Bracelet Identification

[HaleL]

Can anyone point me in the right direction on this bracelet?
It came on a 16013 but I believe this bracelet is older or from a different model?

Any advice on stretch repair on the east
coast USA appreciated as well

Thanks.




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[TimeLord2]

It is an American made oval link bracelet that looks to be in quite good condition, especially the clasp crown. I have this same bracelet on my 1675/3 GMT. In the 60s and early 70s if you purchased your watch in the United States it might come with one of these bracelets and they put them on many different models. As your 16013 was introduced around 1978, the bracelet was probably purchased at a later date. It probably originally came with a 62523H Swiss made bracelet.

As i have read on this forum, during the late 60s early 70s Rolex saved on import duties by sending the watch head separately so it could be sent as parts rather than a finished product. Third party manufacturers in the states like C & I, LB, and such made bracelets in the states to attach. End links for these bracelets typically do not have any numbers stamped on them either but if they do it is a 50. Try Rolliworks, now located in Florida, for renovation of your bracelet, they did mine a few years ago. Show some pics of the rest of the watch, would love to see it!

[HaleL]

Originally Posted by TimeLord2

It is an American made oval link bracelet that looks to be in quite good condition, especially the clasp crown. I have this same bracelet on my 1675/3 GMT. In the 60s and early 70s if you purchased your watch in the United States it might come with one of these bracelets and they put them on many different models. As your 16013 was introduced around 1978, the bracelet was probably purchased at a later date. It probably originally came with a 62523H Swiss made bracelet.

As i have read on this forum, during the late 60s early 70s Rolex saved on import duties by sending the watch head separately so it could be sent as parts rather than a finished product. Third party manufacturers in the states like C & I, LB, and such made bracelets in the states to attach. End links for these bracelets typically do not have any numbers stamped on them either but if they do it is a 50. Try Rolliworks, now located in Florida, for renovation of your bracelet, they did mine a few years ago. Show some pics of the rest of the watch, would love to see it!

You are the man!! This is my first Rolex and first vintage watch and this was a great read.






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[southtexas]

In my opinion, those bracelets are the most comfortable (vintage) style made. They don’t seem to get the respect other ones do (prevailing opinion I’ve noticed is they wear out very rapidly), but they are comfortable.


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[Dan S]

I agree those are great bracelets and worth restoring.

[TimeLord2]

That is a beautiful watch! Yes, I agree this bracelet is very comfortable, not a hair puller at all. They also typically wear a little looser I think as a result of the oval geometry and are more flexible. As I said, yours does look to be in very good condition. I would just clean it real well and wear it as is for a while.

BTW, the end links on mine never fit very well. The ones on yours look to flop around about the same. I did replace the end links with some I purchase off of EBAY for a Swiss bracelet. As the American made end links do not have a metal tube (spring bar retaining tube) inside the end link, they tend to flop around. The end links I did buy have a tube and it make them fit tight against the watch head. I believe for your watch, those would be 455 J end links. Those would go a long way towards tightening the bracelet in general. Here are some I saw on EBAY just now, you can see the tube inside the end links that the spring bar passes through on a few of the pics. https://www.ebay.com/itm/185377375771

That said, many people on this forum would consider that a bastardization of your watch. For myself, quite happy I did it as the bracelet fits so much better now!! I kept the originals… I did ask the forum about placing 455s on my GMT only because they were so much less expensive than the 450s that fit my GMT, like a 1/4 of the price. I did eventually find some 450s in the end but here is the 455 conversation, and now you will see why i said your bracelet is in very good condition. https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=850316