Hi Everyone[emoji137]

This is a story of a love affair between an Aussie and his beloved 5513 in my hometown of Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia in the 70s & 80s. This is a story of how the Australians who took over the northenmost military command airforce base of Butterworth from the British in 1958 before handing it back over to the RMAF in 1988 , transformed Butterworth from a small fishing village to a strategically important centre of commerce by contributing immensely to the economy & growth while defending my country against the battled hardened Communists who threatened to take over Malaysia at one point. The culture & music they brought with them had a profound influence on the local community. It was the Australian servicemen & their families that ignited my passion for watches as they would invite me over for barbies( BBQ ) & tell me tales of their war time exploits and even showing me their military & vintage watches. Some photos of the Australians living in Butterworth in the 70s & 80s are on the next post

This is a story of @JimlnOz a young carefree adventurous non WIS ( at that time ) RAAF warrant officer stationed in Butterworth . This proud Aussie wore one of his most treasured timepieces , the vintage Rolex Sub 5513 that brought him luck , served him faithfully for over 20 odd years , never once letting him down.

Then Something Happened. Jim sold the Rolex when he returned home to Melbourne , convinced he'll never see the watch again and so the story ends....or does it ?

Truth is stranger than Fiction they say...
What are the odds of a vintage Rolex Sub Ref 5513 being reunited with its original owner after a 20 yr lapse in the place where it all began ?

To provide the damning proof that 5513 in question did indeed belong to Jim is an arduous task. My research materials are based only on anecdotal evidences & surrounding circumstances. I dont have any solid evidence to back my theory, everything here is just hearsay. To announce to the whole world that the discovery of a long lost reliable companion requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The only way to connect the dots is for Jim to trace back the original serial number of the sub casing from the log book registry of the original buyer who owned a watch gallery in Melbourne & comparing its serial code with the Rolex Vintage Sub now put up for sale on the local Malaysian ebay market by its latest owner , incredibly as it seems is living in Butterworth where it all started.
Has the 5513 come a full circle ? Has the prodigal Sub returned home waiting to be reunited with its original owner ? Or perhaps it's just a sneaky cheap publicity stunt by me to sell the watch. Whatever it is , as the researcher ,the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle temptation is so difficult to ignore the reward for a such a joyous reunion is pretty much a triumphant sense of achievement for me. If I'm wrong ,then it's a slap in my face & my efforts wasted.

I came across an interesting add in the local ebay market recently. The Chineseman that introduces himself as Mr Frankie is a bigtime Swiss brand Watch dealer , I mean this guy has over 300 vintage & modern watches up for sale on the internet . Holy S#☆T ! Frankie had put up a vintage Rolex Sub 5513 for Sale for US $ 6292 after undertaking a personal project to rebuild the Sub " ravaged by many moons & tides and the Sands of Time " . This 5513 had a 1 99x xxx serial number circa 1967/1968 , had full restoration & servicing done by RSC a few years ago.

The funny part was that Frankie was staying only a couple of miles away from my house. So I called him up & made some inquiries. He said he had bought the watch for a bargain but in pretty bad shape in Kuala Lumpur from another Chineseman , a Mr Tan who in turn had purchased the watch in Melbourne in early 2000. According to Frankie , Mr Tan.had completed his
undergraduate accountancy degree programme in Melbourne & before returning to Malaysia , decided to treat himself to a vintage Rolex Sub. The Australian seller had mentioned that this vintage Sub originally belonged to another Aussie who was an ex RAAF serviceman station in Butterworth in the 70s/80s. Mr Tan initially had plans to repair the watch but the project was abandoned when he purchased another Rolex upon returning home to Kuala Lumpur.

It struck me as ' Deja Vu ' because in my previous thread , Jim had mentioned he previously owned a 5513 , a watch of which he had fond memories of , that he proudly wore on his wrist for over 20 years and regretted selling it off ....

When I asked Jim about the 5513 , he replied he had bought the watch at Peter Chew's Emporium at Supreme House , Singapore somewhere in 1977 for $600 Sing dollars when he was on monthly rotational detachment at the Tengah Air Base at old Choa Chu Kang Road. He sold the the watch at the end of the 2nd Millenium to the dealer of Armadale Watch Gallery ( now known as European Watch Gallery ) when he was going through an emotionally unstable , transitional period of his life. Apparently Jim wasnt thinking straight & was pretty badly messed up NO , he didnt smoke pot or did jailtime[emoji14], he wasnt the smarty pants he is now [emoji14] BUT he lost his prized possession in a moment of madness....

Back to the present time now . I was curious & messaged Frankie requesting him to send me a couple of photos of the 5513 so here they are
This 5513 appears to have undergone full servicing by RSC including a dial + bezel cosmetic restoration & new service hands . It comes with the period correct heavy flip lock oyster band & has what appears to be a fat font bezel insert. I noted the following points
● This Matte Meters First is a redial . The ' L ' had a fairly decent amount of serif on top centre under the coronet. To the newbies , a serif is a small extension of the letters vertical and horizontal termination points that enhances its readability & appearance. I believe the original dial had none or very minimal serif
● The ' 6 6 ' in the depth rating appears to be close , not semiopen & not rotated clockwise direction to a few degrees as in the usual case
● The " Swiss -T <25 " markings at the bottom of this dial is across a total of 5 minute marks. This is in contrast to the original non serif dials that had Swiss -T <25 spanning only 3 minutes hash marks
● This Sub is now fitted with a gilt dial. To my understanding glossy Gilt dials were in production from 1962 to 1966 later . Ok I think there were some spill overs into 1967 but to my limited knowledge, the gilt dials cut off point is for serials < 1.6 million. This watch has a 1 99 x xxx serial which dates the Sub to around the late 1967/ early 68.... Jim doesnt have photos of his original 5513 which would have made my job much easier.
● The S in this dial has 3 loops .The top loop of the S is straight across , the distance of the middle horizontal loop to the top & lower loops are equal. In the original , the middle loop is closer to the top loop.
● However the tritium lume plots appear dome like which is consistent with the 67/68 time period. Please feel free to make further comments

So does this vintage Rolex Sub belong to Jim ? The only way to establish the connection is for Jim to trace the Serial number of the watch from the Log Book entries of European Watch Gallery ( If the recorded details still exist ! ) and cross checking the serial number with Frankie here who is more than willing to cooperate. I would love to see a Fairy Tale Ending......

That's all folks. No Worries Jim...[emoji4] [emoji6]

Edit : Typing Error Ref 5513 not 5313
Ref Number Corrected

 

Butterworth in the 70s/80s

 

Who do you think is this young Australian [emoji14]

 

#sowhite

 

Another beautiful post by @meganfox17. Unbelievable if everything ends like a fairy tales must end.
P.S. Are you writing the books in the meantime @meganfox17?

 

5513

 

Yes Sir. It's the 5513 Typing Mistake.TQ

 

Well it looks like it's up to me to go further with this story.

I'll head into the city next week and see if Shonie at EWC has any records, I imagine they would have to for legal requirements so I hope they kept the books from the mid to late 1990s.

To be continued.

 

[emoji33][emoji33][emoji33]

 

"Prodigal Sub." Ha.

 

Some chronology of my 5513.

Purchased in Singapore in July 1979.
Worn daily for the next 20 years.
Sold to Armadale Watch Gallery (now European Watches) in 1999.

Had a look through my "paper" photographs, this was the only one that showed it clearly, taken in late 1992.

 

And just a point of clarification, at the time I bought the watch, I wasn't a Warrant Officer, but a lowly Corporal.

My job was to ride herd on a bunch of the greatest men I've ever had the pleasure to serve with, the 75 Squadron Gunnies*.
In all of my military career, I never had so much fun, enjoyed so much cameraderie, and really felt "the brotherhood".
We worked hard (harder than any civilian could imagine) and then partied hard when the work was done.

The conditions we worked under would never be tolerated today, just look at out "protective equipment - a pair of safety shoes".
Any wonder so many of us have had issues with skin cancer and melanomas.

Anyway, some shots from a year or so after my tour but some of the guys are still the same.

LOADING BELTS OF 30MM CANNON AMMO INTO A DEFA CANNON GUN PACK.
HARD WORK IN 40°C HEAT WITH HUMIDITY AT 90%



ENGINES RUNNING, WAITING FOR THEIR BIRDIES TO COME HOME



ONLY THESE GUYS WOULD SIT ON THIS PILE, NOT MANY LEFT THOUGH

(can anyone tell me what the green tubes with the yellow nose bands are?)




*
"Gunnie" is the mantle proudly draped over Australian Air Force technical airmen, from WW2 to the present day, who worked on everything from 9mm pistols to sophisticated aircraft missile systems.

Known through the ages as Armament Fitters, Armament Mechanics, Weapons System Technicians and any other title the RAAF hierarchy decided to bestow upon us in the interests of "rationalisation" and/or "streamlining".

But still Gunnies to the core!

 

What an absolutely fantastic story. @meganfox17 you rock!!! Just to have a bit of an insight into somebody's youth is amazing. They really do look like the good old days.

 

Thank you, @meganfox17 for sharing the story of the fuse for your passion, the story of a watch (maybe THE watch ), a man (maybe THE Man), and for enlightening me on some very important history.

Jimbo's life and times ain't bad, either! Thank you for sharing...

Certainly, one of the best reads I've had here in quite some time... I look forward to some updates, and I will be keeping fingers crossed!

I'm so glad I ran across this post; only because I was researching a bit on 5513's and 5512's somewhat 'out-of-the-blue'... now I may have to buy one ...

 

Thank you @meganfox17 for this super interesting post! Wonderful to see the dots connected and what influenced your watch passion.

 

Gotta love the shorts of the era... when will they ever come back in style?

Fuel-fire extinguishers, maybe?

 

He still is!

Prior service should be excluded! Pm sent, Jim.

 

Latest Update.

I thought I'd call EWG before I made the arduous journey into the city (20 minutes on the train ).

I spoke to Bruce for some time discussing the aspects of this case.
He said that they had moved from the original Armadale shop (where I committed the sin of selling the 5513) to another location some years ago, and then again from that place to their current location at the "Paris end" of Collins Street.

During those moves, any records would have been destroyed if there was no legal requirement to retain them.
Apparently Shonie was rather ruthless in "cleaning out" when they were moving locations, I can't blame him, I'd take to opportunity for some "spring cleaning" too.

So, the bottom line is:
There is a watch in Malaysia that could have come from Singapore via Australia.
It could be my long lost Rolex Subbie.
However, without the serial number we shall never know for sure (but I'd like to think it really is).

I'd like to thank @meganfox17 for all of her detective work and I hope that her next case has a more successful outcome.

Cheers all, and a big thankyou to Megan !

 

I hope the shorts never come back. In the colour photo the troops are wearing "stubbies", T shirts and caps so that was in the mid 1980s.
Our flight line dress was safety shoes, socks, shorts (sans jocks, too hot for them) and ear protectors.

The pic below (shown earlier by Megan) was from my time period, I don't think the OH&S people would allow it today.
Another interesting thing about that pic is the aircraft was either being prepped for the deployment to Singapore or it had just come back. The "tank" under the centreline pylon was actually a pannier (converted fuel tank) with large removable hatches on one side so that it could be loaded with cargo, thus avoiding the customs inspections the C-130s were sometimes subject to. You can see the troops loading or unloading the contents and the little trailer we used to cart the contents about on.

I was almost going to send my subbie back in a pannier but after seeing how some of the pilots flew those Mirages I decided to wear it back and hope we didn't hit a customs inspection.
The bird in the background has the full size centreline ferry or long range tank plus the two standard supersonic wing tanks.

Well @UncleBuck got in first, but I'll put you out of your misery.

MK82 500LB General Purpose Low Drag High Explosive Bomb. 90 kilos of Tritonal (TNT). All fuzed up and ready to go and create mayhem.

Tritonal is a combination of approx 80% TNT (Tri-Nitro-Toluene) and 20% aluminium powder plus some beeswax plasticiser.

Amazing I can remember stuff like that after thirty plus years and I can't remember where I left my car keys 30 minutes ago

 

Love this!

Just another day, hangin' out with the boys, sittin' around a bunch-a bombs and such, playing with the camera, telling jokes...