Newly restored OPD

[jwrosenthal]

Greetings guys, cross posting this at WUS as well but figured it was my inaugural ball so sharing with the world.

I’m new to the group but have been a Rolex owner for almost 2 decades, bought my 16750 back when they were just an old Rolex with those tacky colors.
I recently came into a 1978 Oyster Perpetual Date from a work colleague who realized I was into watches when he walked by my desk while I was surfing watch .... on my computer. He said he got this “old Rolex” from his father-in-law back in the 90’s and wore the hell out of it, then threw it in a box. I had no clue what he had but said I would love to see it. It was rough-on an aftermarket jubilee and looked like he had done construction, strip mining, or irrigation trenching while wearing it. We worked out a trade for things I had that he was into (we have a mutual vintage hi-if habit) and the watch was mine!

I brought it to a close friend of mine who is also a watch hobbiest but has far more skills than I do and we began the assessment. Case back was dented and pounded out by the last watchmaker that was in it, crystal was scratched to hell and had a chip, second hand was corroded and there was a film under the crystal, specles on the dial and chunky funk on all the indices. The bright side was that watch had been serviced within the last 2 decades and it was keeping time within COCS. So we began the parts acquisition, all new seals, second hand, case back, factory bracelet, and my friend went to his magic...and this is the results.

All of the funk under the crystal cleaned up. Luckily the debris on the dial and indices all cleaned up with a swab and left no trace.
I am truly smitten with this watch. After years of wearing larger more complicated watches there is an absolute charm in this watch’s simplicty. It’s elegant and sporty and wears more comfortably than 90% of my watches, by far more balanced on the wrist than my GMT. I thought at 34mm it would feel small but it wears much larger than its size as it’s a chunky thing and perfectly proportioned. Rolex really nailed it with this thing which explains why there has been a variation on this model in their catalog for 70 years.
The moral of the story is don’t minimize your watch .... screen when people walk by- you may miss an opportunity to get a conversation started.
James

[Woody]

That looks great - superb job. Hope you enjoy it for many years to come.

[DhillonUK]

Impressive handling by your watch guy, looks great

[BisonHead]

That looks really great. Brought an old battered watch back to life, well done. Enjoy it and wear it well.

[jwrosenthal]

He really did an amazing job. The haze under the crystal and on the dial/hands/indices wasn’t very apparent but just made everything look kind of dull and lifeless. He is incredibly methodical and rarely takes risks so I was comfortable he would be as minimally invasive as possible and the work paid off.