Age/year of my DD2 (218238)

[davi9595]

I've acquired a slightly used DD2 (218238) and wanted to know the year it was made. I was told, not sure if true, only a Rolex AD can guess the year of scrambled serials. I also see folks refer to their X numbers serial and give out the year in their discussion. my serial has a Q and a Y, wasn't sure which of those letters is the determining factor. Pic of actual watch below.
Please advise if this rings a bell.
Thanks so much

[padi56]

Originally Posted by davi9595

I've acquired a slightly used DD2 (218238) and wanted to know the year it was made. I was told, not sure if true, only a Rolex AD can guess the year of scrambled serials. I also see folks refer to their X numbers serial and give out the year in their discussion. my serial has a Q and a Y, wasn't sure which of those letters is the determining factor. Pic of actual watch below.
Please advise if this rings a bell.
Thanks so much

If you're serial has a total of 8 digits mixture letters numbers the case was stamped from the latter part of 2010 till present time.

[othertbone]

^^^ Yep ^^^

And that's kinda the point with the scrambled serial numbers. Rolex doesn't want us to be able to date the pieces anymore.

[davi9595]

Originally Posted by othertbone

^^^ Yep ^^^

And that's kinda the point with the scrambled serial numbers. Rolex doesn't want us to be able to date the pieces anymore.

That I know, but how could an AD determine the exact year? just wanted to see if there was a trick to find out. Thx

[brandrea]

If they have the warranty card or bill of sale, that will get you an approximate, assuming the watch didn’t sit for A year or two, which was more common back in the day with PM

[Alpino]

.

Daydate II was produced from 2008 to 2014 , but your specific black roman dial was produced from 2010 to 2014 only.

If that helps.

[Nikrnic]

I've wondered if there is any rhyme or reason for random serial numbers besides hiding the age. There must a secret way to break the code at the Mothership in Geneva. I guess we'll never know.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[davi9595]

Originally Posted by Alpino

.

Daydate II was produced from 2008 to 2014 , but your specific black roman dial was produced from 2010 to 2014 only.

If that helps.

That does help! Thanks!!

[Noonan]

Why make a 2nd thread for this? Scrambled SN means no one can tell you exactly when it was made.

[davi9595]

Originally Posted by Noonan

Why make a 2nd thread for this? Scrambled SN means no one can tell you exactly when it was made.

Because the initial thread was in the wrong forum, this is more suited for it. Did not know these threads have ppl sitting there policing them

[dadonn2]

I've never heard of a way to know the precise year of a random serial number and have been around long enough to happen upon it. AD's are notorious for telling all sorts of untruths so it wouldn't surprise if one claimed to know but did not. The DD II had a short run that overlapped with the advent of randoms. The only way I would think of to refine it further is to see if your dial was released in a year after the launch of the DD II. Beautiful watch by the way.

[davi9595]

Originally Posted by dadonn2

I've never heard of a way to know the precise year of a random serial number and have been around long enough to happen upon it. AD's are notorious for telling all sorts of untruths so it wouldn't surprise if one claimed to know but did not. The DD II had a short run that overlapped with the advent of randoms. The only way I would think of to refine it further is to see if your dial was released in a year after the launch of the DD II. Beautiful watch by the way.

Thanks so much for your feedback =)

[padi56]

Originally Posted by davi9595

I've acquired a slightly used DD2 (218238) and wanted to know the year it was made. I was told, not sure if true, only a Rolex AD can guess the year of scrambled serials. I also see folks refer to their X numbers serial and give out the year in their discussion. my serial has a Q and a Y, wasn't sure which of those letters is the determining factor. Pic of actual watch below.
Please advise if this rings a bell.
Thanks so much

First why start two threads on the same subject,and all 8 digit random serials are from 2010 till present time.Plus you could never date exactly by any internet chart when any Rolex was made.Only approx date when the case or clasp was stamped between X&Y years,this only worked well with fast selling watches like the SS.Now with the slower sellers like precious metal watches serials could overlap a few years.The single letter 6 number serials started in 1987 but Rolex had made countless millions of watches from 1987 till late 2010 .They ran out of single letter 6 number combinations hence the newer 8 digit random serials.

[davi9595]

Originally Posted by padi56

First why start two threads on the same subject,and all 8 digit random serials are from 2010 till present time.Plus you could never date exactly by any internet chart when any Rolex was made.Only approx date when the case or clasp was stamped between X&Y years,this only worked well with fast selling watches like the SS.Now with the slower sellers like precious metal watches serials could overlap a few years.The single letter 6 number serials started in 1987 but Rolex had made countless millions of watches from 1987 till late 2010 .They ran out of single letter 6 number combinations hence the newer 8 digit random serials.

Here we go, another policer lol Ok, its because the initial thread was in the wrong forum, this is more suited for it. Next time I'll ask for your permission

[HogwldFLTR]

No trick to decoding random numbers; they're random. Padi/Larry is one of the most knowledgeable authorities on the forum. Also he's a moderator so he has every right to reprimand you and even assign penalties to you even to the point of banning. Tread lightly. I don't know if an AD will go through the effort to get you information but that's a good place to start.

[Jim Smyth]

Originally Posted by davi9595

Bump

Alpino already gave you the best info you can get. Other than getting Rolex to give you the exact date nobody here will be able to answer your question.

"Daydate II was produced from 2008 to 2014 , but your specific black roman dial was produced from 2010 to 2014 only."

[Otto]

In any event, that's a beautiful watch.

[Dsmith1974]

Originally Posted by Nikrnic

I've wondered if there is any rhyme or reason for random serial numbers besides hiding the age. There must a secret way to break the code at the Mothership in Geneva. I guess we'll never know.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

They don’t need to encode attributes about the watch within the serial number as the serial number can just be a key in a database, the real information is held in all the other fields in the tables(s) where it belongs.

Think about it like a license plate on a car. The Police with access to the database can tell a lot about your car from the license plate (colour, make, model). But that dats isn’t coming from the 8 characters and numbers on the plate, it just serves as a lookup key.

[danyvw]

Originally Posted by Dsmith1974

They don’t need to encode attributes about the watch within the serial number as the serial number can just be a key in a database, the real information is held in all the other fields in the tables(s) where it belongs.



Think about it like a license plate on a car. The Police with access to the database can tell a lot about your car from the license plate (colour, make, model). But that dats isn’t coming from the 8 characters and numbers on the plate, it just serves as a lookup key.

Interesting, never thought about it. Sounds feasible to me. Thanks for the input.

Sent from my SM-T720 using Tapatalk