Mid 80's Day-Date - mystery minimalist dial

[DDay]

Hi Everyone,
This is my first post so sorry if I am in the wrong space as mid-80's is perhaps not exactly vintage. I have a gold, black onyx date-just from my father who pasted last year. What is unusual is it has the Crown and word Rolex on the dial only. None of the other verbiage, and T SWISS? at the 6 o'clock.

Is this an albatross? Did a minimalist branding dial in '84-85' exist, or did the jeweller do something to remove other text (oyster perpetual day-date and superlative chronometer, officially certified)?

My father also had a diamond bezel instead of the fluted, which according to the serial no. it ought to have. It is with the Rolex dealer now and they say that if any part is not original Rolex, I have to replace it or no service.

it is the dial that I am most curious about because this might be some rare select few dials which actually makes it very interesting. I do dig that it is ultra minimalist even though my father may have had the jeweller add the diamond bling. (file image too big to post)

[Incroyable12]

It's most likely an aftermarket dial.

[miamiclay]

You’re in the right place, welcome!

We definitely need to see photos, but I’m not aware of any DDs which have *all* the text but Rolex absent. E.g., even the “plaque” dials have at least “Day-Date” remaining on the dial, and khanjar dials retain at least the text above the center.

Plenty of free apps will compress your photos to allow them to be uploaded. Just use “Post Reply,” then hit the paper clip. The file must not exceed 1250x1250 pixels or be larger than 193.5KB, but that’s plenty big enough.

[Dan S]

You will need to resize the photo so that you can post it. It will be impossible for us to comment without seeing the dial.

[crowncollection]

Doesn’t sound good, need pics


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[miamiclay]

By the way, even though the reference number may not indicate it originally had a diamond bezel, it could still be a factory bezel. Rolex dealers in the 80s were encouraged to upsell factory diamond bezels for existing watches. See this thread for more on the diamond bezels.

Also, if Rolex declines to service it with an aftermarket dial and you want to keep the onyx dial, you can decline the factory service and just have it serviced by an independent shop instead.