Two Rolexes With Ties to Titanic Head to Auction

New York—Two Rolex watches that have been worn across the globe, from the North Pole to the underwater wreckage site of the Royal Mail Steamer (R.M.S.) Titanic, will make their auction debut at Sotheby’s next month.

Both pieces come from the collection of Emmy Award-winning underwater cinematographer Alfred “Al” Giddings, known for his role as co-producer and director of underwater photography for James Cameron’s 1997 Oscar-winning film “Titanic.”

The Rolexes on offer include a steel 1680 Submariner that Giddings worn on several of his dives to the site of the Titanic wreckage, and a gold 1680 Submariner that he lent to actor Bill Paxton for his character Brock Lovett to wear in the blockbuster film.

Giddings, trained to dive in 1959, was the first to dive with mixed gases to the site of the Andrea Doria in 1969, as well as the first to discover, dive, and penetrate the Japanese I-169 submarine in Truk Lagoon in 1973, according to Sotheby’s. 

Since Robert Ballard’s 1985 discovery of the R.M.S. Titanic, Giddings has completed 17 dives to the site, which has only been seen by fewer than 250 people in the world, said Sotheby’s.

For more than a dozen of those dives, Giddings wore his Rolex Ref. 1680 Submariner, which is estimated to sell at auction for $20,000 to $40,000.

Giddings’ model was a “Red Sub,” a version featuring red Submariner text on the dial that was only produced for the first part of the Ref. 1680’s production run, according to watch marketplace Bob’s Watches.

Giddings said of the Rolex, “The appropriate diving watch was the thing to have, and this watch performed flawlessly, emphasis [on] flawlessly, for all those years, both underwater in different pressure environments and different submersibles: on Titanic, on the Andrea Doria, shipwrecks of Truk Lagoon, Bikini Atoll, the North Pole, Antarctica. 

“There really was no competition; it was simply the best.” 

Sotheby’s said it isn’t often the auction house comes across a Rolex Submariner with such “distinguished dive and exploration history.” 

In some ways, the watch is the “ultimate evolution” of what the Rolex Oyster is supposed to be—a waterproof wristwatch—but in other ways, it was the beginning of a legend that would go on to define the “dive watch genre,” becoming an icon on the seas and in Hollywood. 

Giddings began developing innovative cameras, lighting, optical systems, and other gear from a young age.

He later worked with National Geographic and the BBC, as well as on documentaries and major motion pictures like the James Bond films “For Your Eyes Only” with Roger Moore and “Never Say Never Again” with Sean Connery, and another Cameron film, 1989’s “The Abyss.”

In 1992, Giddings and a Soviet-American team of scientists, technicians, and dive experts put together detailed footage of the Titanic wreckage for the documentary “Titanic: Treasure of the Deep,” a film that, while being screened for the Academy in Hollywood, inspired Cameron to collaborate with Giddings again in making “Titanic.”

Another of Giddings’ projects was documenting the research of Dr. Sylvia Earle, a highly regarded marine biologist, oceanographer, and explorer he worked closely with for several years. 

Giddings’ ability to capture the underwater world was integral in bringing her work and research to life, Sotheby’s said.

Rolex, continuing its involvement in deep-sea exploration, sought photos of Earle for a campaign.

At the time, the watchmaker had an employee named T. Walker Lloyd who was a former Marine and prominent diver. He also happened to be friends with Giddings.

Giddings sent his photos of Earle to Rolex as a favor to his friend, and Lloyd thanked him with a watch.

“About a month went by, and a box came in the mail that just said, ‘Enjoy, T. Walker Lloyd.’ And it was this gold Rolex. I was in shock,” Giddings said.  

“I think at the time they were $10,000.” 

The timepiece, a yellow gold Rolex Ref. 1680/8 “Nipple Dial” Submariner, is estimated to sell at auction for $30,000 to $60,000. 

Giddings wore this watch sparingly but did use it on dives to important locations, and it was the watch Paxton wore in “Titanic,” Sotheby’s said. 

Giddings also had a cameo in the movie as one of the Mir submersible operators speaking with Paxton.  

“I finished my part of the movie and went back to Montana,” Giddings said.  

“Eight or 10 months later, I started scratching my head, ‘Whatever happened to my gold Rolex?’ and got ahold of Jim’s office. And a week or two later, it came in the mail with a thank-you note, from Fox.”