Vintage watch guide: spend it well

Say what you like about Rolex watches, they are one of the only timepieces that will more or less hold their value over the years, and in this day and age could even give you more of a return than sticking your money in the bank. If you get the right one, your investment could be very wise indeed.

That's why Ben Clymer has come up with the vintage watch guide, and why his first guide is on Rolexes. Read before you buy, if you've got any sense.

James Bond's Rolex 5513: in case of emergencies

This is the Rolex watch used by 007 himself in Live and Let Die when he sawed himself out of a sticky situation using the buzz-saw on the crown. It also had a high-intensity magnetic bullet shield apparently, which would put any other sub in the shade as far as technical wizardry goes if it was actual life.

But it wasn't so these things won't work. But you do get a watch Bond, or Roger Moore had on his wrist before he traded it in for a Casio. And he signed the back, bless him.

Personally I preferred it on Sean Connery, with a Nato strap nonetheless, but I'm funny like that.

Expect to pay between $230,000 and $450,000 for the privilege of owning it.

Project X Rolex Submariner: filling time

You might remember in the dim and distant past that I smashed the crystal of my Tudor Submariner on the bathroom floor. As far as I can remember, that was early December. Since then I have had the watch fixed and returned it twice because the date didn't magnify.

The upshot of this is that when I took the watch back to the jeweller's back in January he said he would send it to Rolex for their opinion. I can only guess he was in denial that the crystal his watchmaker had put in could be fake.

He called the other day, two months after I had taken the watch in, to tell me that Rolex were going to put a new glass in it. And that it would take five months for them to do it. Actually he didn't say that. He said 20 weeks which sounds like less time but I can assure that's about five months, give or take a week.

So that's the whole spring without a watch. I've considered buying another one and selling it when I get mine back, but somehow I know I won't get round to selling it.

But that hasn't stopped me looking, and these Project X Stealth watches would do for the interim, although I shiver at the sight of those Nato straps after what happened to mine.

Via Slamxhype

Hillary Tenzing Rolex Explorer: high time

The thing that has always got me about the Rolex Explorer One is the lack of a date function. Seeing as I spend most of the time walking round without knowing what day of the week it is, I've always found this feature quite handy.

Nevertheless, this is a tasty watch - refined, subtle, but possessed of a chunkiness that belies its frost-covered heritage, and recognisable by those enlarged numerals to enable you to tell the time even if your eyeballs have frozen over.

This was the watch that accompanied many an arctic expedition, not least Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's Everest weekender on May 29, 1953.

The sale of Sir Edmund's Rolex collection has apparently been the subject of some controversy of late, so it's quite fitting that the Hillary Tenzing Series of Rolexes has been released. Some might even consider it cashing in.

The limited edition set of three watches from the creators of the Piccard Single Red Deepsea and not officially associated with Rolex come with a bunch of accessories and a dodgy looking plywood crate. For $39,000 (£24,000). If you ask nicely they might even give you the boots.

Rolex Submariner: The writing must be red

What is it about red lettering on watches? Somehow that little flash of colour lifts the piece into a whole new league.

It isn't just red, mind. It might also be orange (Steve McQueen's Explorer II comes to mind).

Take these Submariners by PXD - the SS2 and the SS3. There are a whole load of other subtle features on these watches, but it's the red that stands them out. That and the black powder coating for one of them. Can't go wrong with that.

Via Slamhype