Rolex 1601 Question

[kwcross]

Hello Folks -
I was wondering if I could pose a question to the friendly community...

I am about to get my hands on my first Rolex (yay!), and I have been hunting for a vintage DJ. Below are pictures of the one that I am about to pull the trigger on, but I was wondering if you could take a peek and let me know if you see any red flags. It is a 321xxxx serial number (1971). Original bracelet ect.

Also, notice the lack of lume on dial and hands... (?)

Please share your thought. Thank you everyone!

[Wolfgang427]

Welcome. The Datejust looks fine. Post more pics once you have it.

[Athonatron]

Looks good but needs a good cleaning.

[dentman]

Looks great... Not sure about lack of lume, must have been an option at the time. Here's my '67 - 231xxxx for comparison.

[Lol-x]

My 160X series watches have lume dots, but I think Rolex did make some without lume.

The movement looks pretty clean in yours.

[Alcan]

Hi there, welcome aboard!

Your vintage Date-Just looks authentic to me. It had lume back in the day, you can clearly see the dots on the 8:00 and 9:00 indexes. As to the hands, the pix don't show them well but I'd expect them to have dead tritium lume also.

[Andad]

Hi KW,

Welcome to the Forum.

Looks good - do you have the calibre/movement number?

I have 1601 - 276....... and it has a 1570 movement and I can't find a 1570 listed for this model - is yours a 1575?


Al,

I can't see how these hands could have had lume did you mean the original hands?

[bagel]

Look fine to me ....

[Imtiaz]

I have two DJs. 1966 and 1977. The lume on both are long gone.

They both work perfectly. I had the 1966 serviced recently with a new hairspring etc. Perfect time keeping.

You will enjoy this watch. It is one of the great and enduring classic Rolexes of all time.

[Lol-x]

Upon further reflection, I might go as far to say that it is possible that the luminous dots on the dial have ever fallen off or removed. I remember seeing a 1601 a while back where there were in fact some luminous dots missing.

Now it may be that the seller has got some hands without lume to match the dial.

Generally, and from my experience (which is not at all complete) the 1601 did generally have lume on both the dial and the hands.

[swatty]

Mine is 1977 model for you to compare , It looks to me as though your dial never had lume

[Alcan]

Originally Posted by directioneng

Al,

I can't see how these hands could have had lume did you mean the original hands?

You're right, Eddie. What I took for lume dots at a quick look last evening are actually a chamfer on the edge of the indexes.

[Tools]

I think that the dial is an original, non-luminous offering, even though it does say T swiss T on it..

Back in that era, CERN dials were known to be made for the Milgauss which were standard dials without lume for use in an environment where no radiation emissions were allowed.. Aside from no lume, there is nothing to distinguish those dials either.

[kwcross]

This would likely go in the rotation...

[Lol-x]

As long as your 1601 has been serviced in the last 5 or so years, it will stand up to daily wear superbly but that really applies to almost every Rolex I know.