Rolex
Submariner "Live or let Die" - index blancs

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner reference 5513, 1973 example from one of the most emblematic generations of the great no-date Submariner, 40 mm stainless-steel Oyster case, 20 mm lug width and drilled lugs, matt black dial with round, baton and triangular hour markers, white inscriptions and SWISS-T<25 marking indicating the use of tritium, Mercedes hands, central seconds, three-hand no-date display without Cyclops, rotating black 60-minute bezel with Rolex service insert, Rolex service Plexiglas crystal, screw-down crown protected by crown guards, screw-down Oyster caseback, historical water resistance of 200 metres / 660 feet but today offered without a water-resistance guarantee, original Rolex stainless-steel Oyster bracelet with all links, folding clasp and diving extension, Rolex calibre 1520 automatic mechanical movement with 17 jewels on this example, frequency of 19,800 vibrations per hour and approximately 42-hour power reserve after full winding. Reference 5513 produced from 1962 to 1989, watch restored with respect for its collector configuration, inspected and authenticated by the Mostra workshop, Mostra Certificate of Authenticity and 3-year warranty.

“A 1973 Submariner 5513 belongs to that rare category of watches whose silhouette seems to tell several stories at once. The story of professional diving, naturally, with its black dial, bezel and original 200-metre rating; that of Rolex, which at the time was less concerned with producing a luxury object than an instrument robust enough to go to sea; and that of cinema when, in the same year, Roger Moore first appeared as James Bond wearing a 5513 transformed by Q into a magnet and circular saw. Fifty years later, the gadgets have disappeared but the watch remains. Perhaps that is the finest tribute cinema could pay to a Submariner: the fiction has aged, its silhouette hardly at all.”

The 1973 Rolex Submariner 5513 sits at the heart of one of the most important references in Rolex history. Introduced in 1962 and produced until 1989, the 5513 accompanied almost three decades in the development of the modern diving watch. It followed the earliest Submariners of the 1950s and established, alongside the 5512, the architecture that became universal: 40 mm Oyster case, crown guards, black no-date dial, outstanding nocturnal legibility, rotating bezel and Oyster bracelet. Its exceptionally long production explains the richness of its variations today: early gilt dials, matt “meters first” and later “feet first” dials, changing typography and generations of tritium before the late glossy dials with metal surrounds appeared. A 5513 therefore can never be reduced simply to its reference number: its period, dial, hands, bezel, bracelet and history of intervention are essential parts of its identity.

The year 1973 has an additional resonance. It marked the release of Live and Let Die, the first James Bond film starring Roger Moore. On his wrist appeared a Rolex Submariner reference 5513, from the same generation as this watch. For filming, several examples were extensively modified: the bezel could become a circular saw while the watch was supposed to generate a spectacularly powerful magnetic field. In one of the film’s best-known sequences, Bond uses the saw bezel to free Solitaire, played by Jane Seymour. The film prop was naturally no longer an ordinary functioning Submariner — some examples even had their movements removed to accommodate the special-effects mechanisms — but the appearance permanently linked the 5513 with Roger Moore and the world of 007. The present watch is not a film-used example: what it shares is the reference, generation and above all the silhouette that passed through the film while remaining entirely credible as an instrument.

The black dial of this example tells the story of the Submariner before white-gold marker surrounds and sapphire crystals. Round hour plots, batons at 6 and 9 and the triangle at 12 create an almost absolute simplicity of reading. The SWISS-T<25 marking recalls the use of tritium for the luminous elements, a material characteristic of the period and now inseparable from the aesthetic of vintage Rolex. There is no date and no Cyclops magnifier: only hours, minutes and central seconds. This lack of complication gives the 5513 the symmetry and purity that explain why many collectors still regard it as one of the purest expressions of the original Submariner concept. Its dial must always be read as a whole: surface, markers, hands and luminous material should tell a chronologically coherent story.

The 40 mm stainless-steel Oyster case retains proportions that are particularly attractive today. With drilled lugs, slightly domed Plexiglas crystal and a construction visually much slimmer than that of contemporary Submariners, the 5513 feels remarkably light on the wrist. The drilled lugs also make bracelet removal straightforward, a detail inherited directly from an era when the watch was conceived as a tool to be used and maintained. Surrounding the crystal is a Rolex service bezel insert, while the Plexiglas itself is also a genuine Rolex service component. These replacements are clearly identified: transparency regarding replaced parts is part of vintage-watch expertise. An authentic Rolex service component belongs to the maintenance history of the watch; it should simply never be represented as a component dating from 1973.

The Submariner 5513 was historically rated to 200 metres / 660 feet, a remarkable specification for a watch produced more than half a century ago. That figure, however, describes the watch when it met its original specifications and does not constitute permission to dive with it today. This example is currently offered without a water-resistance guarantee. With a vintage Submariner, preserving the dial, tritium and movement is far more important than attempting at all costs to reproduce the aquatic performance of 1973. This is one of the principles developed in our major Mostra Magazine feature on the history of the Rolex Submariner: an old diving watch must be assessed according to its present condition, components and actual test results, never solely according to the historical depth printed on its dial. The complete history of the model can be found here: https://www.mostra-store.com/en/magazine/rolex-submariner

Beneath the screw-down caseback is the Rolex calibre 1520, the automatic movement that powered much of the long career of the 5513. On this example it is specified with 17 jewels, operates at 19,800 vibrations per hour, or 2.75 Hz, and provides approximately 42 hours of power reserve after full winding. It was deliberately simpler than the chronometer movements used in certain contemporary Rolex references: the 5513 was not presented as a certified chronometer, which also explains the restrained lower dial text. That mechanical simplicity, combined with Perpetual automatic winding, became one of the defining qualities of the model. Among watchmakers, calibre 1520 developed a reputation for robustness, rational construction and durability entirely consistent with the original purpose of a professional diving watch.

The original Rolex Oyster bracelet, retained here with all of its links, completes this instrumental logic. Its construction is considerably lighter than that of a contemporary Oyster bracelet and contributes directly to the characteristic sensation of a vintage Submariner on the wrist. The folding clasp incorporates an extension historically allowing the bracelet to be lengthened over a diving suit and then returned to normal wrist size. Together with the slim lugs, Plexiglas and 40 mm case, this bracelet explains why a 5513 remains extremely easy to wear today, including on relatively modest wrists. With denim or travel clothing it naturally retains its tool-watch personality; beneath a cuff or with a jacket, its proportions give it a discretion that larger modern diving watches do not always possess.

This example also benefits from an attractive collector’s environment. It has been restored with respect for its role as a collector’s watch, with the Rolex service crystal and bezel insert clearly identified. This point is fundamental to the way Mostra approaches an old Submariner today: the objective is not to pretend that a watch more than fifty years old has never been maintained, but to distinguish what belongs to its historical configuration, what has been replaced, what remains correct and how those interventions affect its interest. A properly understood 5513 is valuable through the coherence of its history rather than through the illusion that it has remained untouched since 1973.

This kind of reading is precisely one of the fields in which Mostra has developed particular expertise over more than forty years. The Submariner is one of our principal specialities: early references, 5512 and 5513, 1680, transitional generations, 16610, 14060, anniversary series and contemporary models are regularly examined by our workshop in Aix-en-Provence. On this 5513 we inspect case and lug geometry, dial and inscriptions, hands and tritium, crown and tube, Plexiglas, service insert, bezel rotation, bracelet and clasp, as well as the calibre 1520, its rate, amplitude, automatic winding and power reserve. This dual historical and mechanical assessment is essential with a vintage Rolex, where two watches carrying the same reference can have profoundly different histories.

Choosing this 1973 Rolex Submariner 5513 from Mostra therefore means acquiring considerably more than an old diving watch. It is an entry into the history of a reference produced for almost twenty-seven years, a design that defined the modern Submariner and a watch that became the cinematic companion of Roger Moore’s first James Bond. It is supplied with its original Rolex box and outer box, accompanied by a Mostra Certificate of Authenticity and covered by our 3-year warranty, with continued support from our integrated workshop in Aix-en-Provence. Mostra’s verified customer reviews carry a 5-star rating, and our selection represents one of the largest collections of high-end pre-owned watches in the South of France. This 5513 naturally has neither a secret magnet nor a saw bezel: what it possesses is something far rarer today — the ability to evoke 1973, diving, Rolex and Roger Moore simply by looking at the time.

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