Submariner Gold vs Steel hands

[Styles Bitchley]

My understanding is that the hands on early Subs were steel and that they eventually transitioned to gold. My assumption is when they moved to gold surround hour markers, but I can't find any info about this via my usual google research. Can anyone tell me when they made this change and how to tell the difference?

[Styles Bitchley]

So is this a dumb question or do people actually not know?

[roh123]

Originally Posted by Styles Bitchley

So is this a dumb question or do people actually not know?

You need to elaborate. Are you speaking about 50’s and 60’s gilt hands or much later things?

[Tools]

Originally Posted by Styles Bitchley

So is this a dumb question or do people actually not know?

The change was made in the 70's during the "Sigma Dial" era.

For a several year period the gold dials were marked with the sigma which looks a bit like an "o" on each side of the Swiss at the bottom. Steel hands and indices if they had them were marked with a "-". These markings were dropped when Rolex went to all gold surrounds and hands.

[Styles Bitchley]

Thanks very much. That’s helpful. I guess I’m interested in the progression, which I guess is gilt then steel then gold? So if one had service hands installed on an early’70s watch in the late 80s, for example, the hands would be gold and not steel?