If you’ve ever worn a decent watch while delving into an engine, you’ll sympathise with Al Giddings.
The regular Pebble Beach Concours entrant and award-winning restorer – known for his collection of rare, pre-war Willys-Knights – is parting with the beloved Rolex Submariner he has worn for 50 years because, he says: “I’m often up to my elbows in parts and oil. Watches can take a lot of hits in that environment, so I’ve started to put mine away. They deserve to be worn and cherished by someone else.”
But while any Submariner might be regarded as covetable and collectable, this and another Giddings is parting with are in a ‘league’ of their own. Why? Because he is also one of the movie world’s most celebrated underwater cinematographers who, since buying his steel Submariner in 1974, has used it for just the purpose for which it was designed – not least by wearing it on 17 descents to the wreck of the Titanic.
The International Scuba Diving Hall of Famer, now 87, was the co-producer and underwater photography director on 1997’s multi-Oscar-winning movie about the ill-fated ship, and he also worked on the Bond films For Your Eyes Only and Never Say Never Again, as well as epics such as The Deep and The Abyss. And on every occasion, Giddings – himself a quadruple Emmy Award winner – had the trusty ‘Sub’ wrapped around his wrist.
“With very few exceptions I wore that watch 24/7, often in challenging conditions from the North Pole to the tropics,” he told me from his home in San Francisco. “I chose it because it was the finest timepiece available worldwide – I used it as a daily diving tool, and it performed flawlessly for 50 years. It’s travelled with me more than nine million miles around the globe.”
Giddings says the watch proved critical for timing scenes, monitoring battery life and co-ordinating multiple cameras during his Titanic dives, many of which took place in 1992 during the Cold War, when he assembled a Soviet-American scientific team to film the ship’s wreckage.
Using one Mir submersible as a lighting rig, and another to carry a camera, the team lit and filmed the ship, bringing back extensive footage of parts that had not been seen since her sinking 80 years earlier. The resulting documentary, Titanic: Treasure of the Deep, inspired director James Cameron to embark on creating Titanic the movie – whose opening sequences feature Giddings’ voice.
Although he’s owned the watch for five decades, Giddings says he was unaware that its value had soared – until he discovered that his Reference 1680 model is rarer than most because ‘Submariner’ is written in red. Rolex used such dials only from 1967-75 on a relatively small number of watches, before replacing the red text with white.
“I had no idea until I recently took it to a reputable dealer, who informed me that the steel Submariner with red writing is really quite special.”
The watch will cross Sotheby’s block in December, and has been modestly estimated to fetch $20,000-40,000. Giddings has also consigned a yellow-gold Submariner Reference 1680/8 from 1984; estimated at $30k-60k, it is almost as storied as his steel version, having been used on Titanic dives and even appeared in the film.
In the 1980s, Giddings was shooting a documentary about the revered marine biologist, oceanographer and explorer Dr Sylvia Earle (a long-standing Rolex ‘Testimonee’). He took some stills of Dr Earle, which Rolex later used in an advertising campaign for its dive watches.
“I sent them off, and a Rolex employee called T Walker Lloyd asked me how much they owed me – but I said there was no charge, because I was happy to support Sylvia’s work. About a month went by, and a box arrived in the mail, along with a message that said: “Enjoy. T Walker Lloyd.” I opened it, and inside was this gold Rolex. I was in shock.”
Giddings wore the watch sparingly – but while he was working as co-producer on Titanic, James Cameron decided the gold Submariner would be ideal for actor Bill Paxton to wear in his role as dive director Brock Lovett. Giddings played a cameo in the film (as a submersible operator communicating with Lovett), and he returned home once his work was done.
“About ten months later I suddenly thought: ‘Whatever happened to my gold Rolex?’ I contacted Jim’s (Cameron’s) office, and a week or two later it came in the mail with a thank-you note from Fox Studios.”
Sotheby’s Important Watches sale takes place on December 6 at 1334 York Avenue, New York, starting at 10:00am EST. Full details at www.sothebys.com.
