A pioneering athlete endorsement deal will be under the spotlight when a 1927 waterproof Rolex watch owned by cross-Channel swimmer Mercedes Gleitze is auctioned next month.
The Rolex Oyster was the first fully waterproof watch, thanks to its shell-inspired case.
What better way could there be to make this evident than to send one of the watches on a swim across the English Channel?
Enter Mercedes Gleitze, a Brighton-born swimmer who was a pioneer over long-distances.
Her first Channel swim in October 1927 was a genuine first, but a spurious claim against it led to Ms Gleitze attempting the “Vindication Swim”, a crossing in much colder weather later in the winter.
Mercedes Gleitze set a number of endurance swimming firsts and went on to found a charity to help the homeless.
It was on this crossing that she wore a Rolex Oyster that will be sold in Geneva on November 9.
Mercedes didn’t manage to get to France, but the more than 10 hours she spent in the water was enough to convince all of the veracity of her first-crossing.
It also proved to the world – via enormous advertising campaigns – that the Rolex Oyster she wore on a necklace really was fully waterproof.
Sotheby’s chairman, Sam Hines, said: “Gleitze’s Channel crossing, nearly a century ago, laid the foundation for what would become a legacy of tool watches built for real-world performance.
“The Oyster was instrumental in the transition from pocket to wristwatches and the Mercedes Gleitze played an important role in this transition, rendering it one of the most significant wristwatches still in private hands.”
The watch will be sold in the Sotheby’s Important Watches sale in Geneva on Sunday, November 9, when it carries a 1 million Swiss Franc estimate (about £932,000 or $1.2 million).
The watch has previously been sold. It was auctioned in 2000 and made just over £17,000 – an indication of how far the wristwatch market has come this century.
Sotheby’s are describing the watch as “one of the most significant wrist watches still in private hands” and it is perhaps the first athlete-ambassador product.
