I need opinions on my recently purchased 16600

[vincent00369]

Hey all,

I'm a member but have been a lurker for a while now.

I have recently purchased a 1995 W serial 16600 around the end of January, as a celebration for a milestone in my life. I purchased the watch in Hong Kong from a trusted dealer and it was at a okay price of around 9000USD give or take (full set and the watch is in fantastic shape and condition). During the transaction the watch looked fine and it was naive of me to expect everything to be original (tritium hands and dials etc) and I didn't question further.

However, on the night that the watch was purchased, I noticed that the hands glowed green but the dial did not and just about 2 days ago, I noticed the watch had a laser etched crown on the crystal at the 6 o'clock area.

I messaged the seller on two separate occasion about these serviced parts of the watch and in his defense apparently it is a given rule in Hong Kong Rolex second hand community to not disclosed that the watch has been frankenserviced, which I think is absolutely ridiculous. I am currently based in Sydney now and I won't have the chance to back to Hong Kong for a while, so in a sense I am stuck with the watch for the good part of 2020 now because I left the box and papers in my Hong Kong home.

I just wanted to get the community's opinion on various things and please teach me a few things when it comes to older/neo vintage Rolexes, as this is my first older/neo vintage Rolex and it's been leaving a bitter taste in my mouth with regards to this side of the hobby

1. Am I stressing over nothing? As tritium hands I've read has been known to give out and an serviced exchange from RSC is inevitable, so even if I have bought a watch with original hands, they'd have to be exchanged eventually

2. The seller also claims that changing the crystal on a old watch is very common and RSC forces it onto customers when the watch is getting serviced and that I shouldn't stress about it too much

3. Should I sell it and what kind of price drop/loss should I be expecting?

Sorry for the wall of text but I just hate that the fact some minute detail on the watch is affecting me this much. I'm a relatively young guy and to spend this kind of money on a watch I don't really like just blows.

Thank you for reading and responding!

68825E89-BDC9-42E0-8603-B0CA008A2E91.JPG

[dricig]

I would say that the fact that it had a service is a good thing.

[vincent00369]

Am I stressing over nothing?

As the point I have made above, tritium hands I've read has been known to give out and an serviced exchange from RSC is inevitable, so even if I have bought a watch with original hands, they'd have to be exchanged eventually.

[Jackie Daytona]

Doesn’t seem like a huge deal to me unless you were really going for an all original parts example. The fact it’s been serviced and someone invested in fixing it up correctly and caring for it through the years seems like a good thing to me. It looks great overall from the pic.

I may be mistaken, but if I remember correctly I recall hearing something about Rolex is very picky about scratch tolerance on SD models due to the amount of pressure they were meant to withstand when new. I might just be making stuff up, but I recall something along those lines, so they probably pushed one of the previous owners a bit for replacement of the crystal whenever they had it.

Just nice it was serviced with authentic parts rather that frankensteined with non authentic stuff.

Seems nice to me overall.

[ras47]

I had my 16710 GMT Master II serviced and happily replaced the hands and dial. There was little to no lume left and I like strong lume. The hell with "original parts." I'm wearing this GMT and I want it fresh and minty, not aged and patina-ed.

As long as the service parts are correct for the model I'd say it's more than fine. It's preferable.

[tquieng]

I would take it to Rolex service center and have them check out everything. Open the watch back and see if is all good. Sometimes these watch could have been damaged ie crystal crack etc and changed it for a new one.

[Mick006]

Watch looks great and it’s an awesome reference.

As long as you aren’t into the all original vintage collector thing, I say no problem.

[kegan]

Nice 16600 you have there. I wouldn’t worry about any of those concerns personally

[Rori]

Originally Posted by vincent00369

Hey all,



I'm a member but have been a lurker for a while now.



I have recently purchased a 1995 W serial 16600 around the end of January, as a celebration for a milestone in my life. I purchased the watch in Hong Kong from a trusted dealer and it was at a okay price of around 9000USD give or take (full set and the watch is in fantastic shape and condition). During the transaction the watch looked fine and it was naive of me to expect everything to be original (tritium hands and dials etc) and I didn't question further.



However, on the night that the watch was purchased, I noticed that the hands glowed green but the dial did not and just about 2 days ago, I noticed the watch had a laser etched crown on the crystal at the 6 o'clock area.



I messaged the seller on two separate occasion about these serviced parts of the watch and in his defense apparently it is a given rule in Hong Kong Rolex second hand community to not disclosed that the watch has been frankenserviced, which I think is absolutely ridiculous. I am currently based in Sydney now and I won't have the chance to back to Hong Kong for a while, so in a sense I am stuck with the watch for the good part of 2020 now because I left the box and papers in my Hong Kong home.



I just wanted to get the community's opinion on various things and please teach me a few things when it comes to older/neo vintage Rolexes, as this is my first older/neo vintage Rolex and it's been leaving a bitter taste in my mouth with regards to this side of the hobby



1. Am I stressing over nothing? As tritium hands I've read has been known to give out and an serviced exchange from RSC is inevitable, so even if I have bought a watch with original hands, they'd have to be exchanged eventually



2. The seller also claims that changing the crystal on a old watch is very common and RSC forces it onto customers when the watch is getting serviced and that I shouldn't stress about it too much



3. Should I sell it and what kind of price drop/loss should I be expecting?



Sorry for the wall of text but I just hate that the fact some minute detail on the watch is affecting me this much. I'm a relatively young guy and to spend this kind of money on a watch I don't really like just blows.



Thank you for reading and responding!



Attachment 1112435

I would send a vintage watch to a service center anyways and right after purchase.
I would do so just to have extra peace of mind and make sure watch gets all it needs to be worn for the next 5 years or so.
I would not worry about parts being replaced with new ones though, all the opposite, that’s a good thing .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[vincent00369]

Hey all thank you for all the replies, the comments really opened up my mind and I am slowly developing a different attitude towards the watch!

Here are a few more updated pictures of it, I put a leather strap on it and went hiking with it yesterday and it looked beautiful!

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[vincent00369]

Trying upload a few updated pictures of my watch but I am not very good with the format of the forum

6587CA56-1584-420F-ADA6-246454DA7740.JPG

IMG_0723.jpg

IMG_0724.jpg

IMG_0725.jpg

[strafer_kid]

Originally Posted by dricig

I would say that the fact that it had a service is a good thing.

Certainly if it was done at RSC - 16600 is a great watch in any event!