1680 Cyclops Date Appearance Inquiry

[cemeabeme]

Hi, All:

I recently purchased a 1680 and was wondering why the vintage Rolexes dates appear so much larger than Circa 90’s and 2000’s Rolex cyclops dates?

Is it due to acrylic crystals used on vintage rolexes? Or does it have anything to do w/AR coating?

Just wondering. Though I now certainly prefer the look of “enlarged” dates on vintage rolexes.

I’ve attached some basic (and not the best) iPhone photos of 1680 acrylic vs. 16710 sapphire (Y serial on jubilee).

Thanks!

[77T]

Originally Posted by cemeabeme

Is it due to acrylic crystals used on vintage rolexes? Or does it have anything to do w/AR coating?

It is partially due to the acrylic crystal - the greater magnification is due to the height of the cyclops on an acrylic crystal above the plane of the date wheel. This is especially true in the sports models with greater than 3ATM water resistance. The acrylic has to be thicker to withstand the pressure - thus the cyclops is even higher on a Sub than a DJ.

There is no A/R involved on the acrylic crystals. And any A/R under some sapphire crystal cyclops doesn’t affect the magnification on those.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[springer]

Some of the sapphire crystals from your photos appear to have aftermarket crystals - they do not appear to have the proper 2 1/2 magnification which factory acrylic and sapphire Rolex crystals will exhibit.

[cemeabeme]

@77T: Thank you very much for the feedback.

@springer: Rolex performed an overall 5 years ago on the GMT sapphire and it did not note that the crystal was aftermarket. Perhaps it’s the angle of the photo or lighting why the sapphire appears aftermarket in the photos. Also, the gmt II is the same watch in each photo

Thanks for your reply as well. Though I’m curious why the photos appear to show the sapphire as an aftermarket piece. Hmm?

[dbhak22]

Yes, this has been discussed quite a bit here on the forum (you can do a search if you want to do some reading). But essentially, the mag levels have seem to be coming down as time has passed...here's one thread discussing this and a picture I posted in that thread for comparison:

THREAD: https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=457138

[cemeabeme]

Originally Posted by dbhak22

Yes, this has been discussed quite a bit here on the forum (you can do a search if you want to do some reading). But essentially, the mag levels have seem to be coming down as time has passed...here's one thread discussing this and a picture I posted in that thread for comparison:

THREAD: https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=457138

@dbhak22: Thank you.