5 digit Day Date wood dials with factory diamonds?

[southtexas]

Does anyone recall a thread here with examples of wood dials with factory diamonds set? I swore I’ve seen a thread, but I’ve searched around and can’t find much of anything to compare. Thanks in advance.

[miamiclay]

Iirc, I’ve only seen them with string diamonds on OQ DDs
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[carwashchris]

Mertz world of time has one.

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[crowncollection]

String dial as above exists in Wood


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[Exceeder]

I’ve seen wood with 1 diamond at each hour

[miamiclay]

Originally Posted by Exceeder

I’ve seen wood with 1 diamond at each hour

Here’s the one Chris mentioned - Idk if I’ve ever seen another like it
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[Incroyable12]

Did these ever come in WG?

[miamiclay]

Originally Posted by Incroyable12

Did these ever come in WG?

If you mean wood/diamond, I don’t think I’ve seen any wood/diamond DD dials in white gold, whether OQ or otherwise.

Seller is reputable, and claims that the (non-OQ) diamond dial 18038 in #6 above is a “factory wood diamond dial” (I’d guess it’s madrone burl), but I don’t recall ever seeing any others like it. Maybe David/crowncollection (or CTech, or one of the other more knowledgeable DD folks) can tell us whether it is indeed a factory original?

Here are a couple of other wood/string diamond DD dial styles (both again OQs), one a single-string and one with two-tone wood.
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[77T]

Originally Posted by miamiclay

Here’s the one Chris mentioned - Idk if I’ve ever seen another like it.

Clay, I think that is a customized dial where someone added those diamond hour markers.

Despite the camera not being 100% "on axis" with the hour/minute hands (as seen by the off-center displacement of the cyclops and the date aperture) the diamond markers are not centered between the minute track gilt hash on the chapter ring.


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[carwashchris]

Originally Posted by 77T

Clay, I think that is a customized dial where someone added those diamond hour markers.

Despite the camera not being 100% "on axis" with the hour/minute hands (as seen by the off-center displacement of the cyclops and the date aperture) the diamond markers are not centered between the minute track gilt hash on the chapter ring.


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Great catch, I believe your correct. The centering of the diamond markers seem to be off. It is what it is. Ha

Chris

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[Incroyable12]

There are some strange factory diamond dials that have surprisingly bad alignment or mounting technique especially the earlier ones.

[KY..]

Several oysterquartz wood dials
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[miamiclay]

Does anyone know whether these specific smallish batons used on regular wood DD dials have two feet or just one?
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[CTech]

Photos of ones for sale show there are two feet.

This is one of the reasons that I'm not sure that the small diamonds on the dial shown in posts #6 and #9 have been added to a genuine wooden dial, but think the whole dial might be aftermarket.

The reasoning is that it doesn't seem likely that you could remove a baton marker without any damage to the lacquer and then have a small diamond mount cover both feet holes so there is no indication of the previous installations. It might be possible to do that with baguette diamonds but I'm not convinced it can be done with the small diamond mounts.

I've not been able to do any accurate measurements on a dial to see if this is correct, but just looking at photos on the Internet makes me think that most of the diamond and wood dials for sale are all aftermarket rather than have had diamonds added to a genuine wood dial.

There seem to be always two or three diamond and wood dials for sale on ebay at any time and every one is advertised as 100% original, guaranteed genuine, etc., but as far as I know there has never been any documentation that any watch left the factory with such a dial, or that they were available as replacement dials through an AD.

You would think that with all the diamond/wood dials in circulation that somebody would be able to produce a sales receipt, service document, catalogue entry or advertisement that shows without doubt that they are genuine, but until that happens I remain skeptical of their authenticity.

Here are some photos of a 5 digit wood dial showing the position of the baton marker feet:

[ronricks]

Originally Posted by Incroyable12

There are some strange factory diamond dials that have surprisingly bad alignment or mounting technique especially the earlier ones.

Especially on the 1803’s there are some really bad factory diamond dials out there that look aftermarket but are indeed factory Rolex.

[crowncollection]

Originally Posted by Incroyable12

There are some strange factory diamond dials that have surprisingly bad alignment or mounting technique especially the earlier ones.

Correct they are not perfect.
But as stated above personally I have seen the string only in documents/or in person.

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[Incroyable12]

The printing on older aftermarket dials are often bad compared to the recent ones. Some of the best new aftermarket stone dials are almost indistinguishable from factory ones.

These wooden ones all seem to have rather convincing text.

[miamiclay]

Originally Posted by CTech

[I]t doesn’t seem likely that you could remove a baton marker without any damage to the lacquer and then have a small diamond mount cover both feet holes so there is no indication of the previous installations.

(Unsurprisingly,) CTech has homed in on the precise reason for my question about the baton feet, and I broadly agree with his reasoning. In addition, the occasional (non-string) wood/diamond DD dials all seem a bit nonstandard in one way or another, and most often they are unique - That is, we frequently see only one example of each type.

They may all be 100% aftermarket, or some may have had diamonds added to genuine wood dials, but for me, that would amount to a distinction without a difference - Pending further evidence, I’d assume none are factory original. (Were RSC to service, e.g., the Meertz 10-diamond example without objecting to the dial, I’d feel less certain, but idk if that alone would change my mind.)

[foxytimes]

I cannot help with the authentication or proof of modification. Meertz generally is known as a reputable seller but last time I was in Munich they wanted to sell me a Tridor in disappointing interior condition. So I'm not sure anymore if they check thoroughly what they are selling.

From a personal view I find it suboptimal to have a dial that looks off somehow although wood or stone dials are unique and rightfully so. The same applies imho to serti dials where some gems have quality issues in color or brillance.