Rolex Ref. 5517/5513 MilSub, made in around 1972 and issued in 1977, it is home to the Calibre 1520 automatic movement. It comes in a 39mm diameter case in stainless steel and is water-resistant to 200m. This MilSub features broad, sword-shaped hands. Estimated value: Between £50,000 and £70,000 / SGD110,000 and SGD150,000. Offered for sale at Bonham’s 16 December 2015 auction in London. © Bonhams

Sorry folks, watching television is bad for you.

If you are over 25 years old, every hour spent watching TV reduces your life expectancy by around 22 minutes (to be precise, 21.8 minutes) on average, according to the research article, Television viewing time and reduced life expectancy: a real life table analysis, found in archives of biodmedical literature found in the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.

This conclusion was the result of a study conducted in Australia and presented in 2008.

But do note that watching television programmes isn’t bad per se; it is the sedentary “downtime” (in terms of hours) associated with the act of watching TV. Long periods of physical inactivity for example, are linked to obesity issues.

Such “viewing times are unfavourably associated with mortality outcomes, particularly of cardiovascular disease”.

For Rolex fans, being selective with your TV programs can be beneficial to your watch collecting knowledge. This is especially so if you are interested in vintage Rolex Submariners issued to the British military forces, which are also known as MilSubs.

Before continuing, may we also gently remind readers to avoid being long-term couch potatoes or risk having your lives shortened. Please exercise regularly.

Now back to our programme: Well, two episodes of the British TV program, Antiques Roadshow, are highly relevant because of what can be learnt.

This is a sort of reality TV series whereby antique experts representing the Antiques Roadshow are documented travelling around the United Kingdom to appraise interesting objects owned by people who may not ordinarily go out of their way to have their prized belongings valued.

In one particular episode (Antiques Roadshow, Series 37, Walthamstow Town Hall 1, believed to be aired in late 2014), one gentleman’s Rolex Submariner is brought to the viewer’s attention.

He had acquired the Rolex Submariner because he is a big fan of James Bond, having read Ian Fleming’s novels of the British master spy as a young boy. He knew Bond wore a Rolex Submariner (as mentioned in Fleming’s books then) and therefore bought his from his jeweller friend for £400 some 35 years ago.

Clock expert Ben Wright, representing Antiques Roadshow, informs the gentleman that his Rolex was not a “James Bond model” watch, which have valuations in the range of around £12,000.

He then tells the gentleman that the Rolex Submariner he had was a rare MilSub that has the valuation of between £30,000 to £40,000!

 

 

One particular Rolex MilSub owner who had viewed the Antiques Roadshow program mentioned above was intrigued simply because he had a very similar watch.

When the crew of this BBC TV series, aired since 1979, visited Lincolnshore in early 2015 to film, this Rolex owner brought along his MilSub to have it appraised. To his good fortune, his watch was likewise, valued to be worth much more than what he originally believed.

He subsequently brought his watch to auction house Bonhams (the watch shown in this article), which valued the wristwatch at between £50,000 and £70,000 (SGD110,000 and SGD150,000).

That is actually amazing since this watch, produced in around 1972, was originally purchased by him for below £1,000!

His Rolex Submariner wristwatch, which will be put up for auction by Bonhams on 16 December 2015, was shown on the Antiques Roadshow on 8 November 2015.

By famed American investor Peter Lynch’s standards, the two Rolex watches were a 75-bagger and a 50-bagger respectively (worth at least 75 times and 50 times their original values (75 X £400 = £30,000 and 50 X £1,000 = £50,000)).

Just imagine the levels of their financial healths if these were sold, even at their minimum valuations.

The two gentlemen came to know about their highly-priced Rolex MilSubs through television. How about that in the improvements of their financial healths because of TV?

According to Bonhams, the Rolex MilSub on offer was issued in 1977 and it is in remarkable unrestored condition with nearly all of its original militarised features perfectly intact.

“It is a rare double reference of the Military Submariner, issued to the British Navy in the early 1970s,” says Jonathan Darracott, head of watches at Bonhams.

Other related articles on timewerke.com that may be of interest:
i. Rolex Submariner Ref. 5513 worn by Sir Roger Moore in “Live and Let Die” (1973): The Reel Value of Money
ii. Rolex Sea-Dweller ref. 1665 Mark II: Mark your dates!