Friday 19 July 2013

Another Wristwatch Advertisement That I...uh...Ruined. Such Fun!

Here's the original classic Rolex wristwatch ad that appeared in magazines in the mid 1960s.



The Rolex Explorer (Reference 1016) was long pitched at those who led a more adventurous lifestyle than your Average Joe. Rugged, water-resistant and supremely legible, the Explorer became a classic for the Rolex Brand.

I was doing some handy-man crap around the front yard while wearing my Omega Railmaster and this magazine ad popped into my head.

"Hey honey, can you get my camera?", I called out to my ultra-patient wife.

And here's the result;
























And here it is in glorious black and white;





The white text gets a little lost, but I tried every other colour in the spectrum and white seemed to work best. And it's a little more legible in the colour version.

Okay, now I'm hungry. 2:05pm. Yep, past lunchtime.

Thanks for reading, all!

5 comments:

  1. Quite interesting, but I would never wear such a nice watch climbing or most any outdoor activity. Even a Rolex can get smashed.
    Neat work on the ads.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very fun!

    How about a mixed media setup? You know, the photo in glorious grayscale, and the text in a brilliant, high-contrast yellow or orange?

    You almost convinced me to go outside and fix the gutters...

    ReplyDelete
  3. But could it survive a Sharknado?

    This is great! The only thing that comes close to the graphic goodness of vintage advertising is a good parody.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks all!

    @ Dwayne, can ANYTHING survive a Sharknado?

    @ Bill M, these watches were from an era when men didn't give their wristwatches a second thought and wore them no matter what they did. Everybody's gotten a little too precious with their watches in this modern age. While I can fully understand that they are terribly expensive and nobody wants to risk damaging them unnecessarily, they ARE meant to be worn and a calculated risk here and there is not a bad thing. In saying that, I too wouldn't wear a pricey watch during an activity where it might be damaged. That's what my cheaper (and yet so robust) Seiko dive watches are for. Wearing a Rolex to go mountain climbing is for folks who have more money than they know what to do with. Or they have a spare Rolex sitting at home. In which case, they have more money than they know what to do with.

    ReplyDelete