Bezel Protectors

[illiguy]

When did Rolex start providing these? Anyone know the exact year and on which models?

[illiguy]

Bump.

Looking to potentially complete a set. Not sure when the plastic bezel protectors were first used by Rolex.

Hoping someone here might know.

Thanks!

[FrenchBigCrown]

I believe Hayward_Milton is very much the expert on there.

Maybe drop him a message?

https://www.rolexforums.com/member.php?u=14127

Good luck.

[springer]

They are not part of a set. If they did come with a watch, most dealers threw them away. These are a rather new phenomenon to "a set" with the hype started by a few collectors to promote or sell watches.

[Filipão]

TBH, only my 2016 SD4000 116600 (yes I have sinned) had one from new.

[Filipão]

@illiguy

Think you'd better ask over on the Rolex General Discussion.

We are too decrepit to know those simple facts of the modern Rolex life.

[Woody]

In my experience you start to see them with watches from the early 00s.


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[Haywood_Milton]

I've been collecting these for a while. If only I had some watches to go with them !



It is even more recently when I began to collate records showing what numbers seemed to come with which models :

8 169623 2006 (but old stock, D316xxx)
09 / 60 ? 116660 2008
20 16600 T 2003, 2006
21 14060M 2012
24 179160 2009 (but old stock, D722xxx)
25 178240 2007
25 178274 2014
26 116200 2015 x 2
26 116233 2016
26 116234 2011
26 116231 2007
34 116244 2010
34 116243 2010, 2016 (sale, but believed older).
47 116710 2008, 2010, 2014, 2015
47 116713 2012
50 114200 AK 2010, 2015
52 177200 2011, 2016
54 179163 2013
54 179160 2017
54 179161 c.2012
54 179174 2012
54 179173 2016
56 116200 2011, but seemed slightly too big for this watch
56 116000 2020
60 / 09 116660 2008
70 114060 2015
70 116613 2014 x2
70 116610LN 2012
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
N101 16520 (yes!) RUK fitted after service, 2020.
N101 116520 random
N101 116500 random 2017
N101 116523 random 2015
N101 116503 random 2018
N101 116528 fitted by RUK to 2007 watch given new bezel in 2020
N106 116655 2018
N106 116622 2019
N106 116610LV 2017
N125 178274 2017
N126 116200 2017
N126 116234 2017
N160 116660D-Blue 2017
N160 126600 2017
N160 126660 2018 x 2
N160 126603 2020
N161 116900 2016 (sturdy design?)
N169 116334 2016
N170 16710TBLRO 2006
N170 116710BLNR 2016, 2018, 2019
N170 116710LN 2016, 2018
N170 116713LN 2018
N170 126710BLRO 2018 x 2
N170 126710BLNR 2019 x 2
N170 114060 2018 x 2
N170 116610LV 2016, 2019
N170 116610LN 2019
N170 116618LB 2015
N184 178383 2014
N184 177200 2018
N188 326934 2019 x 2
N188 326933 2017
N202 50529 Cellini 2018
N215 268622 YM37 2018, 2020
N225 116900 2018, 2019
N225 126334 2017


There are some other charts available if you root around the internet, but these are ones I have recorded personally. The hundreds in those piles are mostly labelled up but I haven't had the time to copy that information into this chart, nor am I likely to have.

NFS.

Insta : haywood_milton_rolex

[Idaho]

Wow. Interesting. Thanks

[77T]

Originally Posted by Haywood_Milton

I've been collecting these for a while. If only I had some watches to go with them !

Impressive - aren’t you concerned they might get swirls or scuffs by jangling together like that?

Just kidding of course.

Please correct me if I am misinformed - I believe these were mated to the watch as it went into the shipping coffin from the factory.

How did the practice of retail AD’s attaching them in the presentation boxes begin?


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[Haywood_Milton]

Originally Posted by 77T

Please correct me if I am misinformed - I believe these were mated to the watch as it went into the shipping coffin from the factory.

How did the practice of retail AD’s attaching them in the presentation boxes begin?

I would imagine it began very soon after each respective AD suffered a scratched bezel when a watch was mis-handled in stock and then realised there was a way to reduce the phenomenon! In fairness, a jeweller's window is a hostile place, as diamonds are readily at hand to swipe across a bezel when clearing the displays too hastily at closing time.

A scratch on an Explorer II or Daytona bezel is a common headache, but it can happen to many models.