The story between the wristwatch and the sea starts from afar. From sailing to diving, where the sea is, there is always a clock. The calculation of time has always been strongly connected to the marine environment.
It all began with the calculation of longitude made possible thanks to the marine chronometer, forerunner of timepieces, which played a crucial role in the era in which the great European powers competed for the domination of maritime traffic.
The real turning point came, however, in the Twenties of the last century when the watch from the pocket moved to the wrist and at the same time the sea becomes a destination of use for creative activities and to give life to sports activities. Hence the intuition of Hans Wilsdorf. The founder of Rolex entrusted the wrist of the English swimmer Mercedes Gleitze, who was trying to swim across the English Channel, with an Oyster watch. The feat was not successful, but the timepiece won the test by coming out unscathed.
Today, diving watches or those inspired by the sea have become real cult objects, conquering the wrists of many fans of the world of hands and not. In this way, the sixth continent is consecrated not only as an important test bench and a research laboratory to test new materials and technical solutions, but also becomes an element in which the encounter between creativity and ingenuity originates real masterpieces of watches.
Hence the idea to collect and tell, in a new dedicated section of our website, the many stories that relate the marine environment with the world of hands.
Welcome to Sea Time, to discover many small masterpieces of precious creativity, as many as the shades of color that the sea, always amazing, gives us.
At the top: In 1927, Mercedes Gleitze, Rolex’s first brand ambassador, attempted to swim the English channel sporting an Oyster with a square and round case (in the insert).
