Though this is hardly something I know a great deal about, I do tend to believe some of the Rolex tale along with documents such as the one above.....,

 

This of course doesnt suggest that he wore a Rolex, or only a Rolex on his ascent, but the '53 expedition were supplied Rolexes.

Apologies, didn't see that Pitpro had posted this already.

 

You're not th only one

 

Hillary's expedition set up base camp on Everest in March 53. I don't see how an invoice from Rolex in May 53 to Expedition headquarters in London is evidence that he wore a Rolex on the climb. Most of the links posted here are from Rolex related sites, no bias there of course.

 

I understand that some measure of skepticism is warranted; and that the invoice is dated the 20th of May. Do you think the cover letter offered by Pitpro, suggesting that Geneva supplied watches for the present Expedition of which the invoice was no doubt attached, is a sham? I added to my remarks, that this was not evidence of Hillary having worn a Rolex on his ascent, merely that Rolexes appear to have been supplied for the '53 assault on Everest.

 

My posting of the documents was not to show evidence that he wore
a Rolex on the climb. Just that the Expedition was supplied
Rolexes, by Rolex, before the climb.

 

I don't know when they left England but presumably a good while,(maybe a month ??), before they left Kathmandu for Mount Everest on 10 March. They reached Thyangboche on 26th and started altitude training and then setting up camps.
The first assault on the summit, on 26th and 27th May failed and they tried again with Hillary and Tenzing.
They reached the summit at 11:30 am on 29 May 1953, climbing the South Col route. With the equipment these blokes had this was a massive achievement. They were seriously tough.
The Rolex invoice is dated 20th May which seems a bit out of sync with the dates of the actual expedition. As I wrote before I'm pretty sure that Rolex would have made enormous publicity out of Hillary actually wearing one on the climb. However, if you read the advertising brochure shown it does not claim to that their watch had been worn on the 1st climb, though the photo certainly implies it. Clever marketing
I'm certain that Rolex would have sued Smiths after they brought out their EVEREST model along with claims that their watch was worn on the climb. The Smiths advertising at the time had a quote from Hillary "I carried your watch to the top of the world and it functioned perfectly" and from Hunt "we are more than pleased with the performance of our watches". There's nothing like that in the Rolex advert.
Of course Hillary may have had it in his pocket but it was there. Tensing, as I wrote before, did have a Rolex and may have worn it though that's also doubtful. Those watches were not as tough as their later equivalents and the life Tensing lived was a lot harder on a watch than anything we'll probably know so that too may have not made it up there. Who knows ??

 

You make it sound like Rolex just jumped
in as an afterthought for the Expedition.
According to Rolex advertising-
Rolex WAS worn on the climb,(and seven others since 1933)
AND reached the summit.
No mention of Hillary wearing.

 

Here's part of Phillip Stahl's (VRF forum) research
after contacting the Hillary & Tenzing families.
Hmmmm, that's not logical... 13 & 7 makes 20 but there where only a total of 13
members the British Mt.Everest Expedition! So why did Rolex send another invoice
for a additional 7 of their finest prototype watches. Was it because some where
lost? Or maybe because the British needed 7 more Rolex after the succesfull ascent
to give away?? My head kept spinning all the time trying to find a logic answer so I
asked the Hillary & Tenzing family if they had any info for me to solve the mystery.

Today I got the missing info I like to share with you. After a intensive research in
their familie files, here's the explanation:

"As you know Rolex in Geneva wanted a Rolex on the summit of Mt Everest and they supported the Swiss 1952 expeditions but they also sponsored the British 1952 Cho Oyu expedition as well. In 1953 Rolex again sponsored the British but John Hunt felt it was unfair (on the other expedition members or perhaps Rolex) that the Cho Oyu expedition members should get a second Rolex so only the 1953 members who had not already been issued with one got a Rolex in 1953. That explains the numbers of watches that Rolex sent to the British expedition in 1953."

The 6 members of the Cho Oyu 1952 'Research for Mt.Everest expedition' that got their Rolex already where:

- Gryffith Pugh
- Tom Bourdillon
- Charles Evans
- Alfred Gregory
- Edmund Hillary
- George Lowe

The 13 members of the British Mt.Everest 1953 Expedition where:

- George Band
- Tom Bourdillon
- Charles Evans
- Alfred Gregory
- Edmund Hillary
- John Hunt
- George Lowe
- Wilfred Noyce
- Gryffith Pugh
- Tom Stobart
- Michael Phelps Ward
- Michael Westmacott
- George Wylie

13 x Rolex in 1953 minus the 6 already given in 1952 makes a total of 7 delivered for British Mt.Everest Expedition. This also explains the big difference in serial numbers we see when we
compare these Rolex in detail. For instance, Sir E Hillary's Rolex at Beyer Museum has 726.xxx serial, Gregory's Rolex that got auctioned last year had also 726.xxx, only 2 numbers away from eachother! But George Bands Rolex (He was NOT at '52 Cho Oyu Expedition) has serial 916.xxx. Michael Phelps Ward was also 916.xxx!

And yet another mystery got solved spinning in my head as Rolex DID make a difference between both deliveries! Why do I know that? Because Rolex added a special caseback gravure to show the difference!!

Here up close the still all original Rolex of Mr George Band with added H6 !!!

 

Did Smiths make the racing car dials? My dad had a 1971 Ford Escort Mexico when it wasnt vintage lol. That name is in the back of my mind I am almost sure I had seen it on one of his dashboard dials.

 

More from P. Stahl's research and visits with the families

...."Tenzings own words to his family where that he worn this Rolex on the Mt.Everest."

http://rolexpassionreport.com/919/t...rical-everest-rolex-ever-has-been-discovered/

 

Yes they did.

 

Pitpro. Thanks for posting all that. I've got all the books about the expedition but I can't remember if they mention watches and I'm nowhere near them to check.
I had no idea Rolex officially supplied watches to the Everest expedition, I knew that Smiths had and thought any Rolex was the result of chance or personal choice by the climbers. I did think that Rolex advertising was misleading, looks like I was wrong. We do know that a Smiths went to the top with Hillary and a Rolex went up with Tenzing which is actually where we came in.

 

The watch in this article is a Datejust. The one in the ad above where they said it reached the top was an Explorer. In the tribute ad, they only said it accompanied the expedition, not mentioned reaching the top. Rolex contradicted themselves right there. I don't think it happened.

 

I must look into Smiths vintage watchs at some point.

 

My tired and aging eyes might be playing tricks on me, but where did they mention the word Explorer in that ad? The ad and Hunt's letter mention Oyster Perpetuals. Rolex registered Explorer name before Everest - Jan '53, but it appeared on dial after Everest.

 

I meant the Explorer-prototype. Should have said Oyster Perpetual.

 

You beat me to it.
The invoices also show the same.
And the ad I posted says
7 Times on Everest, finally to the Top
The Datejust is an Oyster Perpetual.
And of course Rolex wanted to sell their
New Explorer(and pre Explorer)
From the evidence, objectively, we
pretty much Know Tenzig wore a Rolex.
We also know, from the serial numbers(9xx,xxx)
that pre-Explorer 6098 and 6298 were
issued to the Expediotion.

 

"I meant the Explorer-prototype. Should have said Oyster Perpetual." The point is Stahl wrote Tenzing wore the Datejust, not the one in the ad (whatever its name is).

And that ad was wrong since the other ad you posted just said it accompanied the expedition and nobody else including Rolex said it reached the top.