Don’t schedule quality time. Wear it!
The Rolex Submariner Ref. 6538 in its most iconic scene in Bond history, Goldfinger. For all the Bond watches check out this great site. https://www.timepiecechronicle.com/features/2017/8/30/in-depth-all-the-watches-of-james-bond-casino-royale-to-spectre
Rolex started their relationship with the military in 1954, when they supplied the British Royal Navy with around 50 examples of their ref. 6538, or, the Bond Submariner. Enter the Rolex Milsub. The Rolex Military Submariner is an incredibly rare watch that Sean Connery made famous in many James Bond Movies.
The military’s use of the watch suggested a redesign of the bezel, with its existing coin style edging proving difficult for Navy divers to turn while wearing gloves. And the second was the standard spring bars attaching the bracelet, a potentially disastrous point of weakness.
Rolex addressed both issues, resulting in the A/6538 which was supplied only to the Royal Navy. These pieces, the first of what would become known as the Military Submariners, or Milsubs, were joined a few years later by the updated ref. 5512. Other than that, the only difference between the civilian and military issue watches were the fixed bars for the strap on the Navy’s model.
In the 1970s, the MOD once again called on Rolex to supply their elite special forces personnel with a dive watch, to replace the Omega 300 Seamasters the SAS (Special Air Service) and SBS (Special Boat Service) had been using. Between 1972 and 1979, around 1200 of these either modified or else specially created pieces made their way to the Royal Navy and British Army storerooms. The first of the three references, the ref. 5513, was customized from the civilian version in some models by the addition of oversized sword or Gladiator hands to give greater visibility. They, as well as the indexes, were again filled with tritium and the matte dial stamped with the small circled letter T. On many of the bezels, the normally 15 minute graduations continued round for the full 60 minutes to give divers a more accurate measurement of their time underwater, and the extra strong canvas NATO strap was once more attached with fixed bars.
NOW AS FOR THE NATO STRAPS…
What is so special about a Rolex Milsub (Military Submariner) NATO or G10 watch strap… which almost looks like the $15 straps from E-bay?. Well there is a big difference. The original issue straps are really special. Quite stiff when they are new, but they get soft after wearing. The structure of the material feels complete different then all the newer straps, and the soft structure and length of the strap (my original issue one is just 10.5″, which fits me nicely in the tucked back style, but the length has increased over the years as people have become larger in size than they were decades ago. Rolex does not sell them anymore, so you can’t get them. So people are spending in excess of $100,000 for a Rolex Milsub and then they are forced to wear it on an non-authentic NATO strap from E-bay.
The closest thing to it, and the current model of the G10 issued straps is the one made by Phoenix. But keep in mind the suppliers have changed over the decades, and so has the material, color, and length of the G10 straps. The Phoenix straps can be purchases on Ebay from mickie500 is the Phoenix Straps guy who works at Phoenix and moonlights in selling these at night on Ebay. He is very responsive and the straps ship quickly. Think about ordering 3-4 at at time, in order to balance out the cost of international shipping. The Phoenix brand is sold by Corvus and Silvermans, at a much higher price, but I have found it is worth ordering from them on the off chance the supply comes from another older supplier (I have been fortunate in this regard at least once). The Phoenix are also sold by a French company as well.
Crown and Buckle makes one, but it is expensive from the UK and it isn’t quite right.
Clockwork Synergy has good straps but the very best were their Premium NATO straps, which came very close to the authentic Admiral Grey. They are also on the longer side at 11″. For a while they carried Admiralty Grey, and now they no longer carry any of them as they discontinued all of the Premium NATO straps1.
Page and Cooper makes a decent one, but it as expensive and not quite the right color.
Tech Swiss
Watch Band Nylon One Piece NATO Military Sport Stripe Stainless Buckle 20 millimeter, 10.5″ inches long, for $7 it’s not bad, it’s just too soft, only in stripes not Admiral Grey, and it fits my wrist nicely but will be too short for many guys.
There is a discussion on:
http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.php?227469-Admiralty-Grey-G10-(NATO)-Strap
The ones by Blue Shark are too thick and the wrong color, so don’t waste your time with those.
The ones by Nato Strap Co are too light in color but only $11.
As of 2020, having now purchased about 30 different admiralty grey straps, the best current one is made by Nato International www.natointl.com, which is even better than the Phoenix ones and he also sells them on ebay at https://www.ebay.com/itm/181161192217?ul_noapp=true.
Second best is by Watch Gecko at 18GBP, which is on the thin side and a little dark.
Anyway, no one seems to notice but me, but having the correct admiralty grey is an important thing on a Rolex Submariner. Not any $10 strap will do.
The earlier Milsub 5513 reference photo from www.bobswatches.com which is the look I ended up going for with mine.
Next watch Rolex Explorer II:
