ince its inception, Rolex has been widely celebrated
for its powerful ties with some of the greatest
athletic talent the world has ever produced. Not
so widely known, however, is the tale of how the
luxury Swiss watchmaker has championed women
from diverse fields, sponsoring and supporting them so they could
achieve greatness on an equal footing to their male peers.
This quest for excellence is reflected in the watches themselves,
which may be beautiful and delicate but function perfectly even in
the most challenging of environments, whether deep beneath the
sea or on the world’s highest peaks. The following extraordinary
brand ambassadors, or Rolex testimonees, have no doubts about
the benefits.OCEAN DEEP
Sylvia Earle on one of her
diving expeditions and (right)
wearing the Oyster Perpetual
Datejust by RolexTHE DEEP-SEA ADVENTURER
Sylvia Earle has gone deeper into the sea than any woman on the
planet. And with headlines like “Her Deepness” in the New Yorker,
“Hero for the Planet” in Time magazine, and “Living Legend” at
the Library of Congress, this oceanographer, explorer, author and
lecturer is undoubtedly a woman to admire.
She has led 100-plus expeditions and logged more than 7,000 hours
under the sea, including leading the first team of women aquanauts
during the Tektite Project in 1970, in which they worked in a cramped
underwater laboratory for an extended period. To top that off, she
set a women’s depth record of 381 metres in an open-ocean dive in
an atmospheric diving suit, and has since descended as deep as 1,000
metres in submersibles she and her husband design and operate.
Her constant companion on her ever-more daring feats has been
her Rolex watch, a brand with which she first became acquainted
when Rolex equipped the diving crew of the Tektite II. “I’ve had the
joy of spending thousands of hours under the sea,” Earle says. “I wish
I could take people along to see what I see and to know what I know.”
While she may not be able to take the public, at least she can always
be accompanied by her Rolex Oyster.IMAGES: ALEXANDRE DE BRABANT (SYLVIA EARLE PORTRAIT); DAVID DOUBILET (DIVING)