table top with a thud, bounced up, and half turned towards Bond. Bond's right flashed out and the face of the Rolex disintegrated against the man's jaw" - On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

We can only reflect on why Fleming chose a Rolex for Bond since he never mentioned the reasons for his choice. It could be that the Rolex's reputation for toughness and use in harsh environments such as deep sea diving prompted him to believe it suited Bonds tough image. Alternatively it could be that it was driven by the fact that Fleming himself wore a Rolex watch.

Although the exact model of Rolex Oyster Perpetual isn't specified by Fleming, the decision to use a Submariner came about partly through practical reasons. Rolex refused to provide a watch for the filming of the first Bond movie, Dr No and purchasing one wasn't budgeted for. When production started it was realized that Sean Connery wasn't wearing the correct watch so producer Albert Broccoli gave him his Submariner to use during filming.

Gadgets

Since gadgets have frequently been a part of Bonds equipment provided by Q branch, the Rolex Submariner Replicas also had some special custom features in some of the Bond movies. For instance in "Live and Let Die" the bezel is power driven to create a kind of "buzz saw" used by Roger Moore to cut through the rope that he has been tied in. In the same movie it was also fitted with a powerful electromagnet capable of deflecting the path of a bullet.