Wow. I had no idea.

This seems to be pretty definitive and damning:

https://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t=tree&goto=7500775&rid=12189#msg_7500775

So there's two watch brands which are also "charities" (Kobold & Rolex) who have both been less than truthful about their Himalayan adventures?!

Back to Everest & Hillary: if Rolex had been on the summit in '53 we'd never have heard the end of it, think Omega and the Moon only a decade and a half earlier.

Instead we get coy and carefully-worded statement that imply and pictures that suggest e.g.



But none of these ever say the one thing necessary "Hillary wore a Rolex to the summit of Everest in 1953". Ask yourself why.

The Omega equivalent would be something like "We supplied NASA with watches that were used by the crew of the 1969 Apollo 11 spaceflight which landed men on the moon for the first time ever" = "Yeah, not actually ON the moon, but, you know . . . [and if you get the impression that they were worn on the moon from what we've said, well, we can't be responsible for what people think.] But, no, Omega can make a simple statement: "first watch on the moon". Five words. No hedging or fudging. Rolex cannot do the same for Everest. So they don't. Instead we get . . . is "misled" too strong a word?

 

Rolex, incidentally, also supplied the 1952 Expedition, which was Swiss.

I wonder why they don't make more of that?

Surely the only reason for them advertising that they were there in '53 is to let people believe that their watches were the first to reach the summit.

Ah, I think I'm done here (famous last words!)

 

That is an interesting article and I read elsewhere that Tenzing Norgay wore a Rolex provided to him on a previous expedition. Hillary clearly wore the Smiths watch, in fact Smiths were considerable sponsors of the expedition providing a wide variety of instruments, a list of these is available somewhere on the web but I could not locate it with a quick search. A bit like the moon landings it is incredible what these people achieved with relatively primitive equipment, oh and some great watches

 

I think if Rolex had been on the summit in '53, whether with Hillary or Tenzing, they'd have said so. I mean, why wouldn't they?

 

You know what, I don't think "misleading" is too strong a word at all.

What impression are you supposed to get from these statements? What do they want you to think?

View attachment 1263342 View attachment 1263343 View attachment 1263344

 

That is fairly characterized as “misleading” - as a lawyer I can at least recognize carefully crafted logic games

 

I think this is an interesting account of Tenzing Norgay's Rolex

The Historical Important Tenzing Norgay Rolex.. - Rolex Passion Report

Even the old Smiths advert was careful in that it quotes Hillary as saying he carried the watch to the top of Everest not that he wore it.

I believe he probably was wearing it but we may never know for sure.

 

The only problems with the gold Datejust on the summit theory are

1.) Rolex could have mentioned it. That alone would have been enough to say that one of their watches made it to the top. Yet they didn't and still don't.

2.) All the colour pictures of Tenzing on the '53 Expedition show him wearing a silver coloured watch and bracelet combo, presumably something in stainless steel.

 

Cool stuff I have been fascinated with mountain conquest even though though I’ve only used ropes a few times. I’d be interested in watches used on K-2, Kilimanjaro etc. always fascinated me.

 

Very interesting thread! I sure learned a few things…

Up to now, I was made to believe that it was a Rolex that adorned Hillary’s wrist, and that the very watch he wore that day was on display at the Beyer watch museum in Zurich, but in re-watching the Hodinkee Talking Watch video here (starts at ~5'25 mark), Mr. Beyer is very cautious to not be too definitive about claiming that the watch made it to the Summit in 53.

Very well crafted communication from Rolex, and quite misleading.

 

I am firmly in the Smiths camp.
Hillarys watch in the The Science Museum in London.

https://collection.sciencemuseumgro...-mount-everest-1953-wristwatch-lever-movement

Another interesting article.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ou...st-in-1953-putting-a-controversy-to-rest/amp/

 

It is true that Hillary said he "carried" a Smiths watch to the summit but:

1.) He never said anything even close to that about Rolex

2.) "carried" is an odd choice of verb. But this is from the chapter Hillary wrote in Hunt's book:

"I had carried [sic] my camera, loaded with colour film, inside my shirt to keep it warm, so I now produced it and got Tenzing to pose on top for me, waving his axe on which was string of flags -- United Nations, British, Nepalese and Indian [....] I had a lot of difficulty in holding the camera steady in my clumsy gloves."

I wonder if he "carried" the watch in a shirt or pocket or even attached to the camera? This would keep it warm and be more accessible than looking under thick gloves or mittens. Just a theory.

 

Marketing goes a long way... but at least Rolex never photoshopped images
Always remember it could have been Rolex first on top of Mount Everest if British climbers Charles Evans and Thomas Bourdillon made it on May 26, 1953 but had to return after being very close to the summit... Three days later Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay made it to the top!
Note Tom Bourdillon's cream dial Rolex Oyster in this superb color photo ! (Photo: RGS - London)
.

 

At what point on the Expedition was this pic taken? And he might still be wearing a Smiths as well (plenty of pics show members of the team with two watches, one on each wrist.) Tom Bourdillon was also issued with a Smiths, just a Hillary also had a Rolex.

 

A good read

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1954/06/05/tenzing-of-everest

 

A great snapshot of what it was like in the past, great article.

 

Always better to get a glimpse of who said what closer to the event.
Both have always said they reached the summit together.
Funny how the pissing competition is always 50 years after.

And, if only they had been a lot more thoughtful of members in this thread and taken a WRUW shot for us…..

 

What bums me out is that a lot of people who have financial interest in the debate push the Rolex agenda.

 

Interested readers looking for great info and photos should get:
The Conquest of Everest - Original Photographs from the Legendary First Ascent - Foreword by Sir Edmund Hillary
(240 pages hardcover by George Low & Huw Lewis-Jones ISBN 978-0-500-54423-5)
.
Here's an amazing photo of Tenzing Norgay, post-expedition in July 1953
.

 

Mmm. I can think of at least one.

P.S. He's already been mentioned in this thread.