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Home Page » ROLEX SUBMARINER MILITARY

rolex submariner militariThe story of the Submariner in the 1970s is intertwined with that of the military, with the production of certain models destined for the army.
The first of these is the Submariner reference 5513, destined for the British Army and the Royal Navy with certain modifications to the “civilian” version: the bars holding the strap are fixed to the lugs and the watch has a waterproof fabric NATO strap. On the dial the letter T inside a circle at the 6 o’ clock position indicates that the hour markers are tritium treated, the hands are “sword” hands; the movement is a 1520 calibre fast-beat indicated by the letters RB (Rolex Brevet) found underneath the balance wheel. The Rolex military 5513 has a chronostop and the registration number engraved on the caseback.
In 1974, between the lugs of certain watches, the new reference 5517 was positioned next to the old 5513, engraved below the lugs at the 7 o’ clock position. The rare Submariner 5513/17 has a bezel insert, both standard and entirely graduated, the dial has certain graphical differences but for the rest it has the same main characteristics of the 5513.

rolex submariner militariThe last model produced for the British Armed Forces was the 5517, made in 1976/77. This model is considered by Rolex collectors the Submariner par excellence for its specific reference and completely graduated bezel insert.
Inspecting the caseback of the Rolex military Submariner several codes corresponding to further particular data can be seen. For example on the first line is the code of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) that indicates the unit of assignment and various NATO codes, such as the country code.
At the centre of the caseback there is always the Broad Arrow of the MoD, a symbol that marks the property of the military.
The second line however, contains the assignment year and number.

rolex submariner militariFurther differences concern the dial, available in three versions:
- Mark I, with serif hour markers at 3, 6 and 9 o’ clock and every 5 minutes on the notches of the chapter ring
- Mark II, without serif and irregularly shaped Rolex crown
- Mark III (or Maxi dial), with maximum depth and ‘closed’ 6 and a well defined crown.

It is possible that some models had different components because of the difficulty in finding such parts once they were no longer produced by Rolex.
The total production of this model, which ended at the end of the 1970s, was around 1000/1200 pieces of which probably only one half still remain.
In reality, in the 1940s Rolex collaborated in the production of military watches commissioned by Officine Panerai: the Radiomir model supplied to the Regia Marina, Royal Italian Navy with a 618 calibre with Cortebert derivation, 16 ½ line hand-wind with 15 rubies, subsequently 17 with further finishings.


Rolex Military Submariner References

Legend:

 Steel Tropic plexiglass crystal



REFERENCE

CASE MATERIAL

CRYSTAL

5513 mil

acciaio

plexiglass

5513/17

acciaio

plexiglass

5517

acciaio

plexiglass


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