Reference Points was dreamed up as our way of offering definitive guides to the world's most important watches, giving collectors a place to look for accurate, comprehensive information presented in a digestible way. Going all the way back to the first installment in 2014, it has consistently been one of our most requested features, while also being one of the most time-intensive to produce. The resources required to gather together dozens of exceptional watches, to partner with leading experts in the collecting community, and to properly document decades of history are extraordinary. As a result, we're extremely proud to present Reference Points for the Rolex Submariner.
A silly question that we get asked quite a bit here at HODINKEE is, "What is the best watch?"
Sure, I get why people ask it and what they're getting at, but it's impossible to say anything is "the best" when you're dealing with something as subjective and personal as wristwatches. What you like aesthetically, the history that's meaningful to you personally, and the idiosyncrasies of how you live your life all impact that answer of that question. However, there's a similar question that we also get asked a lot, for which I do think there are a few good answers: "What is the most important watch of all time?" The Rolex Submariner is a pretty darn good answer. It's not the only answer, but it's one that I find tough to argue with.
Since its introduction in 1953, the Rolex Submariner has in many ways defined not only the dive watch category, but the sport watch category more broadly. When you say "wristwatch" I think a large percentage of people picture something similar to a Rolex Submariner in their heads, whether they know why or not. The Sub has been worn by world luminaries, icons of the silver screen, sports legends, and basically any other set of noteworthy people you can name. The very notion of a black-dialed stainless steel watch with a rotating timing bezel, luminous hands, and a comfortable bracelet was broadly popularized by the Submariner.
Despite all of that though, the Submariner is an often-misunderstood watch. There have been well over a dozen distinct references of the Submariner, with up to a few hundred total variants depending on how thinly you want to start sub-dividing individual references based on dial text, lume plots, and more. We thought it was about time that we break things down and make the whole range of Submariners a little easier to understand. As you'd expect though, we had to set some boundaries for ourselves: We are only covering vintage Submariners here, starting with the first proper 1953 Submariner and working our way up through the last of the classic ref. 5513 Submariner. All of the watches here have four-digit reference numbers and acrylic crystals. Once we get into five-digit reference numbers, sapphire crystals, and other technical innovations, we get into squarely modern watches, which are a tale for another time.
To make this all possible, we teamed up with Eric Wind, longtime HODINKEE collaborator and founder of Wind Vintage, who tapped deep into the vintage Rolex collector community to drum up more than three dozen truly world class watches for us to shoot and study.
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