The Oyster

Front page of the Boston Daily Globe, October 8, 1927 reporting on Mercedes Gleitze's swim across the English Channel

noun - The Oyster (or the Rolex Oyster was the first waterproof watch made by Rolex and wore around her neck by Mercedes Gleitze, an International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Honour Swimmer on her swim across of the English Channel in 1927. The Oyster is showcased in the documentary film called Mercedes The Spirit of a New Age by Clare Delargy.

Hans Wilsdorf, a founder of the Rolex watch company, launched the Rolex Oyster in 1926 and asked Gleitze to wear the waterproof Rolex on her well-publicized vindication swim as proof of the reliability of the watch. Gleitz later provided a testimonial of the Oyster.

Gleitze Testimonial to Wilsdorf

You will like to hear that the Rolex Oyster watch I carried on my Channel swim proved itself a reliable and accurate timekeeping companion even though it was subjected to complete immersion for hours in sea water at a temp of not more than 58 and often as low as 51. This is to say nothing about the sustained buffeting it must have received. . . . The newspaper man was astonished and I, of course, am delighted with it.

External links

• Her Swim Made Rolex Famous
• The History And Future Of The North Channel
• Open Water Swimming
• What A Swimmer, What A Woman, Mercedes Gleitze
• Mercedes Gleitze bio
• International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Class of 2013
• Hall of Fame Honors Pioneering Mercedes Gleitz
• The Media Waves Of Open Water Swimming
• WOWSA, IMSHOF Heads To Cork, Ireland
• Mercedes: The Spirit Of The Age Age Premieres In Ireland
• Rose Pitonof Honored By The Hall Of Fame
• Mercedes Gleitze Honoured In Cork, Ireland
• Sea Swimming Is A Beautiful Thing