Rolex has a number of watches that many consider iconic, but Rolex watches that are associated with a piece of history people are fascinated by a century later? That’s pretty special. Two Rolex watches that belonged to crew members who went down to the Titanic wreckage will be auctioned in December 2024.
While the wreckage was found in 1985, less than 250 people have visited the site. Al Giddings is among those individuals who visited the Titanic wreckage — and he did so wearing Rolex timepieces.
He worked on the famous Titanic movie, which won various awards in 1998. Al Giddings is also behind the most popular Titanic image, which captures the bow of the ship.
Sotheby’s auction event will be held in New York City on December 6th, 2024, and two timepieces (Rolex ‘Nipple Dial’ Submariner and Rolex ref.1680 Submariner) will be auctioned.
Since the Rolex Ref. 1680 Submariner has impressive water resistance properties, Al Giddings wore it on multiple expeditions.
According to Giddings, “the appropriate diving watch was the thing to have, and this watch performed flawlessly, emphasis flawlessly, for all those years, both underwater in different pressure environments and different submersibles: on Titanic, on the Andrea Doria, shipwrecks of Truk Lagoon, Bikini Atoll, the North Pole, Antarctica. There really was no competition; it was simply the best.”
The value of this Rolex Ref. 1680 Submariner ranges from $20,000 – $40,000.
The second watch on Al Gidding’s collection, the Rolex ‘Nipple Dial’ Submariner, was a gift from a diver, T. Walker Lloyd, who worked with Rolex to improve the brand’s underwater technology.
While Gidding was filming the Titanic movie, Bill Paxton borrowed the watch and wore it as a treasure hunter in the film.
The Rolex ‘Nipple Dial’ price might fetch $30,000 – 60,000.
“No other timepieces boast such extensive underwater exposure,” said Geof Hess, Sotheby’s global head of watches.
