A Vintage Rolex Submariner 5512 With Stories To Tell

Although I’ve told the story to many people, I’ve never put pen to paper and written the account of my Rolex Submariner 5512. The tale is probably more common than we think in light of what Rolex was 60 years ago. A watch like the Submariner could withstand the rigors of water-related activities and had a purpose. These dive watches were worn by all sorts of folks, some more colorful than others. Today, we’ll explore a 5512 from different angles, and I hope you enjoy the ride.

It sounds corny, but my first defining image of a watch came as a Rolex Submariner. I remember waking up very early as a young kid and getting into the car with my dad to go fishing out of Fort Lauderdale on our small boat. Sometimes, we’d meet up with my dad’s childhood friend Bill for fishing. Other times, my dad would go along with his friend for lobsters or spearfishing. He even went cave diving in central Florida — once. A memory I have of my dad and his friend was the two of them wearing their Submariners. Their cars weren’t fancy, the Igloo Playmate was filled with domestic beer and Oscar Meyer sandwiches, and the boats always needed a repair. Equipment, however, such as tanks, rods, reels, and bait, had to work. It’s why they both wore Subs.

Why write this article about the Submariner 5512 now?

The Rolex Submariner 5512 was my first Rolex. It came from my dad and occupies a special place in my collection. Sometimes I like sharing personal stories, and sometimes I wait. With the recent release of the Rolex-backed Oyster Perpetual Submariner book and increasing scholarship about the brand, I felt it was a good time to reflect. Plus, the watch featured in this article is nearing 60, so that’s a decent reason too. I will warn you that my watch isn’t perfect and has lived a wildly full life.

Let’s go back

For years, I’ve covered vintage watches on Fratello. I’ve reviewed them with whatever history I could find and have given a transparent view of what the watches are like to wear, hold, and use. Now, though, I’ve decided to dig deeper and share old watch advertisements and article snippets. These reflections from the past don’t necessarily give us more information that debunks a current belief. What they offer, though, is a window to the past and how these watches were perceived. Often, we regard a vintage watch very differently today than people did decades ago.

Old advertisements

We’re often told that Rolex was considered a nice watch brand, but that the sports watches were marketed solely as tools. While it’s true that a dive watch would have had more functional importance than today, the marketing from Rolex and official ADs tells a different story. Let’s share a few of these interesting advertisements because they allow us to view Rolex in a different light than the typical narrative. The bottom line is that the Rolex marketing machine was in full swing by 1965, and these were mainstream high-end products.

The Submariner went sailing before the Yachtmaster

The first thing I noticed when researching old newspaper advertisements is that Rolex was heavily involved in sailing. In Australia, there were frequent advertisements about how competitive sailors in various regattas including the Admiral’s and America’s Cup always chose a Rolex Submariner. One ad shows a record-breaking sailing event where the helmsman proudly showed off his Submariner. The brand even discusses the heft and thickness as a positive. Imagine that today!

Military references

In Canada and Australia, advertisements from the ‘60s often mention that a Submariner was officially certified for use by the Canadian Armed Forces, Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy, and Marine Nationale. The military connection and perceived robustness necessary to serve as an official watch were already being used for marketing purposes.

Innovation, robustness, and cost

Other interesting tidbits are present in the advertisements. The dive bezel is referred to as a “time recorder,” while the Oyster bracelet is often referred to as “flush fit.” The Twinlock crown, “Tropic” crystal, and “Crown-Guard” also show up in advertisements to help explain why the Submariner is so robust. Importantly, Rolex was incredibly transparent about the product being expensive. An advertisement discusses how water-resistant watches are available for less than $40 and work “fine,” but the Rolex Submariner costs $195. Then, an explanation begins about why.

Bond, James Bond

Oh, and then there’s our favorite double agent, James Bond. This Mayor’s advertisement in a 1965 copy of the Miami Herald mentioned Goldfinger and Bond’s watch. They weren’t alone as others mentioned that a man didn’t need to be a secret agent to wear a Submariner.

From the beach to the boardroom

Many advertisements claim that the Rolex Submariner works just as well as a dive watch as it does with a crisp dress shirt. As I said, a dive watch in 1965 had more practical use than today, but it was already being marketed as a luxury accessory. Furthermore, it wasn’t only for coastal dwellers.

Finally, I find it interesting that these hand-drawn newspaper advertisements often use the same sketches for several years without change. The above advertisement from a Hawaii newspaper still shows a 100m-rated no-crown-guard Submariner in 1965! Of course, this was a different time, and perhaps the store still had a stock of these older products.

Here’s a cute reminder of the secondary market in this UK classified ad from England in 1965 — time machine, anyone?

Better than the rest?

There are countless vintage dive watches that capture our attention today. The fact that some are so rare or difficult to find in great condition speaks to the fact that many were disposable or, worse, leaked at some point. I’ve told the story before in podcasts and face-to-face discussions, but it’s worth putting in black and white.

My dad’s good friend started a Canadian Great Lakes salvage dive business in the late ’60s. He also loved watches (and still does). He and his team were diving for lead ballast in wrecks, and it was difficult, dangerous work. At the start, he couldn’t afford a Rolex and went through many watches from brands that we revere today. Crystals and bezels popped off under repeated pressure, leaked, or shattered when encountering hard surfaces. Finally, he bought a Submariner and never looked back. The watch was simply (over)built differently.

That’s one account, but my take is that a Rolex was overbuilt for the era. The crystals were thicker, the cases were chunkier, and the bracelets were stronger. Most importantly, the Twinlock screw-down crown system was on another level. Most brands didn’t even include a screw-down crown during this period. Worse, some of these crowns screw down with one or two rotations and feel flimsy. I love many vintage divers, and many have far more character than a Submariner. However, I can understand why this watch was seen as the best.

My Submariner 5512

The Rolex Submariner 5512 here today is a watch that has lived a full life. It has a 1.41M serial number, and right off the bat, that means there’s almost certainly something wrong with it. The watch is from 1966, meaning the currently accepted scholarship is that it should have a gilt dial. It has a matte dial, but that’s the way it came in the early to mid-’70s when my dad got it from the original owner.

How the watch joined the family

My dad began practicing as a dentist in Fort Lauderdale right before the mid-’70s. He returned to Florida with my mom after finishing school outside the state. Regarding hobbies, he enjoyed diving and fishing with his oldest friend. His watch for the water was a skin-diver-cased one from a no-name brand, and he purchased it during high school at Sears for less than $20. Amazingly, it still works perfectly!

An interesting trade

To give you a 30,000-foot view of my dad, he likes equipment and mechanical objects. I inherited this from him! He’s not a fancy person, but he most certainly believes in the adage of “buy once, cry once” when purchasing a tool or important piece of equipment. Therefore, he wanted a Submariner. The problem was, as it is today for many, the cost. A Submariner was expensive, and he was starting his career, had a house to buy at some point, and wanted a family. However, opportunity struck.

My dad had a patient who was a charter captain, a somewhat typical job in Fort Lauderdale. It sounds like a nice job, but it’s hard work. Between the water, the knocking and slamming from waves, and the likely after-work lifestyle, a tough watch isn’t a bad idea. One day, he came in and brought a lady with him. The captain was married, but this wasn’t his wife.

It turned out that the lady was his mistress, and she required a lot of dental work. This presented a challenge. The captain wasn’t broke but wanted to keep his affair under wraps. See, during this period, and up until recently, Americans wrote a lot of checks. The captain’s wife managed the family finances and would notice an odd payment for extensive dental work. So the captain offered up his Rolex Submariner 5512 in exchange. My dad agreed.

A rough-and-tumble first 10 years

The Submariner you see here came almost exactly in this condition when my dad got it. The only difference was that the bracelet was so worn that it was polished to a shine.  The case had also been polished. Finally, the crystal was also an original T19 Tropic.

I spoke to Charlie Dunne and Eric Wind of Wind Vintage before writing this article, and they felt that the watch should have a gilt dial. This means the watch was on quite an adventure during its first decade before my dad got it. Once he acquired it, the Submariner 5512 became his sole diving companion until he bought a new Submariner Date 1680 in the late ’70s. The 5512 never let him down, but he wanted a newer model, and the date function was interesting.

The Submariner moved from my dad to me

Fast-forward to 1995 or 1996, and I was home during the summer from university. I asked my dad if I could borrow his old Submariner, and he never asked me to return it. In the fall, I left the watch at home but took it with me once I got a full-time job in 1998.  I wore it sparingly, though, after I bought an Explorer 14270. The Sub sat in my collection as a cool vintage piece with some family history. Then, one day in 2002, it stopped working.

Later that year, I got my first annual bonus of roughly $2,000. I took the Submariner to a watch shop in Birmingham, Michigan for repair. While I was there, the store owner showed me a matte service dial. This was a long time ago and, unfortunately, I thought it was a good idea. The dial was lost, but I retained the original bezel and hands. Within a few years, I became even more interested in watches and realized the error of my ways.

Righting wrongs

When I started earning more money, I wanted to invest in fixing my Submariner. I began reading Rolexforums and the Vintagerolexforum to understand the dial I needed. Then, I asked questions and was told to find a “meters first” matte dial. I didn’t recall all of the details from the lost dial, but it was certainly matte. Then, the hunt began. It took several years of on-and-off searching to find a loose dial, but I ultimately located one on eBay out of Cleveland. In 2011, the price was over $2,000.

Several years later, the Submariner stopped running again, and it felt like the right time to restore it. I sent the watch, the original hands, the bezel, and the ’60s matte dial to our watchmaker Paul in the Netherlands. He went to work on it and noticed a few things. First, the service on the caliber 1570 done in Michigan a decade prior wasn’t great. The shop’s watchmaker had used incorrect screws in certain areas, and it revealed poor expertise. Then, the original T19 Tropic had a crack at its base. Paul gave the option of gluing the original crystal permanently onto the watch or using a service crystal. I chose the latter.

Hands-on with the Submariner 5512

My dad’s 1966 Submariner 5512 is no safe queen. The case has been polished, probably more than once, and the bracelet shows signs of stretch. Oddly, the original Twinlock crown remains along with the original clasp. The watch has a folded ref. 9315 Oyster bracelet, a wetsuit extension, and ref. 380 end links. The links that feed into the end links have slight cracks where they’ve been crimped during a possible DIY fix.

The dial, bezel, and hands, however, are lovely. The tritium has taken on an orange tone, and there’s something special about the rudimentary white printing on the dial. Check out the “Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified” text below the “Submariner” line. When I spoke with Charlie Dunne, he referred to this dial as an early matte version where these extra lines of text were printed after the fact. Essentially, it was a 5513 dial that received the chronometer-related printing in a later process.

Fewer made and a bit different from the 5513

The Submariner 5512 was introduced in 1959 and was the first model in the lineup to feature crown guards. It also kicked off generations of 40mm cases until 2020 when the 41mm Submariner Date ref. m124060-0001 debuted. Many articles exist about the differences between the chronometer-certified 5512 and non-chronometer 5513. Briefly, the 5512 debuted as a non-chronometer and transitioned to a higher-spec model in 1962 with the advent of the 5513.

The price gap between the two references, as discussed in Charlie Dunne’s seminal article, was roughly $50 or 30%. That may not sound like much, but it was significant. The new Oyster Perpetual Submariner book underscores this with an official production total of 17,338 ref. 5512s compared to 151,449 ref. 5513s. Why did the charter captain buy a 5512? We’ll never know.

A jingly old beast in hand and on the wrist

The Submariner 5512 was my first experience with a Rolex, and I have to recall what it was like to hold it 30 years ago. I remember thinking that the watch was big and the bracelet was loud. The bracelet felt loose but oddly secure. The end links moved vertically until the watch was tightly fastened on my wrist. Even the bezel was hard to turn. Once the watch was on my wrist, though, it felt like a sturdy, robust piece of equipment.

By now, I’ve held my fair share of vintage Rolex watches. A Submariner no longer feels as large or heavy as it once did. However, it’s still a well-built watch that feels tougher than its contemporaries. There’s a reason that until my dad’s retirement a few years ago, other South Floridians would roll into the office wearing their original ’60s Subs as only watches.

Parting thoughts on the Submariner 5512

As a non-diver, perhaps I should feel like a pretender wearing a vintage Submariner. Still, even Rolex advertised it as a watch meant for any activity related to water. Under that definition, most of us qualify to wear one. For me, the watch reminds me of my dad and the stories about old South Florida when it was little more than an outpost for retirees, vacationers, and fishermen. It brings me back to thoughts of powdered donuts during those early mornings of heading to the dock with a queasy feeling about rough seas. Those fond memories mean that this Submariner 5512 will never leave my collection. The wear, likely incorrect dial, and polishing only add to its character.