Making History

While the watchmaker’s association with yacht racing is well known, Rolex’s support of pioneering nautical adventurers—like intrepid solo circumnavigator Francis Chichester—is another story altogether,

- Christian Barker

The sponsor of numerous regattas and yacht clubs, Rolex boasts a long association with the world of competitive sailing. The bond stretches back to the 1950s, when—at the same time the company’s newly launched Submariner dive watch was beginning to find favour with serious yachtsmen—Rolex forged its first formal partnership in the nautical realm, allying with the New York Yacht Club.

In the nearly seven decades since, it has built many other such relationships with prestigious clubs, including Britain’s Royal Ocean Racing Club and Royal Yacht Squadron, the Yacht Club de Monaco, the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, Société Nautique de Saint-Tropez, Yacht Club Argentino and the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.

The brand’s green and gold livery resplendent on banners, scoreboards, sails and prows, Rolex’s sponsorship of yacht racing captures plenty of attention. Perhaps less known is that, as in other areas of exploration—famously, Edmund Hillary’s pioneering climb of Everest—Rolex has long supported adventure on the high seas.

In the most notable case, Rolex provided British yachtsman Francis Chichester with a Rolex Oyster Perpetual to help keep time during his 1966–67 attempt to become the first person to sail solo around the world from west to east along what’s known as the Clipper Route. This is the sea path between Europe and Asia, Australia and New Zealand that was used by the great clipper-class merchant ships of the 19th century, harnessing the powerful winds of the Roaring Forties.