Help identify stolen Rolex model

[Mercutio]

Dear Rolex Experts,

I‘m afraid a friend of mine had his Rolex stolen from him, which has tremendous emotional value, and now needs to be reported to both the police and the insurance company. As always with these things, only when you become a victim of a robbery you realize that you don‘t have the data you need readily available, save any decent pictures. Could any of the super experts here help identifying the specific vintage model from what I’m afraid is a really challenging picture?



Thank you very much for your kind help in advance - this was all terribly upsetting.

[Dan S]

We can certainly guess. But I doubt that the model can be determined from that photo at a level of certainty required for a police/insurance report. Perhaps he remembers if it is gold or stainless, in which case he can report that a "gold gent's Rolex on a leather strap" was stolen. Without a special rider, the upper limit on a claim for jewelry/watches is generally pretty low anyway. For me, it would be less than my deductible.

[TimeToGo]

.
Definitely try to locate information from where it was purchased, taken to a watchmaker, etc.

[Mercutio]

Thank you for your help so far! I understand it’s been an inheritance, so specific data hard to come by now. The specifics for the police report are rather serving for them to check pawn shops etc. the watch was part of a larger theft regrettably. I was hoping against hope that someone may be able to point towards what model this could have been, at any rate, the emotional factor is the much bigger aspect anyway :-/. Appreciate any help or guidance that could come out of this thread, despite the odds.

[KatGirl]

It’s hard to tell from that pic, but it looks like it might be a 50’s Oyster Perpetual, perhaps a 6564.



Something along these lines. Ask him if there were any numerals on it, or all markers. I own a very similar piece. Mine has all markers. This pic is from eBay. You might troll eBay, by searching Vintage Rolex Oyster Perpetual and look for one the most similar to your friend’s watch. His looks like it may not have any numerals. It’s a 34 mm piece, and worth between $2,000 and $3,000.

Kat


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[Mercutio]

Originally Posted by KatGirl

It’s hard to tell from that pic, but it looks like it might be a 50’s Oyster Perpetual, perhaps a 6564.



Something along these lines. Ask him if there were any numerals on it, or all markers. I own a very similar piece. Mine has all markers. This pic is from eBay. You might troll eBay, by searching Vintage Rolex Oyster Perpetual and look for one the most similar to your friend’s watch. His looks like it may not have any numerals. It’s a 34 mm piece, and worth between $2,000 and $3,000.

Kat


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Kat, you are such a star! I believe we’re getting closer to narrowing down what model the watch could be, and you provided the starting point! Could have been a Oyster Perpetual 1500 Date with a manual winding caliber; currently seeking to verify this further. Thank you for taking the time to help with your expertise!

[Dan S]

Oyster Perpetual is not manual winding. Perpetual means automatic. I’m sorry but there are probably a dozen references that would be consistent with that photo and without more information it will be guesswork. It would be helpful if you could provide some information such as size, hand winding or automatic, date or no date, year of purchase. Even so, I personally would not be comfortable giving information to the police that was based on speculation. I would tell them only what I knew for certain and would not lie or speculate.

[INC]

What is your friend's wrist size? This might help at least in determining at least the size, because the image has a good enough resolution for that.

To me, for example, this watch looks like very small, especially because of the crown/case ratio.

[Mercutio]

Most vexing - thank you very much for clarifying that a perpetual is off the cards; it seems we need to do more digging. It so unbelievably annoying - the watch itself will only have very limited financial upside to the thief, but the hassle and the emotional loss are significant :-/

[Go675]

There must be a plethora of vintage Rolex photographs on this forum - could you point your friend here and he could have a search?

Appreciate they will be dealing with a lot given what's happened, but if they are determined to provide information then what better source than their own memory of what it looks like?

I know you're trying to help, but I'd suggest that information flowing from you to the forum and to your friend introduces an additional step in an already difficult process.

I hope your friend gets all their items back.

[brandrea]

Sorry to hear that and I hope they recover it somehow.

[1William]

There is a difference between a robbery, use of a weapon to take an item, and a larceny, the taking of an item. The item is still gone but a robbery with a weapon is much more difficult to deal with, for me. Sorry it is gone and good luck to your friend in recovering the watch.

[0nly5iv3Digits]

I'm confused. Your friend doesn't know what watch he owned?

[Kingface66]

Originally Posted by 0nly5iv3Digits

I'm confused. Your friend doesn't know what watch he owned?

I get what you’re saying. That said, I have a friend who has been wearing his dad’s watch for years. One day he texted and asked if I knew of place he could get it serviced (“fixed” as he put it). I said, sure, and asked what model it is and from what year. Beyond it being a Rolex, he had no idea. No idea how to remove the bracelet. And no idea where the serial number would be. It was simply, “dad’s old watch”. He loved it for that reason alone.
I think, quite often, non-watch people truly don’t know what the hand-me-downs are that they’re wearing.

[0nly5iv3Digits]

Originally Posted by Kingface66

I get what you’re saying. That said, I have a friend who has been wearing his dad’s watch for years. One day he texted and asked if I knew of place he could get it serviced (“fixed” as he put it). I said, sure, and asked what model it is and from what year. Beyond it being a Rolex, he had no idea. No idea how to remove the bracelet. And no idea where the serial number would be. It was simply, “dad’s old watch”. He loved it for that reason alone.
I think, quite often, non-watch people truly don’t know what the hand-me-downs are that they’re wearing.

The only plausible explanation, certainly

[77T]

Maybe there is a better way for your friend to go about this.

Only he will recognize the key visual elements. We can only guess.

Sit him down and do a Google search. Ask him to relate all that he can remember. Like the timeframe his family member got the watch, did it have a date, did he have to wind it every morning, what color was the dial, was the case gold or silver colored?

Then you enter some search terms:
For example, 1950 Stainless Steel Rolex with date on a leather strap.

Narrow it to only images...

Then have him start looking for his closest match. Google will even suggest reference numbers.



That will get him halfway home to filing a report. But without an identifying serial number, he won't have much luck in recovery.

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[Mercutio]

Thank you all for the helpful suggestions, and the kind words regarding the loss. To the point about not knowing which watch is, or rather was, owned - it’s been a memento that had not been serviced as it was running well without any issues. While this forum has many very savvy and knowledgeable members, there’s a not insignificant portion of people who’d reply if asked what watch they own with “a Rolex”. While we’re still having jointly a look, realization is sinking in that the piece is just gone and will not find its way back. As stated above, what is the most upsetting part is that the absolute value will likely be not too significant, but is far outweighed by the sustained damage. I remain grateful for any possible leads, thank you to all who have contributed.

[TuRo]

Average size wrist and a vista of a lot of strap ....suggests 32mm to me folks !?

[Mercutio]

Thank you very much all for helping with great ideas and guidance. With quite some digging, and following the leads provided by everyone here, we have actually managed to identify via google picture search what model was stolen - it was a ROLEX Oysterdate Precision 6694 - Silver Dial - 1978. Thank you again for the kind help and support!

[INC]

You are most welcome! I hope the cops find the thief and your friend gets his priceless watch back.