The Vintage Rolex Submariner Watch

This was Rolex's golden age, a dazzlingly creative two-period in which it released the Explorer, the GMT-Master, and the Millgaus, as well as the Submariner, a quartet of watches in its Professional Series that were to become classics and guarantee Rolex’s future for generations to come.

You might argue that they had a little help. Hillary wore the Explorer up Everest and Sean Connery - for purists the one, true Bond - debuted in the role he was made for with a Rolex Submariner watch prominently strapped to his wrist in all situations. He wore it again and again, as did successors Roger Moore, George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton, making the association all-but-permanent.

But it would be just as reasonable to suggest the these now-legendary Rolexes were chosen because they were just plain right: Ian Fleming, after all, both wore an Rolex and insisted on one for Bond. They were tough enough to fit their wearers and do the job under, shall we say, trying circumstances. They were also good-looking enough not to be out of place when history – whether in fact or fiction – was being made.

When special models were subsequently presented to Royal Navy or Royal Marine divers in the 1960s, it seemed a perfectly natural thing to do and nobody batted an eye.

Rolex hopped around a little with the Submariner in the early days, trying out any number of alternative names with a nautical lilt. But it soon stopped flirting with anything else. And sensibly enough, in terms of style, Rolex has never strayed too far from the early models. Conservative, maybe, but if it ain’t broke…and having stumbled on the secret like this, why on earth would you fix it.

Some things have changed, though. The Submariner is now waterproof to 300m, and comes with ceramic bezel and, in some models, Glidelock rather than fliplock bracelet. But the spirit remains the same, and it is still knocking them dead.

Submariners with just a little extra – a British military version, say, or a model that once made brief contact with Steve McQueen – regularly sell for six figures at auction. And the stars are still lining up for the old classic, even if in these days of revved-up celebrity vanity they might commit the sacrilige of tweaking it a little. Kanye West is an avid fan, and was to be found last year ordering a customised all-black version. Most of us would be happy with the original.