Why the different dials on Subs, Explorers, etc?

[Another Newbie]

Does anyone know why there are dial variations across watches like 5513s and 1655s? I'm talking about the little changes -- Serif, non Serif, Maxis, etc.

Was Rolex just shifting from vendor to vendor, sourcing things here and there with little concern for the minute difference we harp on today?

Or was the company introducing new variations to keep their designs fresh and to attract repurchases by current owners?

Thanks,

AN

[Swiss Mad!]

Originally Posted by Another Newbie

Does anyone know why there are dial variations across watches like 5513s and 1655s? I'm talking about the little changes -- Serif, non Serif, Maxis, etc.

Was Rolex just shifting from vendor to vendor, sourcing things here and there with little concern for the minute difference we harp on today?

Or was the company introducing new variations to keep their designs fresh and to attract repurchases by current owners?

Thanks,

AN

Every thing is made in house by Rolex including the dials, so different supply chain cant be used as a reason for text/ fonts variations etc.

These types of questions have been asked many times previously and as far as I can see, no one has ever come up with a definitive answer - I guess the real truth is only Rolex know the real truth...

[JP Chestnut]

Originally Posted by Another Newbie

Was Rolex just shifting from vendor to vendor, sourcing things here and there with little concern for the minute difference we harp on today?

Sort of, but I think they didn't really care to be honest. It was "just a watch" back then.

Originally Posted by Another Newbie

Or was the company introducing new variations to keep their designs fresh and to attract repurchases by current owners?

That seems really unlikely.

[JP Chestnut]

Originally Posted by Swiss Mad!

Every thing is made in house by Rolex including the dials....

Ever hear of Singer?

[sensui]

Originally Posted by JP Chestnut

Sort of, but I think they didn't really care to be honest. It was "just a watch" back then.

Yes, it's just their manufacturing/sourcing/assembly process back then before things got more centralized like it is now. That's where the small nuances came from and I think part of the magic of vintage, tracing every little bit of this rich history Rolex has come from.

[Swiss Mad!]

Originally Posted by JP Chestnut

Ever hear of Singer?

I'm talking about modern Rolex which all have their dials made in house but can still get variations in text/font style from watch to watch.

[JP Chestnut]

Originally Posted by Swiss Mad!

I'm talking about modern Rolex which all have their dials made in house but can still get variations in text/font style from watch to watch.

That's true. Which is sort of surprising since this is the vintage forum. Perhaps you mentioned modern watches and I didn't see it.

[Tools]

Inking dials is done with a "tamp", a bladder that has the ink, then is tamped onto the dial.

To keep the impression crisp there are probably hundreds of tamps used each month..

I would say that it would be impossible to always make tamps exact every time.

[Paul]

Welcome 'Another Newbie'. You've posed a great question.

Since the early days , we've seen constant development from Rolex, sometimes technical but often simply within the styling of their watches. The depth of choice amongst individual references available at any point in time has always been there. It amazes me that a manufacturer offering so much choice didn't go broke.

Even eighty years ago, a Rolex AD would have a bulging display cabinet with many different variants of the same watch ... backed up by a catalogue with even more options that could be ordered in. As an example, the George Gordon 'Rolex' book details eighteen different dial and hand options for the Rolex Prince 971 that sold (or didn't sell) through the early depression years .... and eighteen options is probably just scratching the surface.

I'm sure some changes seen on sports dials through the 50s' / 60s' / 70s' were simply a freshen-up of the design but ongoing development and technical advancements explains some of the variety we see. We have radium, strontium, and tritium lumes (are there others too ?) , and linked to that we see exclamation marks, underlines , highlighted '6' o'clock markers, ... SWISS, SWISS MADE, T-SWISS-T, SWISS-T<25 declarations ... all conveying different messages including warnings to the watchmakers or satisfying industry requirements for labelling.

Even the simple SWISS and SWISS MADE declarations at the bottom of an early generation of dials was linked to rules where each tag related to a different amount of Swiss made components found within the watch.

There is a positive though. While there are some not-negotiable rules about what parts are correct for certain old Subs or GMTs (for example), there are also some grey areas that provide flexibility for collectors. No one really knows when Mk1 dials gave way to Mk2 dials in 1675s', no one really knows when Mk1 inserts gave way to long 5 inserts for the 5513 (just random examples).

Happy collecting

[Swiss Mad!]

Originally Posted by JP Chestnut

That's true. Which is sort of surprising since this is the vintage forum. Perhaps you mentioned modern watches and I didn't see it.

Apologies - I picked this thread up from clicking 'New Posts' and didn't notice it was in the vintage section.
My bad

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[Another Newbie]

Cool. Thanks, guys. Appreciate the info.

AN