The rocker was spotted at a watch store in West Hollywood on Mar. 16, where he reportedly bought his and hers vintage Rolex watches.
And he clearly had Jessica on his mind during his shopping spree. "He talked about Jessica the whole time he was here," a store staffer said.
The next day, John was spotted at a supermarket in L.A., buying blue wrapping paper, no doubt to wrap his gift for Jessica.
What's next, matching jump suits?
Rolex just announced a new watch for yachtsmen: the Rolex Yacht-Master II. When Rolex updates an existing watch model, you will always see impressive new features. Rolex made significant improvements to the GMT Master movement between the original GMT Master, and the GMT Master II, the newer allowing the hour hand and the 24-hour hand to be set independently. Likewise, the Explorer II changed dramatically from the original Explorer, adopting the same movement as the GMT Master II which added a 24-hour hand and date. And now the Yacht-Master II represents another extremely important step in Rolex history.
In my opinion, the original Yacht-Master doesn't really do much more for yachtsmen than a dive watch can do. The bi-directional rotating bezel can be used to track the start sequence of a boat race, and the Triplock crown keeps the case impervious to sea spray, but that's about it. Nothing else except the name, and possibly the watch's exorbitant price, really has much to do with yacht racing.
Not so, with the Yacht-Master II. This watch has an very complex and innovative movement with a countdown timer which can be programmed to start between one and ten minutes in order to accommodate regattas with varying start sequences. I use the term "program" rather than simply "set" because the value is actually remembered, and when the countdown timer is reset, the countdown hand will return to the last programmed value. For a mechanical watch, this is an extremely impressive feat. There is a trade off: the date which was present in the initial Yacht-Master had to go to make room on the dial, and no doubt to allow for the additional complication of the movement.
The other trade off is that the Yacht-Master II is a tad complicated to operate. For watch aficionados, a single demonstration will probably be a sufficient lesson, but I'm sure the Yacht-Master II will be worn by plenty of yachting types who appreciate the aesthetics much more than the functionality, and for whom it will be enough of a challenge to keep the time set correctly. For a very good demonstration of how the Yacht-Master II works, check out the Yacht-Master II home page on Rolex's site, and specifically, the operational tutorial.
I found the reaction from the hardcore Rolex watch fans out there to be mixed. I think most of them were so accustomed to looking at more or less the same Rolex styles for so many years that the new Yacht-Master II really caught them off-guard. The two biggest complaints I heard focused on the surprisingly prominent "YACHT-MASTER II" branding on the bezel (for better or for worse, the new generation of Rolex watches are much more heavily branded), and the fact that you have to unscrew the crown in order to set the countdown timer, leaving the watch more vulnerable to moisture, of which there tends to be plenty around yachts.
Whether you like the new Yacht-Master II or not, there is no denying that it represents a major new innovation in the world of watchmaking. In many ways, Rolex is the Apple (as in computers) of the Swiss watch world. They are arrogant and secretive, they end up setting most of the trends, and they command an extremely loyal following who sometimes complains, but in the end, always comes around.
The new Rolex Yacht-Master II should start showing up this summer. It will be made in yellow or white gold, and is expected to sell somewhere around $30,000 (no, that's not a typo -- the theory is that if you can afford a yacht, you can afford a Yacht-Master II).
Before his death in 1960, Hans Wilsdorf entrusted his company Rolex to the newly created Wilsdorf Foundation, which would assure the company's independence. In 1962, Rolex's board hired 41-year-old André Heiniger, who had worked for Wilsdorf for 12 years, as managing director. In 1992, Patrick Heiniger, a 32-year-old lawyer, who had worked for the company for six years as marketing director, succeeded his father. André remained chairman until 1997, when he became chairman emeritus. In Rolex history, there have been only three managing directors.
In the post-war years, watches became both less expensive and more reliable. In 1950, a Norwegian born engineer, Joakim Lehmkuhl devised a more dependable cheaper watch by making significant improvements to pin-lever technology. It was marketed under the brand name Timex. In 1968, prototype quartz crystal watches were introduced. These time pieces were very accurate and eventually would be inexpensive to produce. The new quartz technology allowed for both analog and digital readouts, and expanded to new functions like calculators. By the end of the 1970s, about half of the watches sold worldwide were based on quartz technology, and Hong Kong had emerged as a major center for watch production.
Rolex was slow to join the quartz business, but did come out with a limited number of models. In spite of threatening new technologies, a proliferation of low-cost producers in the Far East, and economic ups and downs, most of the luxury brands survived in one way or another. But Rolex thrived in the face of new technologies. In an era when accuracy and dependability were no longer the exclusive province of premium products, Rolex developed a series of attitudes toward defending and building its position in the high-end market.
Even as watches became mass-produced products Rolex continued to emphasize craftsmanship and quality. It used materialslike gold, platinum, and jewels. And it continually improved its movements and added new functions to its watches: the ability to tell the date, the day of the week, and the time in different time zones. As a result of this increased functionality, Rolex's watches were made with a greater sense of old-fashioned craft. An cheap quartz watch made with a great deal of automation has between 50 and 100 parts; a Rolex Oyster chronometer has 220 parts.
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner is a brand of watches made by Rolex, created for diving and known for their resistance to water. The first Submariner watch was made in 1954 as the world's first watch designed for water resistance and tested in high-pressure underwater environments. It is part of The Rolex Oyster Perpetual Professional line. The watch has been part of expeditions, both at sea (such as the Moana expedition) and overland in the Antarctic (where it withstood temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius below zero). In the Moana sea expedition it withstood in excess of a thousand dives. Thor Heyerdal, the famous Norwegian anthropologist, wore a Rolex Submariner in his 1970 Ra II sea expedition.
The Rolex Submariner has appeared in nine James Bond movies.
The first Submariner was introduced in 1953 and was rated at a questionable 330ft water resistance, and the watch was subsequently updated through the decade with improved water resistance and improved movements.
In 2003, Rolex celebrated the Submariner's 50th anniversary by launching the Rolex Submariner anniversary edition. Its distinguishing features were the green bezel and Maxi dial.
The Submariner is waterproof to a maximum depth of 300 metres/1000 ft.
The Triplock system, featuring a triple gasket system, is identified by three dots on the crown which screws down tightly onto the case tube and against the Oyster case providing another layer of protection.
The case itself is made from a solid block of 904L stainless steel, gold, or platinum. 904L steel is a corrosion-resistant stainless steel alloy. Rolex makes its gold in its own foundry where it can create new alloys and control the quality of the gold.
The Submariner utilizes a unidirectional bezel that enables the diver to calculate immersion time. Since the bezel only rotates counterclockwise the elapsed time can only become shorter in case of accidental bezel motion.
The Perpetual rotor is the self-winding wrist watch mechanism which allows the watch to run continuously because every slight movement of the wrist winds the movement and the energy generated is stored in the mainspring which can allow the watch to continue to function with no movement for up to two or three days. Every movement is an officially certified Swiss chronometer by the COSC. At midnight the Rolex calendar mechanism advances to the next date in a single short rotation.
The Rolex Sea-Dweller, first made in 1971, is a stronger version of the Submariner in steel, with a thicker case and crystal. The Sea-Dweller has a helium escape valve for use with helium-based breathing gas mixtures in saturation diving. The current model (ref 16600) is guaranteed waterproof to 1220 metres/4000feet.
