Smile
13.11.2005, 20:57
... was für ein wunderbarer post eben auf timezone ... wir haben vor einem jahr schon einmal über das thema gesprochen ... was für ein faszinierender mensch muss wilsdorf gewesen sein ... respekt und hochachtung sind die falschen worte, dieser mann hat seine zeitgenossen überragt !!!
"The Great Escape" a true Rolex story (long). Nov 13, 2005 - 06:00 PM
I was in London UK this past week on business and managed to find some time to go to one of my favourite places in London, the Imperial War Museum.
Have always been a fan of "The Great Escape" but more from a historical perspective than the movie which starred Steve McQueen amongst others.
The museum has a "Great Escape" exhibition which I saw this week for the first time. What does this have to do with vintage Rolex you ask?
One of the exhibits refers to an airman named Romas Marcinkus, a Lithuanian, who served in the RAF and ended up a prisoner in Stalag Luft III. Marcinkus had written to Rolex to order a watch, which struck me as quite unusual. In any event, the exhibit contains a letter from Montres Rolex in Geneva,to Marcinkus advising him that Rolex was pleased to ship him a watch to his POW address at Stalag Luft III, but "do not even think about paying for it until after the war". Included in the letter is a reference to the price (230 Swiss Francs) but that a "gratis" invoice was being supplied as no payment was expected until after the war. The letter was signed by a gentlemen named "H. Wilsdorf". Both the original letter and invoice are part of the exhibition on display.
I thought the gesture was magnificent and worth sharing with my Vintage Rolex colleagues.
I should add one final comment. The recipient, Flight Lieutenant Romas Marcinkus (known as "Rene" in the camp) RAF, was one of the 76 escapers and sadly, one of "the fifty" murdered by the Gestapo.
"The Great Escape" a true Rolex story (long). Nov 13, 2005 - 06:00 PM
I was in London UK this past week on business and managed to find some time to go to one of my favourite places in London, the Imperial War Museum.
Have always been a fan of "The Great Escape" but more from a historical perspective than the movie which starred Steve McQueen amongst others.
The museum has a "Great Escape" exhibition which I saw this week for the first time. What does this have to do with vintage Rolex you ask?
One of the exhibits refers to an airman named Romas Marcinkus, a Lithuanian, who served in the RAF and ended up a prisoner in Stalag Luft III. Marcinkus had written to Rolex to order a watch, which struck me as quite unusual. In any event, the exhibit contains a letter from Montres Rolex in Geneva,to Marcinkus advising him that Rolex was pleased to ship him a watch to his POW address at Stalag Luft III, but "do not even think about paying for it until after the war". Included in the letter is a reference to the price (230 Swiss Francs) but that a "gratis" invoice was being supplied as no payment was expected until after the war. The letter was signed by a gentlemen named "H. Wilsdorf". Both the original letter and invoice are part of the exhibition on display.
I thought the gesture was magnificent and worth sharing with my Vintage Rolex colleagues.
I should add one final comment. The recipient, Flight Lieutenant Romas Marcinkus (known as "Rene" in the camp) RAF, was one of the 76 escapers and sadly, one of "the fifty" murdered by the Gestapo.