About me

Rolex researcher, authenticator, valuer and author.

 
 

I help owners, dealers, auction houses and insurers to identify and value vintage Rolex watches and give them piece of mind on what they have and what it’s worth.

I have always had a passion for mechanical things and history. Particularly watches, their intricate brilliance, their beauty and their function. As a boy growing up I read my parents copies of National Geographic and always noticed the adverts for the Rolex watch sports models which showed Rolex Submariner, Rolex Explorer, Rolex GMT-Master, Rolex Sea-Dweller and Rolex Daytona models that looked so rugged, so effortlessly designed and stylish. Later I learned how important the watches Rolex created in the 1950s and 1960s were to the entire history of horology.

I have been lucky enough to be able to collect, trade them and ultimately spend 13 years researching them to create the authoritative book Vintage Rolex Sports Models devoted to their history which was published by Schiffer Publishing in 2000 and is now in its fourth edition. As I keen mixed gas scuba diver I always wore Rolex Submariner as a back-up to my dive computer and on one occasion that simple rotating bezel with its record of my dive time got me out of serious trouble.

I think my early career as a designer shaped my visual memory and my work as a brand strategy consultant meant I had to commit to memory hundreds of facts about an organisation. With that background I now can remember the smallest details of a watch. My watch dealer friends call me ‘Rain Man’ and they still enjoy holding up a hand or a dial numeral only to have me tell that what watch it came off. 

My other passion is classic cars from the 1960s and I own and run a classic car restoration business.

I am a member of the British Watch and Clock Makers’ Guild.

 
 
Rolex Submariner, model 5513 This model features the ‘Explorer’ style dial thats was only available in the early 1960s. This example also has the highly desirable ‘Gilt’ printed and ‘Underline’ dial.

Rolex Submariner, model 5513
This model features the ‘Explorer’ style dial thats was only available in the early 1960s. This example also has the highly desirable ‘Gilt’ printed and ‘Underline’ dial.