Sea-Dweller 16600 Dial Marks

[gensiulia]

Hi all!
I would like to share with you a little work done with my friend Pierre ESE 2A, concerning the dial marks of rolex 16600.
Start by saying that the first type of dial is very very similar to the last WG surround dial for 16660, although Beyeler made it, while on the 16600 is manufactured by Rolex itself.
Is also plausible that the service tritium dial for 16660 is the first MK for 16600.
The 16600 replaces the triple 6 at the end of the “numeric” serial case, so we can say that the 16600 comes with R serial.
This is the first series of dial for 16600, we can call it MK1

MK1 (case from R to late U-A)




We can find this dial until the A serial, when the tritium is replaced by Luminova. So we have the same dial but labeled differently at 6, SWISS instead of Swiss - T<25. With the advent of the new luminescence also change the hands, as you can easily see in the picture.

MK2 (case A)




This particular dial is short-lived and will be replaced after just over one year. His successor, MK3, is a Superluminova dial, so the luminescent substance changes again and we can see the new writing at 6 SWISS MADE…

MK3 (case from P to the end of production)




…overlapped, for my personal experience, with this other type of dial, that we can call MK4.

MK4 (case from K to the end of production)




we can see clear differences on the coronet, on the depth and the rest of the font in general. I talk about overlapping because we can surely find this dial (MK4) random on K, Z, M cases.
Then there is another dial, with the same characteristics of the MK4 (short FT) but solo SWISS at 6 o'clock (you can note also the absence of 29 and 31 indices), there is no certainty yet, but we think this is a service dial for the MK2.

Service dial



We should also talk about special dial for delivered/assigned/commemorative 16600 SD, as the “Polipetto” for Italian Police Sommozzatori, showed recently by eparisini, and of course, about 16600 Comex, but for the moment, we stop here.
These are personal conclusion, feel you free to extend the topic with your valutations.
Thanks to my pal ESE 2A
Thank you too for the attention.