Rolex

Rolex Submariner Anchor A Brief History

 

The Rolex anchor is a recognizable symbol almost as powerful as the Rolex crown itself.  These trinkets, for lack of a better word, accompanied New Rolex Submariner watches since the mid 1950’s and carried on through to about the early 2000’s.  My focus here is on the Rolex anchors that accompanied the “Plexi – plastic crystal” generation or if you like the models from 6xxx (I have not seen 6200 or other models with anchors so I can’t stipulate if they did or did not but we could say yes.) to include the 6536 and 5508 with a very special version and the models 5510, 5512, 5513 and 1680 prior to the sapphire crystal model.  While the sapphire crystal models also had anchors they higher depth ratings 300 meters/1000 feet and 1220 meter / 4000 feet etc. For this little report on the Rolex anchor we are looking at the following Rolex anchors.





Rolex Anchors Reviewed
100 meter / 330 Feet
200 meter / 660 feet – Copper
200 meter / 660 feet – Cast metal
200 meter / 660 feet – Gold color


100 meter / 330 Feet
The first and most like the rarest is the 100m/330 ft.  This anchor accompanied the 6204, 6536 and the 5508.  As seen here in this vintage ad the Rolex anchor is prominently displayed. 






The Anchor 100/330 a very rare find.

200 meter / 660 feet – Copper
The second Rolex Anchor appears to be the Copper anchor.  I am not 100% sure of the chronology so I think we can safely say that it was probably produced at the same time as the cast metal version.  However as far as the model that copper anchor accompanied seems to be the earl gilt models of the 5512  with chapter ring.  If it was exclusive to the model I am not sure.  The copper version only appears in the 200/660 depth.   We know that there are model that came prior to the gilts which include the 6538 and the 5510 both I would speculate could have had these.  The only evidence are full sets that have been found which included the copper anchor.  It is very hard to see from the black and white advertisement by Rolex if in fact any anchors where copper in color.   If anyone has any ads that show the copper please add them to the report. What do what to do is try and set the record straight in term of the copper anchor did not accompany the 1680 models as some reports may say.  These reports speculated that possible a gold color anchor but never with a steel watch. Later we do cover the gold color and the models they appear with.  Back to the copper anchor we can say the window was sometime between the late 1950’s up to about 1962.  Again no hard facts just full set examples seen.







200 meter / 660 feet – Cast metal
This Rolex anchor had the longest run.  My guess is from the mid 1950’s to the mid 1970’s.  These is specifically for the 200/660 depth version we obviously know the anchor continued to higher depths.  We can see many ads that prominently feature the anchor almost the size of the watch.  I guess back then they liked to have items presented in “actual size”.  It seems there are small variations over the  years.  I am not sure if it was different manufacturers or simply the cast process getting better but there are at least three variations mostly in the shape of the Rolex crow.  The 200/660 accompanied the following models 5512 gilt and matt dials, the 5513 gilt and matt dials (assumption that the chapter ring had copper option) and the 1680.  We can speculate that the older 5510 and 6538 could have and I am sure there must be some vintage ads to support the theory.

200 meter / 660 feet – Gold color




Finally the gold colored 200/660 depth.  These accompanied the Rolex 1680 gold Submariner.  I know some reports suggest steel 1680 may have had gold/copper but I think it is safer to assume that the gold anchor was destined to the gold submariner models. I believe these gold versions are simply plated versions of the cast metal.  So not extremely heavy in gold.




The Rolex anchor is as much a part of the history of Rolex as the great achievements in Rolex dive watches.  This small simple is synonymous with the strength and quality of the Rolex brand and the great Submariner line of watches we all enjoy to love.


Bill

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