May 1962... Adventurous explorers of the extremes meet up. 70 years ago, May 29 - 1953, two members of the British Himalaya expedition, New Zealand mountaineer.beekeeper Edmund Hillary and Nepali-Indian sherpa Tenzing Norgay conquered Mount Everest / Chomolungma (8,8 Km high). 63 years ago, January 23 - 1960, Swiss oceanographer/engineer Jacques Piccard and US Navy officer Don Walsh reached the deepest point in Earth’s ocean, Challenger Deep in Western Pacific Ocean (10,9 Km deep). Outside the bathyscaphe submersible “Trieste”, a Rolex Submariner diving wrist watch survived the extreme pressure at the Ocean floor. Moreover, Jacques Piccard often wore two Rolex watches, one on each wrist. Between 1933 & 1953, Himalaya expeditions had been sponsored by Rolex, so Rolex 6098 watches were worn to the top of Mount Everest, but British-made Smiths A409 wrist watches were worn on the top of Mount Everest. However, already on January 26 - 1953, Rolex had patented the name “Explorer” for their upcoming line of time only watches. The 33 mm Smiths A409 wrist watch worn ontop of Mt Everest is on display in the British Science museum in London GB. (Photos: AP/TorontoStar/MWU)
