Vintage Rolex Buyer's Guidance to determine the originality of your watch..

[The Thomas J]

I am lucky enough to have 5 Rolex's and 2 Tudor's. The newest are the his and her Tudor's from the early 80's that were my parents dress watches.The oldest is a Rolex Perpetual from 1956. A 1016/5500 from the 60's, a 5513 Submariner circa 1977/78. A 1973 1803 and, Last but not least a 29mm 1950's handwound 6654 (I may be wrong about that refrence)

My Tudor and 1803 are 100% original and have only experienced service by RSC.

My Submariner was given to me by my much older cousin who used to scuba dive all over the world as a gift for my 40th has had a combination of RSC and non RSC service. He only wore that watch on weekends or vacation and it showed. He bought that watch in the early 80's new. The first thing he did was change the fold over clasp to a later holdover clasp with the latch as he felt it wasn't secure enough when he would go diving. He threw away that bracket 15 years later because it was falling apart, but kept the clasp because he liked it and put it on a generic bracelet that he got at the mall. I kid you not. He had it serviced at Rolex once. In 2000 He busted it up when he was jogging when he tripped and fell. Rolex wanted a ton of money to fix it. He wound up using a local watchmaker to fix it. However, in his words it was never the same. He tossed in a draw not to long after that. The final straw being when the the second hand fell off. That's how I got it. He did give me the 2 line dial that came with it that he still had. The dial was all banged up and faded so I just kept the service dial on it.

I had my local watch guy fix the second hand and put the Clasp on a Rubber B. He told me the watch needed an overhaul. I searched high and low for a gen 20mm Submariner bracelet, but the prices are bananas and you don't know what you are getting. I had the bright idea to swap my 19mm bracelet from my 1016 and put that on a nato. It fits but has a 1mm gap at the lugs and bothers me so I go back and forth between a NATO and the rubber B.

I had to have the movement completely overhauled last year due to water and rust issues Rolex wanted $2700 to do it and that didn't include a new plexiglass which was cracked that allowed water to get in there.

I wound up sending to a watchmaker that came highly recommended by numerous people. He did an amazing job. Sent me videos and pics of the job as it went on. It was a ton of work. Gen Rolex parts for the 1500 series of movements are virtually impossible to come by unless they are coming from donor movements and those cost upwards of $2000. He did source me a n RSC replacement plexiglass. Probably made in China.

When you are dealing with watches that are 30, 40, 50 plus years old you have to accept that there maybe a non Rolex part in there. It's just the way it is.

I need to send 2 out for service as I dropped both of them. I really messed up the hand wound one.

This pic is the most recent with the 19mm C&I bracelet, which I find very comfortable and, on the rubber B.

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[Salyer]

great , a mine of very important info

[watchprenuer]

great info phillip

[Rokrock]

Hello everybody,
I’m in the process of buying my first vintage rolex... datejust ref. 1601.
And I’m wondering if you could help me with authenticity of the watch. The seller is also offering me the certificate from official rolex dealer.
Bellow are the pictures of the movement and caseback engraving.
Thank you.

[Rokrock]

The movement picture

[Calchas]

Hi guys

I'm new here.
Just found this watch in my grandfather's belongings and i can't believe he owned a vintage Rolex watch...On the other hand this watch doesn't feel fake..It's heavy and rigid...The bezel rotates uni-directionally very smoothly.
It was sitting for 15 years in the closet and the mechanism seems that is working fine.
So,what do you think?
A high quality replica or a small treasure?

Why can't i post a link or upload a video?
Go to youtube and search for Rolex submariner and filter the most recent uploads...I'm 3timesaweek
Let me know

[usyd]

Excellent, thank you for sharing!

[axelbrass]

Awesome, awesome post! Now I'm saving up for a vintage Rolex!

[Jackiesmith]

I need to find out the value of my watch. It’s a 1980 oyster perpetual datejust

14k gold stainless steel.

[bweig]

This is awesome, thank you for all of the insight !


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[anona]

Thank you for this great post, very instructive

[Jayreynolds]

Fabulous write up, appreciate it.

[watchman2029]

Excellent!

[gregd2800]

Question: are you saying that all pre-1965 Rolex have radiation in them??

[Swiss Mad!]

I would love to own a vintage Sub or Sea Dweller one day.

However, 2 things will probably prevent this from ever happening.

1. Posts like this make me realise just how much I DONT know about vintage watches, to the point where I really wouldn't be able to tell an original piece from a cobbled together franken...

2. Price - some good stainless vintage pieces are commanding new PM money...

Really enjoyed your article though,

[D Hughes]

Thanks a million! Suuuuper informative

[eugeneglen]

I was offered this Gay Freres Oyster Riveted Bracelet , Model # 7206, End Pieces # 80, Clasp year Code First quarter of 1967 has 12 Links. My question for the experts here is, is this bracelet genuine? if yes, is $2500 a fair price?

Thanks in advance!

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[Richard.b]

Thanks for Sharing. I’m officially scared to buy a vintage Rolex now



Richard B.

[shopsurfer]

probabl the most informative post in the forum, I ever saw. Thx for that! But one serious question about vintage collecting. Why is it more important to leave the watch alone even if it doesn't work anymore, than having it serviced over the Years to keep it in a worth wearing condition? That's a riddle to me. Nobody has ever answered this question to me.

[beachboy17]

Dont be afraid to buy vintage....buy the dealer....this is from Alex Cianni....vintage dealer out of LA.

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[Oxcart]

I really like the print ads that Rolex produced in the 50’s 60’s and 70’s. Thanks for the great post.


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[sepichan]

Hi, nice day to everyone.
I am new to the whole Rolex watch collecting. I joined to forum since I need a bit of help. Could you please help me in finding out if these are fake or real?
I am about to buy two vintage Rolex pocket watches for a good Deal, but Comparing them to other similar watches they look a bit different, also the rolex Logo seems weird. I researched and saw there are Fake ones out there too.
Could anyone understand if these are genuine or real ?

as to what the seller says, they both apparently for 100 years ago but still working and have been services.

[TMEwatch11]

Really incredible post....thanks for sharing

[TMEwatch11]

Very much Brilliant..thanks a lot for sharing

[E16520kimm]

Wow! What a great post. Thank you and bravo


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[Xabier]

Hi people,
Not sure if this is the rigth area to post this, but just after some advise.

I bought a Rolex Explorer 16550 (1985) a long while back and thinking of selling it. The problem I have is a can't figure out the value of it due to a few things. Service Parts and a few of them!

The watch has service Case, Bezel, hands and Swiss Only dial. I'm just after some advice as to how much this would affect price or a price range that it would sit in so I can decide if it's worth selling. I'm a bit dubious to vist a dealer as I know they will low ball me all day long.

Thanks in advance.

[TMEwatch11]

Awesome, thanks for sharing

[SigmaMade]

Actually read this post on your website and this helped a lot in my first purchase.

[frank4242]

Fantastic..thanks for sharing.

[The Thomas J]

Originally Posted by Xabier

Hi people,
Not sure if this is the rigth area to post this, but just after some advise.

I bought a Rolex Explorer 16550 (1985) a long while back and thinking of selling it. The problem I have is a can't figure out the value of it due to a few things. Service Parts and a few of them!

The watch has service Case, Bezel, hands and Swiss Only dial. I'm just after some advice as to how much this would affect price or a price range that it would sit in so I can decide if it's worth selling. I'm a bit dubious to vist a dealer as I know they will low ball me all day long.

Thanks in advance.

It's not all orginal so it takes a big hit on resale. The movent is probably the most valuable piece.

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