Manufacturer: Rolex Year: 1964 Reference No: 5513 Case No: 1'038'852 Model Name: Submariner Material: Stainless steel Calibre: Automatic, 1530 Bracelet/Strap: Stainless steel Rolex Oyster, reference 7206, end links stamped 80 Clasp/Buckle: folding deployant clasp, stamped 1. 66 Dimensions: 39mm. Diameter Signed:Case, dial and movement signed, case back stamped 1.64 on the inside Literature: For another example of a reference 5513 with underline Explorer dial, please see 100 Superlative Rolex Watches, by John Goldberger, page 187
Catalogue Essay
To many collectors, Rolex sports models with the so-called “three-six-nine-dials” are considered amongst the best looking tool watches of all times. These dials are also called “Explorer dials” since the Explorer I original design featured these numerals too. Other than the Explorer I family, only the large crown Submariners reference 6200, 6538 and 5510 are known with these dials and their successors with crown guards, reference 5512 and 5513. Interestingly, the Explorer I is the only model which has kept this wonderful 1950’s design until today – all other sports watches feature now the baton and round markers.Reference 5513 was the last Submariner to feature the “Explorer-dial”-design and examples of this series are amongst the rarest sports-watches by Rolex. In production only during the first half of the 1960’s, these are today uncommon sightings at international auctions. The present watch from 1964, still signed SWISS at 6 o’clock but already with the additional “underline”, is a wonderful testimony to the transitional period when Rolex stopped using radium for their dials. Not only a rare collector’s watch with great charisma, this “Explorer dial Submariner” is equally rewarding on one’s wrist.
Founded in 1905 England by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis as Wilsdorf & Davis, it soon became known as the Rolex Watch Company in 1915, moving its headquarters to Geneva in 1919. Like no other company, the success of the wristwatch can be attributed to many of Rolex's innovations that made them one of the most respected and well-known of all luxury brands. These innovations include their famous "Oyster" case — the world's first water resistant and dustproof watch case, invented in 1926 — and their "Perpetual" — the first reliable self-winding movement for wristwatches launched in 1933. They would form the foundation for Rolex's Datejust and Day-Date, respectively introduced in 1945 and 1956, but also importantly for their sports watches, such as the Explorer, Submariner and GMT-Master launched in the mid-1950s.
One of its most famous models is the Cosmograph Daytona. Launched in 1963, these chronographs are without any doubt amongst the most iconic and coveted of all collectible wristwatches. Other key collectible models include their most complicated vintage watches, including references 8171 and 6062 with triple calendar and moon phase, "Jean Claude Killy" triple date chronograph models and the Submariner, including early "big-crown" models and military-issued variants.