In a stunningly remarkable political comeback, President Trump will be returning to the White House as he defeated Kamala Harris to win a second term as the Commander and Chief, and it looks like his second term will be nothing like his first term. President Trump was elected as the 45th President of the United States back in 2016, and at age 78, he just gave an Election Victory speech in West Palm Beach in Florida, where he declared victory on becoming the 47th President of the United States.
Trump declared victory after winning the battleground states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia, along with the electoral vote heavy states of Texas and Florida. In his declared election victory speech Trump quipped, "Look what happened! This will truly be the golden age of America." Trump is the only president in American history to serve two nonconsecutive terms, with the exception of Grover Cleveland who was elected in 1884 and 1892.
As I write this, we see a live coverage map (below) of the United States that appears courtesy of ABC News, which shows Trump with 279 Electoral College votes. As of this writing, Trump has also won the popular vote by around 5 million with 70,877,484 popular votes (51.2%) and Kamala Harris has 65,812,707 (47.2%). A supreme irony is that President Joe Biden (who also wears a Rolex) allegedly won 81,282,916 popular votes in the 2020 Presidential election against Trump who allegedly only received 74,223,369, which means Biden got more than 16 Million more votes in the 2020 election than Harris received so far in the 2024 election.
Dream Team?
President Trump has put together the most unusual and seemingly impossible dream team, almost of superheroes to help run his presidency, including former Democrat Presidential nominee, RFK Jr, as well as former Democrat, Tulsi Gabbard. Elon Musk also went to work to get Trump elected in the Battleground state of Pennsylvania, where he personally campaigned everyday for the last two weeks.
The most interesting thing is Trump has promised to completely overhaul the American government with the help of Elon Musk and RFK Jr'. Elon is a specialist in overhauling ineffective companies and is an expert at trimming the fat. As an example, after purchasing Twitter for $44 Billion, almost immediately he fired 80% of the workforce, and ironically today Twitter/X.com runs way more effectively with a much smaller team.
Elon said despite the fact he intends to retire many federal employees, he will do so by granting them multi year severance packages so they may find other opportunities, and in the event they do, their income will essentially double as they will get their severance pay, along with their new jobs payroll income.
Another extremely significant development is the Republicans won the Senate while increasing their majority in the House of Representatives. The U.S. Senate victories in West Virginia and Ohio on Tuesday ensure President Trump's Republican Party will control the agenda in Washington, potentially allowing Trump to deliver on his promise to restrict immigration and slash taxes. Having control of the Senate will ensure all of President Trump's cabinet nominees will likely proceed without any delay, which will not be a repeat of 2016. Also, with the Republicans controlling the Supreme Court 6-3, this could have profound implications.
Also, Republican's won several races that might allow them to expand their 220-212 majority in the House of Representatives. If the Republicans take control of the 435-seat chamber, then Trump would have a completely united government, but we won't know for certain for days.
On a side note, the bond market is tumbling with the news of Trump's victory, as investors are piling into stock and equity trades, and the Crypto market is also pumping like crazy with the top four crypto currencies, Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and Stellar all rocketing upward. Also, Tesla is up close to 15% in after hour trading...
A Rolex Precedent
President Trump is no stranger to Rolex as he owns and has worn a yellow gold Rolex Presidential model (Day-Date) which is seen on his wrist in the photos below.
President Trump is unusual as he is the only U.S. President I am aware of that wore a Rolex President model before he was elected President. Actually, Dwight Eisenhower also wore his Rolex Datejust before he was elected President, but that was a Datejust and not a Day-Date. In all fairness, when Eisenhower received his Rolex Datejust, he was the Supreme commander of NATO in Europe, and the Day-Date didn't exist yet.
If you are not familiar, the Rolex Day-Date is commonly referred to as "The Rolex President", as Rolex originally called their super-iconic bracelet pictured below, "The Rolex President Bracelet", and over the years people began to commonly refer to the entire Rolex Day-Date as "The Rolex President", and even "The Rolex Presidential", or as "The Rolex El Presidente".
Over the years I have referred to The Rolex President as The Rolex Precedent as it set such a bold and highly memorable precedent with its presence...How is that for an alliterative non sequitur, world-salad sandwich!?!! :-0
Rolex has a very rich history with Presidents wearing their watches, and in the photo below we see President Trump rocking a super iconic and unmistakable Rolex President bracelet in yellow gold.
The history of The Rolex President is fascinating on many levels and began with President Eisenhower, who is pictured below during his presidency (1952-1960), and we see him wearing his trademark Rolex Datejust in yellow gold.
President Trump was recently gifted another Rolex Presiential model by Adin Ross along with a Tesla CyberTruck with an over-the top-custom vehicle wrap graphic which is seen below with its American Flag wrap design with a highly symbolic image of Trump fist-pumping the crowd with blood on his face, after he overcame the recent alleged assassination attempt on his life in Pennsylvania.
Since we are on the subject of Paul Newman's Daytona #2, it strikes me there is a good chance that Franz von Holzhausen may very well be wearing Paul Newman's actual "Big Red" Rolex Daytona #2, which he may have purchased at auction back in 2017.
So what exactly is the symbolism of this fascinatingly bizarre and exotic CyberTruck gift from Adin Ross to President Trump? I almost can't believe what I am seeing when I look at the wrap design of this CyberTruck. Also, it's worth drawing an analogy between the two gifts Adin Ross gave President Trump, being a Rolex President and a CyberTruck.
Both gifts are hardcore masculine symbols of over-the-top, alpha-male status symbols. Yes, the Rolex President watch model has been around since the mid 1950s, and the CyberTruck is much newer, but they are both extreme symbols of cutting edge, avante-garde, modern technology designed for masculine men.
One could argue, the Rolex President it no longer modern, but completely classic today, and that the CyberTruck is not classic, but completely modern, to which I would respond: everything today that is considered classic, was once considered to be modern.
If you really think about it, the 40MM version of the Rolex Day-Date that Adin Ross gifted President Trump, represents Rolex's brilliantly and flawlessly executed attempt to modernize their timeless and classic 36MM version of the Rolex Day-Date.
You can watch the Rolex President gift video section below, as well as the entire Adin Ross, President Trump interview below.
Our Captain Danny, from Coron.et shared this really cool image with me from @shinyhappyobjects, which seems to be perfectly on point, or on time—so to speak...
50th Anniversary Celebration Model with Green Dial
Reference 116718LN
I originally published my story on Quincy Jones back on September 23, 2024, when Netflix debuted what they referred to as the "Definitive Documentary" on Quincy Jones life, and it was AMAZING!!! Quincy sports his yellow gold Rolex GMT-Master throughout the documentary as seen below.
Quincy passed away yesterday at age 91, and was an international musical treasure whose career achievements as a composer and arranger remain unparalleled. Ironically, in his Netflix documentary, Quincy quipped, "You only live 26,000 days", which is around 70 years, but Quincy actually lived exactly 33,472 days—to be exact...
The screenshot below from the "QUINCY" documentary shows Quincy Jones playing the piano and on his left wrist we see his yellow gold Rolex GMT-Master and on his right pinkie, we see Quincy wearing Frank Sinatra's yellow gold pinkie ring he wore for 40 years until he passed away. The ring features Frank Sinatra's family crest from Sicily. Frank Sinatra left his pinkie ring to Quincy Jones who has been wearing it ever since.
Fly Me To The Moon
Quincy Jones arranged and conducted the music in the video below that features Frank Sinatra singing with Count Basie playing piano in 1965. This video is considered to be Frank's best performances of "Fly Me To the Moon." Fly Me To The Moon was the first song ever played on the moon—by Buz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 landing. At 9:00minutes into the video you can see Frank wearing his yellow gold pinkie ring as he introduces Quincy Jones.
Frank Sinatra gave Quincy Jones his nickname of "Q", and both men absolutely adored each other.
Quincy Jones produced Michael Jackson's album Thriller, is the best selling international album in history.
The Quincy Jones Documentary was directed and produced by one of Quincy's daughers and is AMAZING...
Quincy Jones learned how to play many different musical instruments when he was young and ended up focusing on playing the trumpet. Quincy (right) is pictured below with Dizzy Gillespie (center) back in 1955 in New York.
Photo above was taken by Herman Leonard in 1955 in New York City:
Joe Gordon, E.V. Perry, Dizzy Gillespie, Carl Warwick & Quincy Jones,
Quincy Jones is pictured below with Dizzy Gillespiewho is wearing his trademark Pepsi Rolex GMT-Master back in the 1960s.
It is kind of ironic that Quincy Jones is wearing a GMT-Master a half-century after the photo above was taken!
The screenshot below is from the QUINCY documenary and it shows Dizzy Gillespie wispering to country music legend Willie Neslon and notice Quincy Jones is wearing his yellow gold Rolex GMT-Master.
The wristshot below shows a straight on of Quincy Jones yellow gold Rolex GMT-Master.
Yellow Gold Rolex GMT Master II
50th Anniversary Celebration Model with Green Dial
Reference 116718LN
I have been publishing Jake's Rolex World for 11 years now, and in that time my banner has never changed, and if you look closely, on the right side you will notice it features the 50th Anniversary Yellow Gold Rolex GMT-Master with the forsest green dial.
Dr. Dre
Dr. Dre is featured in the Quincy Jones documentary is a podcast recording session that takes place at Quincy's home in Bel Air, California and notice Dr. Dre is wearing his yellow gold Rolex Masterpiece Day-Date.
In the photo below from the Quincy documentary we see a screengrab from a video that was taken decades ago, which shows a young Dr. Dre sporting a yellow Gold Rolex President.
The history of the Rolex Turn-O-Graph is beyond fascinating. It basically was the first Rolex tool watch, but the it looked too similar to the Rolex Submariner, so Rolex decided to add a Date feature to it, and turned it into a Datejust model. This might sound confusing, and it is. As a matter of fact, the Rolex Turn-O-Graph, actually began it's model life a the Rolex MonoMeter, but it appears Rolex liked Turn-O-Graph better.
The 1957 Rolex advertisement was from the "Men who control the destines of the World wear Rolex watches" campaign, which ran for years.
Nick Gould and I were recently examining this 1957 Spanish Rolex Magazine ad, and Nick said "It's rare to see Rolex advertising the Datejust with a Turn-O-Graph bezel." In my upcoming book series I go into great detail on the early history of the Turn-O-Graph, which is absolutely fascinating.
This stunning Rolex Egyptian Day-Date OYSTERQUARTZ photo is from Antiquorum, and features this over-the-top trippy Rolex Day-Date Oysterquartz that was made in 1985. The watch features a beautifully finished walnut dial, with a bezel with pyramids running around it, as well as down the bracelet. It seems like every time I think I am have come close to seeing it all with Rolex, I come across something else...Is Ronald Reagan still the President? You gotta love the eighties...
I think Rolex should bring back the walnut wood dials in the future, but with modernized makers, as it offers such an naturally (organic) vibe...This Rolex Day-Date model stands testament to the fact that Rolex historically experimented like crazy with enhancing details on many, many different models...In my upcoming set of 12 books on the history of Rolex I go into great detail on the history of the Rolex OYSTERQUARTZ models and will be offering a great deal of previously undocumented insight on their genesis...
Eleonora Incardona is an Italian model, actress and social media star, and as we see she wears different Rolex Daytona models. Eleonora has been posting on her Instagram account since 2012 and has over a1 Million followers. She travels all over the world and post pics of her adventures.
Every time I think maybe I have seen it all in the world of Rolex, I seem to realize I am far from achieving such a lofty goal. A reader named Christophe who is a vintage Rolex watch collector wrote-in asking if I might have any insight to share on a most unusual and highly mysterious vintage Rolex in his collection, and I almost fell out of my chair when I saw this potentially ultra-rare gem. Is this a prototype, or a one-off, or customized Rolex? If so, was it customized by Rolex, or aftermarket, by a cunning watchmaker at Artisans de Genève, just to mess with everybody?
I don't want to get too excited about this discovery as I am not able to confirm if all the details are legit, but I have began reaching out to my key fellow Rolex horological experts for their input. Once I have concluded, I will update this story, but all I can say is if this is completely original, it would potentially be a complete next-level game changer...
For clarity sake, many, many brands have famously made what are known as skeleton watches, whereby they lack a dial that hides or covers the movement, but instead showcases the movement elements and parts in place of the dial. Also, watches that expose the movement with a clear crystal on the back are typically referred to as "exhibition casebacks" as they showcase the beauty and technical sophistication of the watch movement. Historically, Rolex was thought to have NEVER produced such a watch, but this beauty appears to completely refute that notion and instead make it appear as if Rolex was actual an early pioneer of incorporating such technology!!!
Also, this apparently unique Rolex prototype features another most unusual characteristic, and that is the fact the 5 minute baton markers as well as the minute track are painted on the back of the crystal in red, which adds yet another unusual and beautiful element. The Rolex Oyster advertisement below was published in July of 1934, and notice the 5 minute baton markers in the watch located in the upper right hand corner features a very similar layout.
I showed this discovery to Nick Gould, and as usual, he made an astute observation and quipped, "Clearly this is similar to a Rolex Reference 1073, and maybe the front crystal and exhibition case back that showcases the raw movement was for time testing? I am confident the movement is authentic..."
Just for frame-of-reference, the Rolex pictured below was a very early Rolex Oyster, made in 1926 and notice it features skinny lugs connected to a similar cushion case that appear to have been soldiered on. This model formed the basis for the Rolex Oyster, and shares a similar cushion case shape to the mystery Rolex.
One More Thang...
Another interesting feature is this watch also has an exhibition caseback, which showcases the manually wound Rolex Extra Prima movement, which was an extremely precise and accurate timekeeper back in the 1920s.
My best guess is this Rolex featured a case made out of silver, and the movement is simply gorgeous.
So if this discovery is authentic, what would it mean? Rolex, to the best of my knowledge only ever made one other model in the past which featured an exhibition caseback and that apparently was a sales model made exclusively for Rolex sales representatives to show customers how the Rolex automatic perpetual movement worked.
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual
The First Waterproof Self-Winding Watch
The Development of the Rolex Oyster was an incredible horological achievement, but the challenge was that it made it more difficult to manually wind the watch because the user had to unscrew it first, then wind it, then re-screw the Oyster crown.
In 1931 Rolex patented the Perpetual rotor which automatically wound the watch, thus eliminating the need to ever wind it again! This not only made it more convenient but also more accurate because the watch would never stop so long as you wore it.
For those too young to remember, manual-wind wrist watches required you wind them daily which was an inconvenience for most people, although some people, like train conductors liked it ;-))))))
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual pictured above and below was made in 1931 and Rolex put an exhibition caseback on it to easily show potential consumers how it worked. As you can see in the photo below there is a rotor that says "Rolex Auto Rotor" which automatically spins clockwise and/or counter-clockwise just from the movement of the wearers wrist and "Automatically" wound the mainspring. In other words, even the slightest movement of the wrist (using gravity) will wind the watch, thus keeping the mainspring wound at optimum tension.
Rolex based the design of their perpetual rotor system on one Abraham Louis Perelet developed in 1770, and in the years before Rolex perfected their methodology, there was a company named Harwood that created a self-winding rotor system that only moved clockwise, but had many challenges that stopped it from becoming the industry standard.
By creating an auto-winding or self-winding wristwatch, Rolex once again revolutionized the wristwatch–and again, Rolex was not the first to explore creating a self-winding wristwatch, but Hans Wilsdorf and Rolex were the first to perfect it, patent, and bring it successfully to market, and most importantly sell it in large quantities around earth.
The patent on the Rolex perpetual eventually ran out in 1948 and everybody was free to develop their own automatic rotor systems that used gravity to wind their movements–and they did...
Rolex articulated this beautifully this notion when they said:
"Standing out against the bright black dial are intense white counters whose graphic design is inspired by a traditional Rolex dial. The Oyster case is fitted with a transparent back and an Oyster bracelet. This original timepiece is equipped with an exclusive movement, calibre 4132, which allows the hours of the chronograph function to be counted over twenty-four hours – another nod to the race – instead of the model’s usual twelve."
Perhaps the most extraordinary feature of this new model is it featured an exhibition case back, which was a first for Rolex. That's right, it only took Rolex 117 years to formally launch a model that featured an exhibition caseback, which seems strange to many people as Rolex movements have historically been such works of art, in-and-of-themselves...
Rolex articulated it beautifully and said:
"This movement incorporates the Chronergy escapement, Paraflex shock absorbers, and bridges decorated with Rolex Côtes de Genève. The cut-out oscillating weight in 18 kt yellow gold is fitted with an optimized ball bearing. Like all Rolex watches, this special version of the Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona carries the Superlative Chronometer certification, which ensures excellent performance on the wrist."
Once I learn more about this potentially amazing discovery, I will update this article.
Update on November 1, 2024: Ironically Rolex just introduced this cool short video on their transparent case back.
Historically Rolex has always been extremely secretive and discreet, and no journalists in the past have ever been invited "INSIDE ROLEX" to explore and report on all four Rolex Manufacturing faclities in Switzerland.
In November 2013, this changed when Rolex invited Jake to take an unprecdented journey into the heart of Rolex to learn and report on everything he witnessed and learned.
This Super-Detailed 3 Part Story is a "MUST READ" story for anybody who wants to understand what really makes Rolex tick.