Lot Essay
The present watch is believed to be from a small series of Rolex Submariner watches ordered in the early 1970s by the New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. The watches were supplied to the Fisheries Research Division or FDR and given to their scientific research divers. The initial group of these divers was trained by the Royal New Zealand Navy, the only government approved diving course at the time. Today, the FDR has their own scientific diving program. The case backs of the watches were engraved FDR and issue number – the present example is no. 9 of this batch.
For the article Rolex Submariner For The Fisheries Research Division of New Zealand: Who Knew? see Hodinkee, https://hodinkee.squarespace.com/blog/2010/3/31/rolex-submariner-for-the-fisheries-research-division-of-new.html
For the article Rolex Submariner For The Fisheries Research Division of New Zealand: Who Knew? see Hodinkee, https://hodinkee.squarespace.com/blog/2010/3/31/rolex-submariner-for-the-fisheries-research-division-of-new.html