U.S. Secret Service Rolex Submariner and GMT II
Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2016 2:32 am
2015 marked the 150th anniversary of the United States Secret Service (USSS) which was established in 1865 shortly after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. The primary function and responsibilities of the Secret Service at the time it was established was for the investigation and suppression of counterfeit currency. Ironically, it would be many decades later before the Secret Service was tasked with the responsibility of protecting the president which would become one of its primary responsibilities.
As a tribute to the 150th anniversary of the USSS, the United States Secret Service Employee Recreation Association (ERA), located in Washington, D.C., offered several items of memorabilia for sale to special agents, officers and support personnel to celebrate this anniversary. One of the items offered for sale by the ERA during this anniversary celebration was a very special, highly detailed and engraved Rolex Submariner. Later, a Rolex GMT-Master II was added and sold along with the Submariner. This would be the first time that a Rolex watch had been offered for sale by the ERA.
The Rolex watches were supplied to the ERA by Tourneau NYC and were sold at full retail prices, $8550 and $8450 respectively for the Submariner and the GMT-Master II. Additionally, the watches were specially engraved for the United States Secret Service ERA by Rolex USA and contained a very detailed, officially engraved U.S. Secret Service star emblem on the case back. (There were no Secret Service markings placed on the dials and it remained stock as it would on any other Submariner or GMT.) The watches came with a Certificate of Authenticity from the ERA which contained a description of the watch, the serial number of the watch and a notation that read, “Rolex Submariner Date Watch (or GMT II) ………..(a short description of the watch)…….IS AN AUTHENTIC AND GENUINE PRODUCT ENGRAVED EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE EMPLOYEE RECREATION ASSOCIATION BY ROLEX USA” . The first few certificates contained a block on the certificate for Serial No., Model No. and Issue No. At some point,the ERA determined that they would issue a total production Certificate of Authenticity after all the watches had been ordered, and the Issue No. was removed from the block on the Certificate of Authenticity that was received with each watch. The certificates containing the total production numbers would not be mailed to the buyers until February 2016.
After the first few watches had been ordered, Tourneau gave subsequent buyers an appraisal letter for each purchase which contained the buyer’s name and address, watch serial number and a notation on the appraisal which read, “Engraved by Rolex USA for the U. S. Secret Service Employee Recreation Association”. In the authorized signature block on the appraisal, the name Edward Seelin is typed in the signature block and additionally, in some of the letters in the authorized signature block , Seelin’s name can be found both typed and signed by him. Tourneau also supplied some of the watches - not all - with their own Timepiece Warranty And Instruction Booklet which is depicted in a photo below.
The watches were available for purchase from the ERA during August 2015 and continuing through the end of December 2015. A total of 15 USSS Rolex watches were sold by the ERA - ten were Submariners and five were GMT-Masters. Once the sale of these watches had closed, the ERA issued the owners of each watch another certificate indicating the production number for each watch and where their watch fell within the total production orders. If the watch was 1 of 10 or 1 of 5 - depending on whether it was a Submariner of GMT-Master, it detailed where it fell within the production range of the watches ordered. (If a watch was numbered 1 of 10, it would have been the first watch ordered, and 10 of 10 would have been the last watch ordered for the Submariners and the same for the GMT Masters except it would have been 1 of 5, 2 of 5, 3 of 5 etc.)
The watches were sold only as pre-orders by the ERA. Once the watch was purchased, the order was placed with Tourneau by the ERA . Tourneau would have the watches engraved by Rolex USA and forward the watches to the ERA for distribution to the buyers. Before shipping by the ERA, the box sets were specially wrapped by either Tourneau or the ERA and had a USSS silver foil sticker or Tourneau silver foil sticker affixed to the wrap.
Once the buyers received the watches (it has been determined through discussions with a few of the buyers) some of the watches still had their original case/bracelet stickers affixed to the watches and some did not. The same is also true for the plastic bezel protectors – some were shipped with their bezel protectors and some were not. There was also a clear, plastic sticker placed over the case back engraving to protect it from damage.
If you are fortunate enough to find one of these rare and highly collectible USSS Subs or GMTS, consider yourself one of the lucky few.
Below are some photos of the engraving found on these very special USSS Rolex watches, as well as some of the various documents for the GMTs and/or Submariners that were mailed to the buyers. (Names and serial numbers have been obscured on the documents for security purposes.)
Photos from this thread or other photos from this web site may not be copied or reproduced without express permission from gmtforum.com. Links to this web page are welcome.
(To view the photos full size and bypass the scroll bars, click on each photo once. To reduce the size, click it again.)
As a tribute to the 150th anniversary of the USSS, the United States Secret Service Employee Recreation Association (ERA), located in Washington, D.C., offered several items of memorabilia for sale to special agents, officers and support personnel to celebrate this anniversary. One of the items offered for sale by the ERA during this anniversary celebration was a very special, highly detailed and engraved Rolex Submariner. Later, a Rolex GMT-Master II was added and sold along with the Submariner. This would be the first time that a Rolex watch had been offered for sale by the ERA.
The Rolex watches were supplied to the ERA by Tourneau NYC and were sold at full retail prices, $8550 and $8450 respectively for the Submariner and the GMT-Master II. Additionally, the watches were specially engraved for the United States Secret Service ERA by Rolex USA and contained a very detailed, officially engraved U.S. Secret Service star emblem on the case back. (There were no Secret Service markings placed on the dials and it remained stock as it would on any other Submariner or GMT.) The watches came with a Certificate of Authenticity from the ERA which contained a description of the watch, the serial number of the watch and a notation that read, “Rolex Submariner Date Watch (or GMT II) ………..(a short description of the watch)…….IS AN AUTHENTIC AND GENUINE PRODUCT ENGRAVED EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE EMPLOYEE RECREATION ASSOCIATION BY ROLEX USA” . The first few certificates contained a block on the certificate for Serial No., Model No. and Issue No. At some point,the ERA determined that they would issue a total production Certificate of Authenticity after all the watches had been ordered, and the Issue No. was removed from the block on the Certificate of Authenticity that was received with each watch. The certificates containing the total production numbers would not be mailed to the buyers until February 2016.
After the first few watches had been ordered, Tourneau gave subsequent buyers an appraisal letter for each purchase which contained the buyer’s name and address, watch serial number and a notation on the appraisal which read, “Engraved by Rolex USA for the U. S. Secret Service Employee Recreation Association”. In the authorized signature block on the appraisal, the name Edward Seelin is typed in the signature block and additionally, in some of the letters in the authorized signature block , Seelin’s name can be found both typed and signed by him. Tourneau also supplied some of the watches - not all - with their own Timepiece Warranty And Instruction Booklet which is depicted in a photo below.
The watches were available for purchase from the ERA during August 2015 and continuing through the end of December 2015. A total of 15 USSS Rolex watches were sold by the ERA - ten were Submariners and five were GMT-Masters. Once the sale of these watches had closed, the ERA issued the owners of each watch another certificate indicating the production number for each watch and where their watch fell within the total production orders. If the watch was 1 of 10 or 1 of 5 - depending on whether it was a Submariner of GMT-Master, it detailed where it fell within the production range of the watches ordered. (If a watch was numbered 1 of 10, it would have been the first watch ordered, and 10 of 10 would have been the last watch ordered for the Submariners and the same for the GMT Masters except it would have been 1 of 5, 2 of 5, 3 of 5 etc.)
The watches were sold only as pre-orders by the ERA. Once the watch was purchased, the order was placed with Tourneau by the ERA . Tourneau would have the watches engraved by Rolex USA and forward the watches to the ERA for distribution to the buyers. Before shipping by the ERA, the box sets were specially wrapped by either Tourneau or the ERA and had a USSS silver foil sticker or Tourneau silver foil sticker affixed to the wrap.
Once the buyers received the watches (it has been determined through discussions with a few of the buyers) some of the watches still had their original case/bracelet stickers affixed to the watches and some did not. The same is also true for the plastic bezel protectors – some were shipped with their bezel protectors and some were not. There was also a clear, plastic sticker placed over the case back engraving to protect it from damage.
If you are fortunate enough to find one of these rare and highly collectible USSS Subs or GMTS, consider yourself one of the lucky few.
Below are some photos of the engraving found on these very special USSS Rolex watches, as well as some of the various documents for the GMTs and/or Submariners that were mailed to the buyers. (Names and serial numbers have been obscured on the documents for security purposes.)
Photos from this thread or other photos from this web site may not be copied or reproduced without express permission from gmtforum.com. Links to this web page are welcome.
(To view the photos full size and bypass the scroll bars, click on each photo once. To reduce the size, click it again.)
