Wrist Watching: Fidel Castro And His Gold Rolex Submariner

Mention the name Fidel Castro in watch circles and the first thing that springs to mind is the Rolex GMT-Master with bi-color bezel that was so frequently seen on his wrist throughout his life next to the gold Rolex Datejust that he wore on the same wrist When Castro succeeded with his coup d'etat against president and leader of Cuba Fulgencio Batista in 1959, he was already sporting a Rolex on his wrist A pre-1959 photo from AP shows Castro wearing two watches on leather straps; he later replaced one of these with the Submariner.

Castro is wearing his Submariner, while his son is holding a gold Rolex that is most likely a Day-Date with its familiar "President" bracelet Castro's full name was Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz; as per Spanish-language custom, the maiden name of a child's mother is included at the end of a family's name, so Castro put his initials, FCR, on the clasp My thanks to Charles Tearle for assisting me with the identification of Castro's Submariner and other observations as well as to Eric Ku for helping me figure out it wasn't symbols, but letters engraved on Castro's gold Rolex Datejust.

Thanks to Jake Ehrlich of Jakes Rolex World who first discovered and published photos of Castro with his watches. . Source