Ratskunk
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The 1952 Tudor Trial of Destruction advertisements...trivia: C. Walter Hodges.
As mentioned in my original-post Tudor had a kind of similar and contemporary advertising campaign to the Rolex "Fantastic Story" advertising campaign called the "Trials of Destruction"; no big news as Rolex and Tudor fans will be well-acquainted with the advertisements which I think were a total of five advertisements (Tudor fans please chime in).
Not widely known by Tudor fans (or much cared about by Rolex fans) is the man behind the Tudor illustrations; C. Walter Hodges (1909-2004) was a well-known British illustrator of children's books and a Shakespearean scholar of note. C. Walter Hodges was a contemporary of the Eric Fraser (1902-1983) the illustrator of the Rolex "Fantastic Story" advertisements; both artists attended Goldsmiths' College School of Art, were fertile book illustrators, regular contributors to Radio Times and shared the same representation agency R. P. Gossop. Rolex tapped the services of two of the preeminent British illustrators for their major marketing campaigns of the early 1950s.
Note: only two of the "Trials of Destruction" advertisements bear the explicit signature/initials (that I can discern) of C. Walter Hodges but it seems unlikely Rolex would have employed multiple artists on the same marketing campaign and the illustrations seems to be in the same style so I am guessing Hodges was responsible for all the illustrations (Tudor fans please chime in).
I think it's a shame Rolex advertisements abandoned the illustrator's hand for the paparazzo's eye; the last great illustrated Rolex advertisement was (I think) the 1980 John Cheever advertisement appearing only in the New Yorker Magazine, four appearances in rapid succession: April, May, June (2 times). A note on the John Cheever Rolex advertisement: Cheever, his wife and son were all presented Rolexes by Rolex on the occasion of the advertisement, John Cheever received a gold DayDate.
They found it and brought it gingerly to the surface. And when on dry land they held it in their hands, they gazed at it with stupefaction.
They found it and brought it gingerly to the surface. And when on dry land they held it in their hands, they gazed at it with stupefaction. The Rolex "Professor of Milan" advertisement was one of the most popular (and reproduced) advertisements of the Rol...
Pretty ‘fishy’ story
“For the watch that had lain on the sea bed a whole week was still keeping perfect time. Incredible? Not at all. The watch was a Rolex Oyster Perpetual. The waterproof Oyster case had protected the movement from salt water and the clinging; insidious sand...
The 1952 Tudor Trial of Destruction advertisements...trivia: C. Walter Hodges.
As mentioned in my original-post Tudor had a kind of similar and contemporary advertising campaign to the Rolex "Fantastic Story" advertising campaign called the "Trials of Destruction"; no big news as Rolex and Tudor fans will be well-acquainted with the...
Apropos of John Cheever's Rolex...
John Cheever and his Rolex Day-Date on the cover of Scott Donaldson's John Cheever biography. If the Rolex fan reads the biographies, journals and letters of John Cheever the Rolex fan will be rewarded with sundry tidbits regarding John Cheever's Rolex Da...