Page Dimensions

Approx. 7 3/4" x 10 3/8" (19cm x 26cm)

Story and Details

I don’t know if there are two passions with more overlap than cars and watches... And two of the most loyal communities are unquestionably Porsche and Rolex enthusiasts. 

I love how this harder-to-find 1975 Rolex advertisement foreshadows the lifestyle we see play out today. Today, an Instagram post, or a cars and coffee event, may inspire you to pair a Rolex with a Porsche, or vice versa. Of course, this great story from 1975 about Porsche’s Manager of Quality Control, Heinz-Stephan Cikerle, illustrates the fact that Rolex and Porsche have always gone well together. But almost 50 years ago, this mutual admiration wasn’t just a matter of style and image. Performance and quality weighed heavily. And if there’s anyone who knows about mechanical quality, it’s the person in charge of quality control at Porsche. And as the ad implies, Herr Cikerle chose to wear the same Rolex day in and day out, seemingly a stainless steel Datejust Ref. 1603 with an engine-turned bezel, because he feels it’s crafted in the same manner as a Porsche. 

Besides the colorful 911s, a favorite part of this ad is the staple tagline of the era in the bottom right stating in bold, “You can tell by the men who wear them.” Rolex values their customers like Heinz-Stephan who truly understand quality and therefore ultimately choose a Rolex to keep them on time. Wordy, paragraph-laden, long form endorsements, like this example, are the main form of communication Rolex used from the early 1970s through the beginning of the 1990s.

I think it's important to note that this is the ONLY magazine ad I've come across that visually pairs a vintage Rolex and Porsche together in English. A combination so prevalent today, it's wonderful to see it highlighted back then. It shouldn't be a tough sell to pitch this ad as one of the coolest and most-perfect Rolex ads of all-time.