Page Dimensions

Approx. 9" x 11 3/4" (22cm x 29cm)

Story and Details

In 1997 General Chuck Yeager became the fastest 74 year-old on the planet, breaking the sound barrier (again) in the F-15D Eagle you see in the background. This was on the 50th Anniversary of his first historic flight screaming past Mach 1 and into aviation history. As this 2002 Rolex advertisement states, on both occasions he was wearing a Rolex. That first time, in 1947, he seems to have worn a simple Rolex Oyster reference. And on this 50th Anniversary, a Rolex GMT Master similar to the watch in the ad. If you have eagle eyes like Chuck Yeager, you’ll notice the Ref. 16710 shown in this ad has a tritium dial, even though luminova dials had been transitioned to around 1999. This is a very-common occurrence in Rolex ads. That is, showing an earlier version of a model rather than the current production technology. Back to Yeager’s life and lifelong love of Rolex watches… He stated that he began working with Rolex in 1946, a full year before that flight over the Mojave Desert that would cement him in aviation history. Over the course of his courageous, illustrious, ground-breaking, and influential career, Yeager has been photographed wearing the most-coveted and popular Rolex watches, including a “Big Crown” Submariner and the very-first GMT Master Ref. 6542 - along with several other vintage and neo-vintage GMT Master watches. Where are Chuck’s watches now? I love how the watch in this ad is a co-pilot to Chuck... Instead of listing specific talking points about the GMT, such as its ability to track multiple time zones, the simple selling point here is that Chuck Yeager has always trusted Rolex. An endorsement from the man with the “Right Stuff” should be enough.