1803 dial...factory or aftermarket?

[Tim_HKG]

Personally I think the diamonds were aftermarket but the seller said they're factory. Any expertized idea?

[southtexas]

Is it a Stella dial? You should run a search over at VRF in the sale section, dial archive, and general forum, see if you can find some other examples.

[Haywood_Milton]

What do you think of the quality of the alignment of the diamonds? Go round the dial looking at the setting of each stone in relation to the chapter ring hour markers. Consistent, or not? Picture not the best quality for best assessment but that much is clear.

BTW, genuine Rolex dials did have diamonds fitted into them later by third parties, not Rolex, decades ago.

While on the subject, look at a modern Day-Date diamond dial. The diamonds either side of the DAY window are forced out of true alignment with their corresponding hour markers. Very different from what we have seen in the dial posted, but a peculiarity which is hard to ignore once you have spotted it.

With kind regards,

Haywood Milton

[dysondiver]

take a close look at the alignment between the day window , and the location of the diamonds ,,, then look closely at both rolex originals , and aftermarket added stones ,,, and imagine where the stick markers fixing holes would be.
thats what i use as a quick guide.

[Tim_HKG]

Yes, that's why I personally think the diamonds were added aftermarket when I found the alignment of the diamonds were poorly located and different to that of the original one I've seen before.

Just because to some extent I do like the dial, for security purpose, to ask such a question before going into it. Anyhow, that poor aftermarket craftsmanship really ruins the dial!

Thanks for the explanations!

[MonBK]

Aftermarket with poorly fitted diamonds.

[crowncollection]

Not original with that setting, bezel is also incorrect