The Rolex Turn-O-Graph Story
1953 Rolex Turn-O-Graph ref. 6202 / Credit: Amsterdam Vintage Watches
The Rolex Turn-O-Graph, also known as the ‘Thunderbird’, was one of Rolex’s more unique 20th century timepieces, but also the basis for many of the subsequent models produced in the late 20th century and currently. Widely considered to be Rolex’s first real tool watch, its story is almost as interesting as the timepiece itself.
The first thing that stands out in the Turn-o-Graph is the rotating bezel, the first serially produced rotating bezel for Rolex (the first was the Rolex Zerographe ref. 3346 in 1937). The bezel serves to measure elapsed time or intervals of time, and this functionality made it very attractive to the US Air Force’s Thunderbird pilots – also known as the USAF Demonstration Squad – a unit that was also established in 1953 and started using the Turn-O-Graph in the late 1950s. Pilots would have been able to measure time by rotating the bezel to match a minute marker and the minute hand, and then use the minute hand to see how much time has elapsed as it continued ticking ahead (for intervals under one hour). As a result of the Thunderbirds using the Turn-O-Graph, Rolex started marketing their timepiece as the Rolex Thunderbird in the United States.
Rolex ‘Thunderbird’ advertisement
The first Rolex Turn-O-Graph, the ref. 6202, was released in 1953 and featured a black aluminum bezel insert that was used to measure time. The Turn-O-Graph was made part of the Datejust collection in 1954, and that same year the aluminum bezel was replaced with a steel bezel in the second Turn-O-Graph – the ref. 6309. In 1959, the Datejust Turn-O-Graph ref. 1625 was released and produced until 1977. Throughout the 1970s and 80s Rolex continued updating the Turn-O-Graph, releasing several references as alternate Datejusts, without the ‘Turn-O-Graph’ demarcation on the dial. These references continued to be produced until they were updated again in the early 2000s.
The Rolex Turn-O-Graph was finally discontinued by Rolex in 2011, after 58 years of production and many milestones set for the company. The Turn-O-Graph is truly one of the most significant vintage Rolexes, in particular for setting the company in the direction of making tool watches and, more specifically, pilot watches. They may be overlooked for vintage Submariners and GMT-Masters, but their history and precedence over the other two models make them equally, if not more, desirable.
By: Andres Ibarguen