Alfred “Al” Giddings is widely agreed to be the most accomplished underwater photographer in film.
He is best-known for his expertise in capturing underwater scenes in movies including The Abyss (1989), Titanic (1997) and the James Bond films Never Say Never Again (1983) and For Your Eyes Only (1981), as well as many documentaries.
Now aged 87, Giddings’s career was marked by his ability to shoot in extreme underwater conditions, while capturing hauntingly beautiful, technically challenging footage.
Giddings also dived to the remains of the actual Titanic – not just once, but 17 times.
The first time was in 1987, after underwater archaeologist Robert Ballard took eight days to find the ill-stricken liner some 400 miles of the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, where it had lain 12,600 feet below the ocean’s surface for more than seven decades.
The famous shot of the Titanic’s bow, frozen in time? Giddings took that.
In 1992, during the Cold War, Giddings assembled a Soviet-American team of scientists, technicians and dive experts on a research vessel to capture footage of the wreck of the Titanic in IMAX.
To do so, he used one Mir submersible as a movable lighting rig, and another as a camera operator – recording parts of the ship that had been unseen since it hit an iceberg and sunk in 1912.
This footage was assembled into a documentary, Titanic: Treasures of the Deep, narrated by Walter Cronkite.
Giddings was asked to screen the documentary for the Academy of Hollywood.
In that audience was James Cameron.
Inspired by the work, Cameron went on to direct Titanic, the fourth highest-grossing movie of all time. Giddings served as his co-producer and director of underwater photography.
(Last year, when the Titan submersible implosion occurred during an expedition to view the wreck of the Titanic, Giddings was called upon as an expert commentator for the media.)
He is also a Rolex man.
For 12 of those dives to the (real) Titanic, Giddings wore a 1970s steel best replica Rolex Submariner watches.
In the movie Titanic, Bill Paxton plays the treasure hunter and explorer Brock Lovett.
Paxton wears a 1980s gold Rolex Submariner replica watches for men that he borrowed from Giddings, James Cameron believing it fitting for his role.
Giddings himself has a cameo in the film as one of the Mir submersible operators who interacts with Paxton.
Meanwhile, Paxton later visited the Titanic wreck with Cameron, an expedition seen in the 2003 documentary Ghosts of the Abyss.
The second Swiss made Rolex fake watches was gifted to Giddings by a Rolex employee and prominent diver called T. Walker Lloyd.
The pair had become friends after Giddings had begun documenting the research of the marine biologist Dr. Sylvia Earle.
Giddings’s photography was used by Rolex to launch its working relationship with Dr. Earle. (Giddings provided it for free.)
Now both of Giddings’ Submariners are up for auction at Sotheby’s.
The December sale is being overseen by Geoff Hess.
Hess has been in his current role in New York for just over a year, and was already something of a watch world ledge, particularly when it comes to high quality UK Rolex copy watches.
He founded Rolliefest, for one, the two-day gathering in NYC dedicated to Rolex enthusiasts, where he demonstrates his deep and abiding passion for the brand.
Hess is also recognised as the former CEO of Analog/Shift, an early pre-owned watch platform that he helped build, and later sold to Watches of Switzerland.
Earlier this year, Hess oversaw the brilliant Rough Diamonds auction in Geneva, an event we covered in depth.
That auction could genuinely be described as disruptive (it was in a cave, for a start), attracting a new audience of moneyed hipsters to the 275-year-old auction house.
Hess recently announced that he’s got his hands on Giddings’s two vintage luxury replica Rolex Submariner watches, described above.
The steel top fake Rolex ref. 1680 watches has an estimate of $20,000-$40,000. His yellow gold ref. 1680/8 has an estimate of $30,000-$60,000.
The sale takes place on 6 December in New York.
He is, reasonably enough, quite excited about it.
In your announcement for this sale, you say “No other timepieces boast such extensive underwater exposure, particularly the steel model, which has accumulated tens, if not hundreds of thousands of hours beneath the waves”. That’s quite the claim.
Geoff Hess: I’m personally blown away by this. And I’ll say – immodestly – that not only am I the global head of watches at Sotheby’s, but what I’m really known for is vintage Rolex. And, if we really take it a step forward, it’s Submariners. In the watch world, we so often talk about watches that went to the Moon, “space watches” – those are so typically considered grails. In my view, this is the absolute equivalent – the maritime equivalent. These are Swiss movements Rolex replica watches that have been to the Titanic. No one has done anything like that before.
For dive China Rolex super clone watches UK, that’s some pretty good provenance.
I found that I was pinching myself in Al Giddings’s home in San Francisco. Frankly, I was wishing that I was a filmmaker and not just a watch auction specialist. His story is nothing shy of extraordinary. Somebody needs to do a two-hour documentary on this 87-year-old man. He’s been to the Titanic 17 times – eight times aboard a submersible called Alvin [the first submersible to take people to the wreckage]. That was purely for exploratory purposes. And then another nine times with the Russian crew aboard a submersible called Mir – I think there were a few of them.
James Cameron used a couple of Mir submersibles.
There was a third tranche of dives for the movie Titanic. If ever there were a living legend for the ocean, this is it. Because beyond just being the cinematographer for Titanic [Giddings has] done multiple James Bond films has been with the likes of Fidel Castro [Giddings met Castro filming around Cuba, and the two remained friendly] and Walter Cronkite, and one famous explorer after another. It really is the antithesis of a Moonwatch [ie: Omega’s Speedmaster, the watch Buzz Aldrin wore to walk on the Moon, an achievement the watchmaker occasionally mentions]. Titanic is 12,460 feet under.
Are you not a fan of the Moowatch, Geoff?
I’m a big fan of the Moonwatch. Look, we’ve always talked about finding Buzz Aldrin’s watch [after Apollo 11 returned to Earth, Aldrin sent his Omega to the Smithsonian Institution as part of a collection of artifacts from the mission. It disappeared during transit and remains one of The Greatest Missing Watches In History, and surely every watch auctioneer’s dream lot]. But there is a litany of examples of prized trophy watches that have been in space. There are very few equivalents with connection to the ocean. And this is absolutely the epitome.
Obviously, you have an interest in bigging these watches up. But has anything similar ever come to auction?
Not to my knowledge. I want to say unequivocally “no”. I have never seen a watch owned and used as a tool watch at auction that has been to the Titanic. I know of one pocket watch that belonged to a deceased passenger of the Titanic. But this is different. This is only time I’ve ever heard of the underwater equivalent of James Bond and his Submariner. And to me that is so extraordinary and so unique.
What do you think Al Giddings’s greatest achievement has been?
The famous image of the Titanic bow that we all know comes from him. And he was wearing the steel ref. 1680 when that shot was taken. Really extraordinary stuff. And we all sadly know what can happen, as we saw last year [with Titan], when people attempt this even once without the expertise that he has. After that accident [Giddings was] the first person people were calling. So, he’s an extraordinary man. And I felt truly blessed and privileged to be in his presence. And trust me, I do not say that lightly.
It’s sometimes easy to forget that all this “tool watches for adventurers” stuff isn’t just marketing.
Absolutely. I mean, Rolex talks about the Rolex Explorer and we always talk about Mount Everest [the watch model is marketed on its connections to Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s 1953 expedition to the summit]. We talk about GMTs in connection with pilots that flew commercial airliners. And, of course, we talk about the Submariner in connection with military usage [during the 1960s and 1970s the British Royal Navy issued Submariners to its divers; Rolex also created special “MilSub” versions for them]. Watch collectors, and in particular, collectors of vintage Rolex, love fantasising about those adventures. It goes beyond just being stylish. The fact that [Giddings] had two best quality replica Rolex watches that were Submariners… You know, if these had been chronographs it would have been a bit less exciting.
What is Giddings like? Plenty of good stories?
Endless stories. I sat there all day and listened to him. It was a real proud career moment for me to meet this gentleman. Whether it’s filming Never Say Never Again or The Spy Who Loved Me for James Bond. Whether it’s the movies The Abyss, The Deep, Titanic and multiple others. Seeing the pictures of him holding giant-sized sharks. And just listening to the stories of him exploring Titanic and being in these submersibles.
What are his memories of the submersibles?
He actually said that one submersible was one foot bigger than the other. and you can’t imagine the difference [that makes] when you’re in these incredibly tight quarters where you can barely stretch out your legs. Having that extra 12 inches makes such a difference. You know, it’s not what you and I think out when we think about snorkelling. He’s looking out of a very small window, with a very elaborate camera. It’s 12,000 feet under. Seeing the pictures that came from his expeditions are just extraordinary. And imagine how incredible it must be to become that guy. ‘Hey, I’m filming something underwater, I need Al Giddings’. Seventeen trips to Titanic and a list of movies as long as a city block.
Is there a different buyer for watches like this, versus, say, a watch that belonged to a famous musician?
In my view, the Rolex copy watches site UK that are most appealing to collectors are those that tell a story. Even more than a watch that might cost millions and millions of dollars. The watches that really move people’s emotions, and the ones that get enthusiasts most excited, are the ones that tell a story, that trigger a narrative. And that is precisely what Sotheby’s focuses on. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that in our last sale – and we’re seeing this regularly – one third of our buyers were millennials and Gen Z. There is a very large new audience discovering watches.
What’s driving that?
It’s not about shock and awe – “Oh, look at how expensive watches are”. To be frank, that story has been told already. It’s more about the aspirations and the stories and the narratives that they tell. And this [sale] is the epitome of that. In this instance, these two cheap Rolex replica watches appeal to a very broad audience. They could appeal to a Hollywood memorabilia collector. It could be explorers, it could be watch enthusiasts, it could be movie buffs. There’s really a very large footprint. We’ve all seen the movie Titanic. There’s a reason it’s one of the highest grossing films of all time.
What condition are the watches in? Presumably a bit bashed up?
Believe it or not, they’re in very good shape. The steel version has been serviced [auction houses typically ascribe a higher value to vintage Rolex fake watches store that are untouched]. I think we have to recognise, in the absence of provenance, this is [simply] a $15,000 to $20,000 watch. But it’s all about the story. So, the condition actually matters not terribly much in this instance. You wouldn’t want to see a brand new, or new-old stock, perfect Submariner.
That would be weird.
It would make no sense. These watches weren’t trophy prizes given to somebody for an accomplishment. He chose these replica Rolex watches paypal to wear on very serious, very dangerous expeditions. So, the steel watch has been serviced but is in nonetheless very wearable condition, with a very nice dial. The gold watch is in better shape because it was worn less. I think he said he wore that to the Titanic four times. James Paxton wore it in the movie. And it can be seen in the movie, which is exciting. That’s in more immaculate shape but nonetheless that has seen its use. Unquestionably these are tool watches. And not trophies.
The high reserves are $40,000 and $60,000. What would you actually like to see them go for?
You know, we’re always conservative. But aside from value these are tremendous, tremendous pieces. And if ever we value the story and the narrative of a tool watch, this is the time.
