Rolex 6238- A Study of Dial Variations

[descartes]

I am a huge fan of the Rolex 6238, the so-called "Pre-Daytona."  For me, it is one of the most beautiful Rolex references, which evokes the coolness of a gentleman/sportsman of the mid-1960s.  

I've noticed 3 dial variations in the tachymeter scale-- One which measures the units by "Mile", one which uses the "Base" measurement and one which has no reference term at all. Mine uses the "Mile" measurement, which I believe to be the least common, so I've always wondered about this.  One article I read (which I had to translate from the Italian) suggested that the "Mile" dial variant of the 6238 dials was produced later as a service dial. However, the statement was merely conclusory with no empirical study or evidence. So, I felt a bit of scholarship was appropriate here to confirm the reality and I have concluded that the "Mile" dial variation was used only for a very brief period of time, and quite early in the production run.

I reached this conclusion by looking at as many examples as I could find, primarily sourced from the auction results compiled by Collector Square (Christies, Sotheby's, Antiquorum, Artcurial etc.). The auction results I reviewed dated from current era all the way back to 2008.  Interestingly, every single 6238 with the "Mile" dial variation bore a serial number in the range of 1,00 (and most of those began 1,007), with only one exception (which was slightly earlier-- 976,239). All of the examples I found were silvered dialed, stainless steel watches, except for one which was black dial/stainless steel and it too was in the 1,00 serial range.  

Specifically, I located the following examples all bearing the "Mile" dial iteration:

1,000,278  
1,007,238
1,000,250 (black dial)
1,007,920
1,007,749
1,007,798
976,239

The example I own which bears the "Mile" dial variation likewise falls in the 1,00 range.

I located only one example which was in the 1,007 range (sold by Sotheby's in 5/2016) which did NOT have the "Mile" variation, but a "Base" dial variation instead.  (Perhaps this was a transitional period when the dial variation changes, or perhaps it is a later added service dial using the more widely seen "Base" variation.  

I hope the above adds a bit to the scholarship regarding the 6238, which has not (to my knowledge) seen much previous scholarship regarding dial variations (like we see concerning many vintage Rolex references (e.g. Daytona, Submariner, Explorer II, etc.).  I think this beautiful reference deserves a bit more attention, but perhaps doesn't get it because it is fairly uncommon (reportedly only about 1,000 6238 Pre-Daytona produced) so perhaps, for that reason, it is not a reference commonly studied or collected.

If anyone has a 6238 in their possession I would be interested to know about it.

Here are some photos of the watch and a close up on the dial showing the "Mile" variation.



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