Rolex Day-Date 18038 Stella dial?

[Nono01]

Greetings guys.

I need a bit of your help. So an acquaintance of mine asked me if I would be interested in this Rolex Day-Date 18038 with a possible Stella dial.
The watch is from 1978, 36mm yellow gold with President bracelet and Cal. 3055. Serial number is in 5XXXXXX range

Since I'm no expert on these, I thought I to share with you some photos. Can you tell me if there are any discrepancies in the movement, case or bracelet? Actually, the thing I'm most curious about is the dial, is it really a Stella dial or there is no way to tell except by taking a photo from the back of the dial?

Here are some pictures

[TimeToGo]

Is it been offered to you as a stella dial ?!

What do you think of the printing quality?

[oysterfisher]

Is it the one from this dealer? It was up for sale several times by different dealers. I cant find the oldest listings, but I think the dealer claimed it as a genuine dial.


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rolex-Day...p2047675.l2557

[Nono01]

Yes, it seems it is. First time I'm seeing this listing, I got these images from the first post on my phone

[TimeToGo]

In looking at your 5th picture down, on the close up, the writing looked distorted.

[miamiclay]

I’m not a Stella expert (and not sure here what are photo artifacts versus printing issues), but I believe that is not a factory Stella dial. Clear macro pics of the text and the day/date windows would help.

[indianmachine]

[deleted] erroneous post

[oysterfisher]

After digging around, I found a watchdealer in asia, which is selling frequently "aftermarket" watches / cases of 18K gold. If you check the caseback inside engravings, they are looking quite similar to me.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CUSTOM-MA...p2047675.l2557


Furthermore I think, that there should be a reason, why someone sells a watch far cheaper than the auction finished at again on other websites.


Maybe it didnt pass the "authentification process" from eBay...

[KY..]

The date range makes sense, but it looks like a re-pop wanna be stella dial for several reasons IMO…
I would be very careful if an authentic Stella dial with an authentic Rolex watch is expected…
Why would the bracelet end links be filed so badly to fit an original from factory watch???
Google Stella dial history for more realistic comps…

[Incroyable12]

This looks like one of the Vietnamese made Stella dials where they use genuine old Rolex dials and then coat them in lacquer.

[offrdmania]

And the bracelet is garbage, probably only worth its weight in gold. All of the links have been so polished that they have holes in them. It cannot be repaired at this point without a ton of gold laser welding which would cost more than the bracelet is worth.

[miamiclay]

Originally Posted by offrdmania

All of the links have been so polished that they have holes in them.

I think those may just be reflections, as they’re not consistent among the pics.

[offrdmania]

Originally Posted by miamiclay

I think those may just be reflections, as they’re not consistent among the pics.

I see it now, the bracelet does look stretched out though. That is at least repairable.


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[77T]

The pics the OP offered lead me to suggest passing on the deal.


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[carwashchris]

Originally Posted by 77t

the pics the op offered lead me to suggest passing on the deal.


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+1