16610lv thin crown guards/unpolished

[Rolessor82]

Hi guys,

Just a general thread regarding CG. I saw this watch (sold, not to me) when I was looking for one and came across this in particular from 2002 stated as unpolished.

The thing is...the lugs look indeed unpolished but the CG too skinny. I know old ones can have this flaw but for a modern one I don't think Rolex would allow this out of their factory.

What do you guys think? Is it possible that today we could see CG looking different even in the same model?

Thank you!

[springer]

Edit - Are referring to the gap around the crown? The gap between the crown and the crown guard?

[Rolessor82]

Interesting. Thanks for your comment.

So, Rolex doesn't have a machine or line of production where all watches come out looking the same? I assume this is over, right? I mean, when was the last batch of production from Rolex where this could happen?

[Dan S]

Aside from the thin/thick issue, I'm curious why you think that those particular crown guards on the OP watch are unpolished. Are there views from other angles showing the they are original, with sharp transitions between finishes, etc.? Most of the examples I see are polished.

[EagleArmsHBAR]

I’ve got a 168000 that RSC messed up pretty badly when it was sent in for a service in 2017.

[Rolessor82]

Originally Posted by springer

Edit - Are referring to the gap around the crown? The gap between the crown and the crown guard?

Well, the gap also. But I assume that is a consequence of the polish.

[Rolessor82]

Originally Posted by Dan S

Aside from the thin/thick issue, I'm curious why you think that those particular crown guards on the OP watch are unpolished. Are there views from other angles showing the they are original, with sharp transitions between finishes, etc.? Most of the examples I see are polished.

Hey Dan, no. The seller said it was unpolished. But even to the untrained eye like myself (hence why I opened this thread) this got polished somewhere in the past. However the lugs look fine. I'll post another pic below.

This is a thread to learn and to share knowledge. Not pointing anyone or any seller

[Rolessor82]

Here is the whole watch.

Like I said, lugs look fine. But the CG look pretty thin.

Would someone polish just the CG?? How come the lugs loog thick and the CG thin?

[tekno]

https://tropicalwatch.com/watches/oikl

Here is the watch, it looks factory new. The front photos look deceiving.


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[Rolessor82]

It does look new. So it is possible that Rolex got that watch outbwith those CG? Pretty rare.

[LetMeHearItNow]

They do look a little smaller but it’s likely the pics being deceiving as [mention]tekno [/mention] pointed out. Here’s a comparison of a stickered example listed on Chrono24 right now and Jaeck’s listing. Looks about the same to me.




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[Rolessor82]

Oh wow. Thank you for your help and comments.

So....even still in the 00s the cases are still uneven between same models?? I know and understand that back in the 60s 70s is totally understandable that there could be differences because there more hand and less machines used. But nowadays?

Just looking to have a conversation here where we can all learn

Thanks again!

[PepsiBezel]

I think Jacek does a pretty good job of describing watches, and has the best high resolution pictures of any of the resellers I’ve seen.

[Rolessor82]

He totally is!. But anyone can miss a detail, so the conclusion, maybe, is that indeed Rolex doesn't have a standard "mold" for cases and they can be "different" ¿??¿

[Tools]

Originally Posted by Rolessor82

He totally is!. But anyone can miss a detail, so the conclusion, maybe, is that indeed Rolex doesn't have a standard "mold" for cases and they can be "different" ¿??¿

They do have a standard mold for the initial stamping and machining. Final finishing requires some manual manipulation and power buffing and grinding.

Photographing softened areas such as crown guards, especially at highly magnified levels, gives an optical illusion/perspective. They do become individual pieces, not exact clones.

[Rolessor82]

Originally Posted by Tools

They do have a standard mold for the initial stamping and machining. Final finishing requires some manual manipulation and power buffing and grinding.

Photographing softened areas such as crown guards, especially at highly magnified levels, gives an optical illusion/perspective. They do become individual pieces, not exact clones.

Thank you Tools. You've said something I wasn't aware regarding the final finishing. Makes sense also what you said about magnification

Thanks again,

[tekno]

I know the older watches (pre modern, fat cases) had more hands on, they still were using old school techniques while making these I believe. I don’t think the new ones are touched by a human during the case production. I may be wrong. Lots of automaton now.

The cases used to be hand beveled & polished Im pretty sure like was mentioned, this is much more apparent in the earlier watches.

Regarding Jacek, this is a guy who has a lot of experience with this stuff. I can promise you he wouldn’t risk his rep for a small premium, the guy deals in watches in the $100’s of thousands. I’ve seen 200k/300k watches on his site often.

I’m pretty sure if he says it’s something is, it is that and if it’s not he would return the $ if he was wrong.


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[GGGMT]

To me, Jacek’s LV indeed looks new old stock to me, and unpolished as described. They don’t look small or uneven or weird to me. Nor does the gap between the crown and the crown guards look unusual to me. Looks just like my LV.


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[Rolessor82]

Originally Posted by GGGMT

To me, Jacek’s LV indeed looks new old stock to me, and unpolished as described. They don’t look small or uneven or weird to me. Nor does the gap between the crown and the crown guards look unusual to me. Looks just like my LV.


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Thank you. That's a good observation.

[Rolessor82]

So, it's clear that there could be differences in out-of-factory same models when it comes to cases due to the finishing process that involves human intervention.

[Xky]

Originally Posted by EagleArmsHBAR

I’ve got a 168000 that RSC messed up pretty badly when it was sent in for a service in 2017.

Can you post a couple photos of what you didn’t like? What happened?


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[Rolessor82]

Originally Posted by Xky

Can you post a couple photos of what you didn’t like? What happened?


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Hi, thank you for your interest. I sure will. I will post two pics of the same watch and different thickness of CG that are unpolished. This one in particular, to me, and I'm no expert, hence why I started this thread, has the CG too thin to be unpolished.

Pics below,

[Rolessor82]

These are all apparentlt unpolished. But they are different. The one that caught my eye is even thinner, which is the first pic.

[illiguy]

Originally Posted by Rolessor82

These are all apparentlt unpolished. But they are different. The one that caught my eye is even thinner, which is the first pic.

I do believe there are variations that are still “unpolished”, just like how there are dial printing variations.

[illiguy]

I think camera angle and lighting also factor. Here is my unpolished Z Serial 16610LV.


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[1watch]

Jacek typically describes polishing to the best of his knowledge. I think this example is fine. Agree that light and angles
on a CG make it tough to compare
from pics only.


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