Reply With QuoteSuperb Matt, well done. I hope your work (and the contributions of others) gets the readership and recognition it deserves.
PS Are you going to stick this on MWR?
I was recently invited to polish up the piece I wrote about Smiths and Rolex on Everest for publication in The Outdoor Journal. After a crash course in how to adapt something like that to an audience who are not quite as obsessed as we are, and the sudden application of decent graphics and some rather thorough editing, I offer up this for your consideration:
https://www.outdoorjournal.com/
Superb Matt, well done. I hope your work (and the contributions of others) gets the readership and recognition it deserves.
PS Are you going to stick this on MWR?
Last edited by alfat33; 3rd June 2020 at 13:47.
To be honest, I really haven't posted enough there for it not to be taking the mick. However, if you wanted to, feel free. I suspect it will get there as Oliver pointed them at me and he's always keen to bring this particular question to a wider audience.Originally Posted by alfat33
Last edited by M4tt; 3rd June 2020 at 14:05.
I probably will then if Ollie doesn’t get round to it, it is a great read and must be the definitive published article about Everest/Rolex/Smiths.
Loved the article, M4tt.
Very pleased for you.
Thoroughly deserved.
That is absolutely gripping and fabulous mate a writing career beckons well done I doff My cap to You sir.
I enjoyed reading that.
Well done Matt.
Your quality writing will get a wider audience now.
Cheers,
Neil.
Great work, as ever.
Dave
Well told and deserving of a wider audience. Congratulations.
Excellent read. Learnt a few new things as well about both Smiths and Rolex.
:-) but you do it so well Matt! Better than I would have.
I think this needs sharing to the vintage Rolex forum, too . . . !
Hmm. I love being a pariah...
Great Article. I never got past the fact I could not be sure.
Was fairly convinced that a Smiths got there but could not rule out the possibility that the Rolex got there with Tensing from what I'd read.
Well reserched, well argued and a good read.
Well done. We knew it was very well researched already but is also very well written��
Last edited by RAJEN; 4th June 2020 at 11:51.
Fantastic stuff!
Really good read, well done.
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Couldn't pass this thread by without adding my appreciation for all your hard work. Very well written and a pleasure to read.
Fantastic piece Matt, brilliantly written and deserving of a place in the annals of horological history.
Well done to Ollie and Broussard too for their contributions.
Great article and many thanks
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Seeing this develop and now with it being published must be a great feeling. Well done and I hope you have a framed copy in your man cave at least!
Great stuff. I think I said on the original thread that this deserved to be published somewhere, for a wider audience.
Excellent work sir may not always agree with you in the BP but bow to a superbly researched piece, kudos.
I FEEL LIKE I'M DIAGONALLY PARKED IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE
Thanks for this Matt,and to Ollie and Broussard as well.
Nice well written piece with a good balance of detail whilst making it interesting to a non wis reader.
Excellent article.
That’s a really good article Matt - having read the thread on here, I’m really pleased that you’ve got your research published.
Terrific read Matt. enjoyed it.
Excellent writing Matt. I'd forgotten the full story, so great to read afresh
It would be awesome if this got some traction, and Rolex had to admit publicly (again) that a smiths beat them to the summit.
I think Rolex are pretty good at *not* claiming to be the watch worn by EH or Tenzing; take their social media posts, for example. When they talk about the Explorer range on, e.g. Instagram, they say that it was "created in 1953 in the wake of the first successful ascent of the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest" [8/11/2016, @Rolex on IG]. They go on to say that the Explorer "benefited from 20 years of real-life tests during Himalayan expeditions." I don't think anyone could argue with those statements - Rolex's involvement in multiple, prior attempts is well-documented. A similar post from 2018 states that the Explorer was "created following the historic ascent of Everest in 1953" [21/11/2018 @Rolex on IG]. Their website is similarly careful: "From the 1930s, Rolex began to equip numerous expeditions with Oyster watches. The feedback received over the years was used to develop what became known as the Professional category of watches that served as tools: models such as the Explorer and Explorer II. Rolex watches have taken part in some of humanity’s greatest adventures. One such occasion was the 1953 expedition to Everest, led by Sir John Hunt, which saw Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay become the first to summit the world’s highest mountain."
In fairness to them, they are suitably ambiguous in what they say and aren't actually *claiming* anything. It's other parties that appear to be less willing to amend their story.
There's a long history of advertising which plays a lot more fast and loose with the truth than that.
Just Google Rolex Everest Advertising, and check out the images.
You are of course totally correct.
Cheers,
Neil.
I think there's some obvious dishonest inference in the examples below.
I believe Rolex are aware of the myth, helped create it, and do little to set the record straight.
Yes Mr Rolex, but they did not use an Explorer that you so kindly invented for the job. They used a lowly quartz that you could actually trust your life to.
THIN is the new BLACK
Fun fact. On Everest, when climbing between 25 and 27,000 feet without oxygen Messner climbed slower than Mallory, also climbing without oxygen, in 1922.
A truly excellent article, written in the spirit of pre post-truth times :)
Thank you for this, excellent reading!
Fascinating - really enjoyed reading that article and appreciate the research that was put in to produce it.
I have to admit I’ve not been as aware of the Rolex Explorer and Everest ‘<connection>’ as I am of the Speedmaster Moonwatch, I guess that is probably due to the location of the adverts more than anything else.
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You say dishonest inference. I say creative advertising...
Actually, having been in an ad agency for 19 years, you're right.
David
Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations
I note that in the article you talk about Mallory "successfully" using an open breather system in 1924.
Do I detect an inference or hope there?
David
Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations
Great coffee time read - Cheers Matt
Mozza
Thanks for the article, fantastic read !
Thanks for posting this. I thought this was a fantastic, well researched and nicely written piece. It’s nice to feel adequately informed on this subject. I have a friend who works for Smiths and I’ll pass it onto them.
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The Rolex boys sucked it up pretty well, all things considered (I'm Deaf Stan over there, no idea why)
https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=745915
Just had a look at that forum.
Oh dear me, no.
Let’s just say that for my next trick I intend to make a case that this was the first watch on Everest. I can’t prove it, but. I can prove that they were far more likely to make it than Hillary and that they were far far closer to the summit when last seen ‘climbing with alacrity’ than is generally thought. I can also explain precisely why the failed to descend safely having summited so easily. Now I just have to finish writing it.
When I posted The thread was pulled in no time. Ollie is clearly better at appearing civilised somehow.
Good to see it hasn't removed (yet). I've just added to it. Shame to someone got upset and dug their heels in when their opinions couldn't beat your facts.
Great article Matt!
I haven't a Rolex or Smiths but amazes me that those on both sides care so much about this. I do have a good few Omegas and if one didn't get to the Moon I wouldn't really care. I just like the watches.
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