birthday year rolex - is this a "thing"

[Tan_]

I had always assumed there was a sort of correlation between a timepiece telling time for the (same amount of) time you had been alive.
A nice sort of synergy with your time alive and the watches exsistence to tell time starting at approximately (birth year) the same time.
I like the poetry or made up romance of it.
Saying that I’m not actively looking for a birth year piece. So what do I know ;)

[1William]

I think the birth year watch typically identifies you as some one new to the watch game and someone looking for a reason to buy a watch. We see and hear it a lot here on TRF along with I am buying this watch for my newborn. To each their own but it is not for me. Theses are some of the same people that are buying the Hodinkee LE/SE watches and riding the hype wave. Such is the journey.

[capote]

To me it feel very limiting to focus on the one’s birthyear. As for childrens birthyear, come on, if that is the case why are you wearing your kids watch all the time?

[Oscarpapa]

Originally Posted by padi56

Cannot understand why unless you are over a hundred plus years old as during the Rolex early period many different types of watches were made, and Rolex did not have complete control over their movement factory, they were only a minority shareholder. The full name of the company tells the story "Aegler, Société Anonyme,Horologies D Excellence Fabrique des Montres Rolex & Gruen Guild A.," this means, in translation, Aegler incorporated, manufacturer of Rolex & Gruen Guild A Watches. At this time ownership of the factory was split between three parties, Herman Aegler (movements), (Hans Wilsdorf of Rolex) and the Gruen brothers, Frederick Gruen and George Gruen.Now Aegler manufactured movements for both companies, who then sold the completed watches in their respective territories; Wilsdorf of Rolex, throughout Europe, Asia and the British Empire; whilst the Gruen brothers sold in the US only. This arrangement worked well until Rolex acquired the patent for the the Oyster case; now they had something new and special which they wished to sell all over the world, not just in their limited territory. However the three way partnership prohibited Rolex from selling their products with Aegler movement in the Gruen brothers' territory (and vice-versa). So Hans of Rolex being a very clever and shrewd man, took a sideways move and fitted their new Oyster cases with a movement from FHF (Fontmelon)factory just down the road from Gruen and then tried to find a US distributor. They came across the firm of Abercrombie and Fitch,this was then a store specialising in sportsman's' equipment; whether you wanted to go elephant shooting in Africa, fishing for salmon or trout in Scotland, Abercrombie and Fitch was the place you went for all your equipment. Everything from fishing rods to double barrelled shotguns could be found under their roof. As the sportsman's store they seemed the ideal place to sell the first oyster watches, which were already building a reputation as the sportsman's watch. It may have seemed the ideal place but it did not work out that way, firstly because Rolex sold the cheaper down-market version of their watches in a high end store, and also because Abercrombie & Fitch did not advertise the watch sufficiently. These Abercrombie & Fitch watches are probably the rarest of all the cushion oysters, in all my life I have only ever seen one; it was signed "Abercrombie and Fitch (Seafarer) on the dial and the case and movement were signed Oyster Watch Company.The case was quite badly pitted because then they were made from a base metal, a chromed zinc material that did not last very long,a bit like the relationship between Rolex and Abercrombie & Fitch.Now they went on to become the USA distributor for The Swiss Heuer watches, probably more of a sportsman's watch to speak of, being mainly chronograph watches.

After a couple of years in the desert Rolex decided to give the US market another try. This was after they had been approached by Zell Brothers, a jewellery store chain in the Pacific North West of the USA, headquartered in Seattle. Zell had seen the great success of Rolex in Canada, and in Vancouver in particular (Seattle and Vancouver are only about 150km apart). They asked to be made the exclusive importer for Rolex in the Pacific North West, and Rolex eager to get a US foot hold accepted their proposal. The strange thing is that, despite the Canadian success either Zell or Rolex decided not to use the famed "Oyster" name but substituted the name Turtle Timer, (IMHO undoubtedly Zell) Once again these were non-Aegler (non-Rolex) movements, so as not to disturb the three way relationship with Gruen. Zell were much more successful than Abercrombie/Fitch had been, but can hardly be described as having made a major market breakthrough. I have seen around 5 or 6 pictures of these watches and because they were made when Rolex was using real stainless steel the cases looked to have lasted much better than the A&F ones ever did. But Zells had two major problems as far as Rolex were concerned; firstly they were a regional not national chain and their insistence on using their own Turtle Timer name and not Oyster meant that Rolex would never reap the benefit of any of the new oyster case success.Now in these early days of Rolex only about 1 in 5 had the name Rolex on the Dial,the rest were blank dials when they left the factory.But after the arrival of the oyster case most of the oyster cased ones did have the name Rolex on the dial,but still only a few companies were still allowed,to put there names on the dial like Goldsmiths,Asprey, Bucherer plus a few more.Tiffany were the final store retailers name to ever to be seen on a Rolex dial, and now any genuine Tiffany named Rolex bring very high prices indeed.

Zell Rolex Turtle Timer.



Now most of these problems were solved when Rolex gained the right to enter the US market themselves when the Gruen brothers left the board of Aegler in mid 30s selling their shares to the two remaining parties; their place on the board of the company was taken by Emil Borer who really invented the oyster case,and who was Herman Aegler's brother in law, the technical director of Rolex, and much more significantly the man who supposedly invented the Perpetual movement for the company.Now this new movement was the first one from Aegler (Rolex), that was not made available to Gruen, and so gave Rolex a unique advantage when they were able to take advantage of their new found ability to enter the US market; which they did just as the US entered WW11, around 1942.

And now the only current company for whom Rolex will "co-brand" a watch is COMEX; an acronym made up of the letters from the company's full name COmpagnie Maritime d'EXpertise. COMEX as everyone now knows are the world's leaders in the provision of diving services to exploration companies all over the globe. It was in November 1967 that A. Zilbach, a Rolex technician who had worked in close collaboration with COMEX received the Swiss patent number 492,246 for a helium escape valve,shared with Doxa to rush it though. This was the result of experiments carried out with early 5513 Submariners which had been fitted with prototypes of this escape valve.These watches were used by COMEX divers for over 2 years without any problems and so the decision was made to produce a standard watch with this feature; it was, of course, the SD. The largest bulk purchaser of these watches was and is COMEX; every diver who works for the company is issued with one and to prevent the watches from being "misplaced" Rolex print the name of the company on the dial of every watch. COMEX themselves also engrave the rear of the watch with their name and a unique serial number. These watches now have become incredibly collectible because they are the ONLY Rolex watch still being produced with another name on the dial.It is somewhat ironic that after almost 90 years of some different retailers' names on some Rolex dials. The only one left is a company who do did not ever sell watches,and thats Comex.
__________________

Very informative. I was aware of parts of this history but you have brought it all together in a very succinct post. Thanks

[Oscarpapa]

Ps. Yes, I have never understood this birth year thing myself

[CarteBlanche]

I've been leaning into this idea for a while now.

I'll be 40 in a few years and would happily choose a birth year watch over another year.

Maybe it's an age thing!

[owl.]

Originally Posted by Tan_

I had always assumed there was a sort of correlation between a timepiece telling time for the (same amount of) time you had been alive.
A nice sort of synergy with your time alive and the watches exsistence to tell time starting at approximately (birth year) the same time.
I like the poetry or made up romance of it.
Saying that I’m not actively looking for a birth year piece. So what do I know ;)

I agree with this.

It’s a romance thing. Which is neat I think.


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[owl.]

Originally Posted by 1William

I think the birth year watch typically identifies you as some one new to the watch game and someone looking for a reason to buy a watch. We see and hear it a lot here on TRF along with I am buying this watch for my newborn. To each their own but it is not for me. Theses are some of the same people that are buying the Hodinkee LE/SE watches and riding the hype wave. Such is the journey.

?

So what are you?

I don’t understand what is so wrong with Hodinkee

I see it as a way to learn about watches and be up to date with new releases

I’m assuming you bought your divers not as a watch fan, but as a scuba diver that needs a watch to dive with?

Did you buy your chronograph because your race cars ?

Or just because you thought it was nice?

(Like the rest of us)

[owl.]

Originally Posted by padi56

Cannot understand why unless you are over a hundred plus years old as during the Rolex early period many different types of watches were made, and Rolex did not have complete control over their movement factory, they were only a minority shareholder. The full name of the company tells the story "Aegler, Société Anonyme,Horologies D Excellence Fabrique des Montres Rolex & Gruen Guild A.," this means, in translation, Aegler incorporated, manufacturer of Rolex & Gruen Guild A Watches. At this time ownership of the factory was split between three parties, Herman Aegler (movements), (Hans Wilsdorf of Rolex) and the Gruen brothers, Frederick Gruen and George Gruen.Now Aegler manufactured movements for both companies, who then sold the completed watches in their respective territories; Wilsdorf of Rolex, throughout Europe, Asia and the British Empire; whilst the Gruen brothers sold in the US only. This arrangement worked well until Rolex acquired the patent for the the Oyster case; now they had something new and special which they wished to sell all over the world, not just in their limited territory. However the three way partnership prohibited Rolex from selling their products with Aegler movement in the Gruen brothers' territory (and vice-versa). So Hans of Rolex being a very clever and shrewd man, took a sideways move and fitted their new Oyster cases with a movement from FHF (Fontmelon)factory just down the road from Gruen and then tried to find a US distributor. They came across the firm of Abercrombie and Fitch,this was then a store specialising in sportsman's' equipment; whether you wanted to go elephant shooting in Africa, fishing for salmon or trout in Scotland, Abercrombie and Fitch was the place you went for all your equipment. Everything from fishing rods to double barrelled shotguns could be found under their roof. As the sportsman's store they seemed the ideal place to sell the first oyster watches, which were already building a reputation as the sportsman's watch. It may have seemed the ideal place but it did not work out that way, firstly because Rolex sold the cheaper down-market version of their watches in a high end store, and also because Abercrombie & Fitch did not advertise the watch sufficiently. These Abercrombie & Fitch watches are probably the rarest of all the cushion oysters, in all my life I have only ever seen one; it was signed "Abercrombie and Fitch (Seafarer) on the dial and the case and movement were signed Oyster Watch Company.The case was quite badly pitted because then they were made from a base metal, a chromed zinc material that did not last very long,a bit like the relationship between Rolex and Abercrombie & Fitch.Now they went on to become the USA distributor for The Swiss Heuer watches, probably more of a sportsman's watch to speak of, being mainly chronograph watches.

After a couple of years in the desert Rolex decided to give the US market another try. This was after they had been approached by Zell Brothers, a jewellery store chain in the Pacific North West of the USA, headquartered in Seattle. Zell had seen the great success of Rolex in Canada, and in Vancouver in particular (Seattle and Vancouver are only about 150km apart). They asked to be made the exclusive importer for Rolex in the Pacific North West, and Rolex eager to get a US foot hold accepted their proposal. The strange thing is that, despite the Canadian success either Zell or Rolex decided not to use the famed "Oyster" name but substituted the name Turtle Timer, (IMHO undoubtedly Zell) Once again these were non-Aegler (non-Rolex) movements, so as not to disturb the three way relationship with Gruen. Zell were much more successful than Abercrombie/Fitch had been, but can hardly be described as having made a major market breakthrough. I have seen around 5 or 6 pictures of these watches and because they were made when Rolex was using real stainless steel the cases looked to have lasted much better than the A&F ones ever did. But Zells had two major problems as far as Rolex were concerned; firstly they were a regional not national chain and their insistence on using their own Turtle Timer name and not Oyster meant that Rolex would never reap the benefit of any of the new oyster case success.Now in these early days of Rolex only about 1 in 5 had the name Rolex on the Dial,the rest were blank dials when they left the factory.But after the arrival of the oyster case most of the oyster cased ones did have the name Rolex on the dial,but still only a few companies were still allowed,to put there names on the dial like Goldsmiths,Asprey, Bucherer plus a few more.Tiffany were the final store retailers name to ever to be seen on a Rolex dial, and now any genuine Tiffany named Rolex bring very high prices indeed.

Zell Rolex Turtle Timer.



Now most of these problems were solved when Rolex gained the right to enter the US market themselves when the Gruen brothers left the board of Aegler in mid 30s selling their shares to the two remaining parties; their place on the board of the company was taken by Emil Borer who really invented the oyster case,and who was Herman Aegler's brother in law, the technical director of Rolex, and much more significantly the man who supposedly invented the Perpetual movement for the company.Now this new movement was the first one from Aegler (Rolex), that was not made available to Gruen, and so gave Rolex a unique advantage when they were able to take advantage of their new found ability to enter the US market; which they did just as the US entered WW11, around 1942.

And now the only current company for whom Rolex will "co-brand" a watch is COMEX; an acronym made up of the letters from the company's full name COmpagnie Maritime d'EXpertise. COMEX as everyone now knows are the world's leaders in the provision of diving services to exploration companies all over the globe. It was in November 1967 that A. Zilbach, a Rolex technician who had worked in close collaboration with COMEX received the Swiss patent number 492,246 for a helium escape valve,shared with Doxa to rush it though. This was the result of experiments carried out with early 5513 Submariners which had been fitted with prototypes of this escape valve.These watches were used by COMEX divers for over 2 years without any problems and so the decision was made to produce a standard watch with this feature; it was, of course, the SD. The largest bulk purchaser of these watches was and is COMEX; every diver who works for the company is issued with one and to prevent the watches from being "misplaced" Rolex print the name of the company on the dial of every watch. COMEX themselves also engrave the rear of the watch with their name and a unique serial number. These watches now have become incredibly collectible because they are the ONLY Rolex watch still being produced with another name on the dial.It is somewhat ironic that after almost 90 years of some different retailers' names on some Rolex dials. The only one left is a company who do did not ever sell watches,and thats Comex.
__________________

Did you just copy and paste this Padi?

I’m sure I’ve read a very similar little narrative somewhere.

Maybe here.

Or maybe elsewhere.

[owl.]

Originally Posted by jimcarver

For some reason I started looking for a birth year watch, realised it just narrowed down the search and it was pointless.
I ended up buying a 36mm TT DJ that was 7 years "younger" than me, gave it to my wife in the end and told her it was her birth year (its not, she is 5 years younger) it made her happy enough. Kind of proves that its completely pointless but also some people like it.....hahaha well at least think they do.

So you lied to your wife and you’re laughing because she believed you?

Kinda rude IMO

[owl.]

Originally Posted by soxfan39

I was born in 1972 and when looking for a red sub 1680 it was fun to search for one with serial number made that year. Cool to wear a watch as old as you are.

Heck yeah! That’s what it’s all about


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[owl.]

Originally Posted by VonSomething

I tried it, didn't connect with the watch. Sold it again 2 weeks later.

I get the idea if it's a watch your parents bought when you were born but buying a vintage watch that has been worn by someone else, for sentimental reasons?

What if that someone else if your father?

Like is the case with @Padi55 and his Daytona that he inherited from your father?

I feel like a lot of members here see things are black or white

A lot of things aren’t black or white

There is more to it

[VonSomething]

Originally Posted by owl.

What if that someone else if your father?

Like is the case with @Padi55 and his Daytona that he inherited from your father?

I feel like a lot of members here see things are black or white

A lot of things aren’t black or white

There is more to it

I'm having a hard time understanding this post, my apologies.

Like I said, if I was given a watch by my parents, or someone close to me, then it's a different thing.

I just can't connect sentimentally with an object if it has been bought only because it's my birth year and been worn by a random stranger.

The second sentence I understand as "padi inherited a Daytona from my father?" Not sure what you're trying to say?

[tfjordan]

I have a birth year (1960) Rolex 6694, love it and think its cool for several reasons, namely:

The hunt - adds a dimension to the fun of the hunt - face it, we all love the hunt.
Kids - maybe my kids will think it's cool after I'm gone.
Condition - always fun to get a watch that's in better condition at 60 than I am!

I agree with those who said its harmless fun on the "for" side and on the "against" side, well, maybe that is simply the watch I'd like to wear.


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[GONZO2LR]

Originally Posted by soxfan39

I was born in 1972 and when looking for a red sub 1680 it was fun to search for one with serial number made that year. Cool to wear a watch as old as you are.

cool.....

[GONZO2LR]

Originally Posted by Ian Macdermott

I am far too old for a birth year Rolex.

a round rock in the stone age would be too heavy on the wrist...haha...just kidding...just a funny laugh dude....

[Onikage]

My birth year was in a great decade for Day-Dates. I'd want a minty one though.

[owl.]

Originally Posted by VonSomething

I'm having a hard time understanding this post, my apologies.

Like I said, if I was given a watch by my parents, or someone close to me, then it's a different thing.

I just can't connect sentimentally with an object if it has been bought only because it's my birth year and been worn by a random stranger.

The second sentence I understand as "padi inherited a Daytona from my father?" Not sure what you're trying to say?

Oh im sorry I missed the part about it’s okay if it comes from your parents.

Padi is a moderator on this forum and inherited a 6263 from his dad which he treasures and I think that is very understandable

[1976]

Originally Posted by soxfan39

I was born in 1972 and when looking for a red sub 1680 it was fun to search for one with serial number made that year. Cool to wear a watch as old as you are.

This! I own 2 Datejusts that were sold in the year I was born (1976), loved the hunt and wearing them!

[Onikage]

Originally Posted by 1976

This! I own 2 Datejusts that were sold in the year I was born (1976), loved the hunt and wearing them!

Very nice.

[Pw92676]

Originally Posted by VonSomething

I tried it, didn't connect with the watch. Sold it again 2 weeks later.

I get the idea if it's a watch your parents bought when you were born but buying a vintage watch that has been worn by someone else, for sentimental reasons?

I agree. Doing it for my son so he has some birth year stuff. No interest in a birth year watch for me. I just prefer new in general and the only times I have gone used is for discontinued references or used from someone special to me.

[owl.]

Originally Posted by 1976

This! I own 2 Datejusts that were sold in the year I was born (1976), loved the hunt and wearing them!

Wow, killer combo!


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[Oyster Sauce]

Originally Posted by horseShu

it's a thing among vintage collectors.
vintage Rolex, Omega or Seiko...

it's harmless fun. and it gives additional meaning to an otherwise ordinary vintage watch.

This is well said. I haven’t gone down the route of finding a birth year watch, but I’ve got no problem with those who do.

[redhead4rolex]

I think it's kind of cool, I have multiple newspapers from the day I was born. A Rolex would be a nice addition, then again I'm sentimental lol

[Abarth90]

Originally Posted by peterpl

I've been looking for a 1985 mint GMT/Sub for ages. Very very hard to find one I am happy with and there is basically 0 chance of finding one NOS.

May this be the one for u?
https://www.worldoftime.de/de/rolex.....17-29830.html


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[RMC12]

I get that some people don't get it. To each their own obviously. Not sure I like being called a 'sheep' because I decided to buy myself a watch for my 40th that was first sold in the year I was born. To me it added a new dimension to the meaning of the watch. I was looking for a 1680 anyway and really enjoyed sourcing it. It took a while given I was born in 1976 as there seemed to be limited numbers available at the time compared to other years in the 70's.

Anyway, I could not be happier with my Sub and have no intentions of selling it.

[DaveDhc]

Born in 1955 and have a Rolex for each year from 1950 to 1959. It makes me feel good.

[Ian Macdermott]

Originally Posted by GONZO2LR

a round rock in the stone age would be too heavy on the wrist...haha...just kidding...just a funny laugh dude....

I am hoping to achieve 103 next year, maybe a sundial would do the job.

[PaulEvansLoafers]

I think it depends.

I would think you would find at least a smudge of more meaning on a watch from your birth year than one with a random year.

[AkshayArgade]

Originally Posted by soxfan39

I was born in 1972 and when looking for a red sub 1680 it was fun to search for one with serial number made that year. Cool to wear a watch as old as you are.

This

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