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14 October 2015, 12:30 PM | #1 |
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Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Cincinnati
Posts: 178
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Worth it to buy vintage parts for my GMT?
I own a December 1968 GMT Master that my father bought in Saigon in January 1970. He was an air traffic controller with the 101st airborne, so this was certainly a tool watch for him. He always had it serviced by Rolex, and pieces of it have been replaced over time. I own the complete box and papers for the watch, and most of the service papers. I inherited the watch in 2006 when he died, and it was my first Rolex (though not my last, as I've owned half a dozen since, and currently own two others).
The faded original Pepsi bezel insert was replaced first, in the early 80s, with a black insert (my father chose black, for whatever reason), the crown and tube were replaced in the early 90s, and the dial and hands were replaced in the late 90s. My father refused to allow Rolex to put in what was then the "current dial" (i.e. a dial with white gold markers), and the dial that was installed was a luminova dial that was marked Swiss T<25. I'm assuming that the hands were whatever was the then current service hands. The late 90s service is the one that I don't have the papers for, so I have to go by my memory (I was in high school at the time, and I remember my father talking about the dial). My understanding is that the Tritium marked luminova dial is fairly rare, as far as service dials go. I will never sell this watch, and I love wearing it, but I've given some thought to trying to return it to its original condition. I bought what I believe to be the correct Pepsi insert (late 60s NOS from a watchmaker who was retiring and selling his stock of parts, and whom I trust), as I always think of the watch as having a Pepsi bezel, since that's what I saw on his wrist when I was a kid. That bezel insert was fairly pricey, but was worth it to me. I'm not sure what vintage hands and dials go for, so I'm less sure of their worth to me. I do enjoy the luminova dial... I certainly wish that Rolex returned parts, but Montblanc hasn't returned parts when I've had pens worked on, so I guess I can't be that surprised. Any suggestions? Like I said, never going to sell the watch, so I'm thinking about a correct restoration just in terms of my own gratification and the desire to make the watch "right." |
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