Rolex

Visiting the Frick Madison on Sunday before the paintings are soon removed in preparation of the paintings' return to the Frick mansion, I was reminded of a story told to me by an old man who worked in some capacity for Rolex or the Rolex advertising agency in the 1950s regarding Hans Wilsdorf and the painting of Thomas More by Hans Holbein the Younger (please note my memory is now as faded as the gentleman's recall when the kind man related the story to me so pardon me if some facts are muddled).

Hans Wilsdorf while living in London encountered the Hans Holbein painting in 1907 (here I note the date must have been 1909 on the occasion of the Burlington Fine Arts Club exhibition of Early English Portraiture which included the Thomas More painting). Hans Wilsdorf was smitten and intrigued with the painting (as many people are) and had a fondness for Hans Holbein as they shared the same forename and were both born in Bavaria (Holbein in Augsburg and Wilsdorf in Kulmbach).

If I remember the story correctly the Hans Holbein painting holds a handful of clues that inspired Hans Wilsdorf regarding Rolex...here is a quick list...

1. Most important: the Rolex green, there can be little doubt the Thomas More painting inspired the Rolex green (note: in the past I mixed up the paintings and referred to Agnolo Bronzino's Portrait of Lodovico Capponi [also in the Frick museum] as the inspiration). The Thomas More painting needs to be seen in person to appreciate the color.
2. The Tudor Rose pendant (no explanation needed).
3. The gold chain: not so obvious but the inspiration for the Jubilee bracelet.
4. The crimson red sleeves and the hanging braided rope: refer to the Rolex Red tag (Officially Certified Chronometer).
5. The S-S of the gold chain means Souvent me Souvien (Think of me often) (intended to be used in an advertisement in a French magazine but to my knowledge never happened).

Well...as they say "every picture tells a story".

Postscript: apropos of the Frick Museum...Annabelle Selldorf wears her Rolex Oyster Perpetual with an enviable über-nonchalance...Ms. Selldorf's firm Selldorf Architects did the renovation of the Frick mansion (70th Street) which reopens in 2024 (to be honest I have quite enjoyed the Frick paintings in the Breuer building sans the bric-a-brac of the Frick mansion).

More posts: Oyster PerpetualTudor

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