MECHANICAL ROOTS

Rolex has had a long history with film, from the appearance of the watches on the wrists of iconic actors, to its current relationship with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Although progress changes how we work and produce finished products for consumption, our language often does not keep pace. Take the movies, for example, which are sometimes called films. Well, most movies these days are shot, edited and screened digitally, making the term film a bit anachronistic. If you look a little more closely at the word movie, you will discover its quirky origins. Just consider the terms motion picture and moving pictures, and then see if you have a eureka moment when you think of the word movie. Of course, no one thinks of films as motion pictures anymore, except during Oscar season because the full name of the Academy that hands out the awards is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

Somewhere in all this lies the connection between watchmaking and filmmaking, and their shared origins in mechanical arts and sciences. As plenty of people are aware, cameras were not always powered by electricity, and filmmaking was mainly about mechanical energy and chemical processes. More directly, films create the illusion of motion by showing us 24 still frames a second, which of course is a feat of precise timing. No watchmaker actually uses this example, to our knowledge, by way of establishing links with cinema, but we like this synchronicity. In any case, both watchmaking and filmmaking are recognised cultural activities that capture something essential about human experiences.

This idea struck us when we received the news in September that AMPAS had opened its Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, with Rolex as a Founding Supporter. Rolex is already the AMPAS’ Exclusive Watch and Proud Sponsor of the Oscars ceremony, which is the official description from the press release on the opening of the museum.