Milgauss 1019

[edhahn44]

Happy New Year.
I'm after a 1019 for some months and it seems to be quite a challenge to find both a structured summary of the different variants of the reference (hands, lume plots, movement, second markers, etc.) and a decent (largely) untouched example of the reference.

I've found a very late example (~ 1987), which ticks a lot of boxes for me and I wonder if the experts of the reference can chime in to give their view of the period correctness and quality of the watch.

[No better pics available so far]



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[Dan S]

I think you are going to get a lot of comments about the photos. One has to ask oneself why the seller would post such shockingly poor photos when trying to sell a 5-figure watch on Chrono24.

[TuRo]

Hny. Get a better photos perhaps. Check all the dial spacing with this one.

https://bulangandsons.com/products/r...full-set-w1588

[1675-David]

I would love to own one of these!

[edhahn44]

Originally Posted by Dan S

I think you are going to get a lot of comments about the photos. One has to ask oneself why the seller would post such shockingly poor photos when trying to sell a 5-figure watch on Chrono24.

Many thanks. Received some more pictures, which I’ll attach. Flag for me are the lug whole that seem quite flattered although also on NOS examples the lug holes seem relatively large vs cases of other references.






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[MrBlobby]

Those lume dots look different from the example in the Bulang and Son link. Too blobby? Maybe fine?

Are there any online articles about 1019 dial variations?

[CTech]

There were many variations in the dial during the long production run of the 1019 Milgauss, and unfortunately there isn't a lot of information about each variation available in the usual Internet reference sources.

Some of the variations are in the placement of the lume dots where some had a semi-circular dot adjacent to the markers, others had square dots and others had a full circular dot slightly outboard of the marker.

There were other changes too, as early dials had quarter second lines on the chapter ring whereas later dials had half second lines, and I think there were also changes in the shape and spacing of some dial letters, possibly in the R or O of the ROLEX script at the top of the dial.

It's difficult to know whether any particular dial is correct and original as there hasn't been the same amount of research and investigation on the 1019 as has happened with all the different GMT-Master, Cosmograph or Submariner dial variations.

The best way to authenticate the OP's dial is to find as many examples of 1019s as possible, try and classify them in terms of lume dot position and shape and then compare every detail of the OP's dial with at least 2 or 3 others of the same type.

Zapokee has a 1019 and he has posted some photographs so that would also be a good reference and I think there have been a few other members who have posted photographs of theirs, so a forum search might produce more examples.

Mine has the square lume dot dial variation so it isn't of much use for comparison with the OP's dial, but I'm happy to provide some photos if needed.

Looking in more general terms with the OP watch, there seems to be something wrong with the springbar protrusion. It could be that the wrong springbars have been used but it might be worth checking to see if the case has been overpolished.

[CTech]

I forgot to mention the dials with no lume dots, the variation now known as the CERN dial, and the associated hands with the black paint.

There were at least two variations in hand design as well, one an upside down V shape where you can see a central line (as on the OP's watch) and another flat design with no central line (as on the Bulang link from TuRo).

[MrBlobby]

That’s really interesting. I found a 1019 on chrono24 with separate round lume plots covering the minute track but that also looks different to me. The lume plots look more refined.

https://www.chrono24.co.uk/rolex/rol...id26065667.htm

[CTech]

Originally Posted by MrBlobby

That’s really interesting. I found a 1019 on chrono24 with separate round lume plots covering the minute track but that also looks different to me. The lume plots look more refined.

https://www.chrono24.co.uk/rolex/rol...id26065667.htm

That's a fifth second dial with outboard circular lume plots, and it looks to be an original, but whether it can be used a as a reference for the OP's half second dial is questionable as there are a lot of detail differences between the two.

The fifth second dial has a hyphen between Oyster and Perpetual and the shape of the O in Rolex is thick on the sides/thin on the top and bottom. The half second dial has no hyphen and the O has a more even thickness all the way round.

There are probably a lot more detail differences in letter spacing and font but without rigorous examination and cataloguing we probably will never know all the subtleties of 1019 dial variations.

[aapkb]

anyone would know the variant without any lume spots that isnt CERN?

[TuRo]

Not specific to Milgauss per se, but early Japanese market 37mm Daytonas had no lume plots either.

[Goochy]

Originally Posted by aapkb

anyone would know the variant without any lume spots that isnt CERN?

My guess is it’s a CERN with the hands changed.