History of Watchmaking

Strapped to the hull of Professor Auguste Piccard’s "Trieste" bathyscaphe, a special Rolex Oyster was submerged 10,916 metres in the Mariana Trench (Pacific).

World history

World population estimated at 3 billion.
Belgian Congo, Ivory Coast, Mauritania and Centrafrican Republic gained their independence.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was elected President of the United States.
Creation of OPEC.

Swiss history

1959. The Confederation adopted women’s suffrage.

Art and Culture

Creation, in Japan, of Butoh dance.
New Realism founded in Paris.
Beginning of Pop Art in the United States, with Andy Warhol (1929-1987).
The Palme d’Or of the 13th Cannes Film Festival went to La Dolce Vita, directed by Federico Fellini.