My first Rolex - YM + small question re dial

[OuterSpaceGuy]

NOTE: FOR PICTURES SCROLL DOWN AND SKIP BABBLING

Hi everyone,
I am first-time Rolex owner and this is my first post on this forum. I've been a visitor for quite a while and in that time I've found a lot of useful and interesting information, not only related to Rolex and I've decided to register. Rolex was always subject of my respect, but somehow I was avoiding purchasing one. Then they released Yacht-master with grey dial and blue hand and it became my grail watch. So far I had (chronologically) Tag Heuer Link, Omega Seamaster, Zenith Chronomaster T Open 40mm, Hublot Big Bang Earl Gray 40mm, Cartier Ballon Bleu carbon adlc and vintage Longines Ultra Chron 36000 vph in red gold, always one at the time, with exception of Longines which I still have. I don't count beater watches for sport, swimming, bbq etc, like Seiko skx013, with few mods, which I still have.
It was the first time that I bought the watch at AD (excluding Tag), and It was quite a new experience for me. they even gave me a cup of coffee :D, really nice folks.
But, before you know it, they peeled off about a half of factory stickers in a blink of a second. Once I was able to react, stickers on the side of the case and clasp were removed (which I wanted to keep for a while), while stickers on lugs and bracelet were intact.
I've removed the stickers that were left because I didn't want those.
Well, It didn't bother me so much that they removed stickers (I was angrier on myself for not paying attention), but I do understand folks who have a problem with that, In fact, I agree with them. When you purchase and pay for the watch, then it is yours as is, and unless there were written or oral stipulations to the agreement prior to payment regarding stickers, then they have no right to remove them. Rolex "policy" in that case is not something that matters if it was not discussed. But this subject was already discussed on this forum before and I don't mean to raise it up again.
I am also aware of majority opinion regarding having stickers and I respect them (like wear it and enjoy it, you can't prevent signs of wear, scratches etc), but I would like to have stickers for at least first year, and at least on clasp. After that signs of wear on the sides from the sleeve and on the clasp from holding a hand on the desk etc will be more bearable for me. Please keep in mind that I speak only for myself, and it is not something that I can change my mind about since it is not the matter of an opinion, but a feeling.
Regarding the watch - simply WOW. That whiteness of polished stainless steel is something I didn't see before, probably because of 904L. Details and finish are so well blended together and everything on this watch is sooo damn balanced. To be honest, it gives me the feeling I've never had before. I felt the same while wearing submariner that my friend gave it to me for two weeks (he knows my OCD will turn on while wearing someone else's watch). In fact, because of wearing submariner for two weeks I made my final decision - please shut up and take my kidney! I think that the submariner is even more balanced watch because of those larger bezel numbers on yacht-master, but on the other hand yacht-master is for me a lot more wearable watch, since it fits my smaller wrist a lot better and generally look more elegant due to thickness and smaller lugs.
I have an opinion that a lot of Rolex buyers are people who are not particularly interested in watches nor do they know much about them, but want to have a beautiful and quality watch but also a luxury piece of the status symbol on their wrist with letters ROLEX on it, one of the strongest and most recognizable brands in the world. I am not saying this as a bad thing, don't get me wrong, on the contrary, this is one of the strengths of this brand. My friend who borrowed me submariner, who is also my colleague from work, would go into the category of those mentioned. For example, he learned a lot of basic information about his watch from me, who wasn't particularly interested in Rolexes, but came across this information while surfing and exploring watches generally. For example, he didn't know that the bezel insert was ceramic and that he can adjust the strap on the clasp. I showed him also where the serial number is on chapter ring and explained him roughly about 904L steel that Rolex use. He was very very pleased to hear that rings around the lumes and hands are white gold - made him very happy lol. When he was giving me the watch, he told me to go to AD to remove one link to fit my wrist. I watched at him and only then realized he doesn't know that you can simply adjust the strap on the clasp, was funny a bit. But on the other hand I can see how much he enjoys his watch, how he looks at it on his wrist and treats it with great respect. For him, there really was no other option - and that is the strength of Rolex, among a lot of other things.
I include few pictures of this new arrival ;)

I have a question though - can anybody confirm what material is the dial. Somehow I didn't find reliable information, except one comment on youtube which said that the dial is Rhodium.
Well, is it real thin plate of Rhodium, or is it rhodium plated or it has only "dark rhodium" color?
Thank all!

[strato]

This should be dark rhodium

[Shakini]

Watch looks great - congratulations!

Small question about the bezel - my mate has one and his bezel is a lot less shiny than yours... and perhaps a little darker. Have they changed the material used?

Also, is it the picture or does the colour of the seconds hand not match the font on the dial?

[OuterSpaceGuy]

Originally Posted by Shakini

Watch looks great - congratulations!

Small question about the bezel - my mate has one and his bezel is a lot less shiny than yours... and perhaps a little darker. Have they changed the material used?

Also, is it the picture or does the colour of the seconds hand not match the font on the dial?

Hi,
the bezel is stocked, the pic were taken on the day I picked it up from ad, I did not change it. Well, I think it is supposed to shine a lot, it's platinum :)

The colour on seconds hand - yes, it looks different under some angles and various lightning. Although, by looking at it in person, I think that the color is the same, but appears a bit darker on the dial on some occasions. That is probably due to the darker base, and since it is a very thin layer of paint, it sometimes appears darker, whilst the base of the seconds hand was lighter and/or maybe it was applied in a thicker layer so the color came out a bit lighter

[andrewjb88]

What a lovely watch! personally for me I love the blue but the Bezel needs some colour/black on it.

wear it in good health.

[OuterSpaceGuy]

Thanks a lot :)