Interesting 16233 Dial - full lume!

[benny88]

Hi all, my dad has just purchased this 16233, R5 serial, which according to Bob's serial number guide puts it as a 1988.

Long story short the watch was purchased by a friend of his around 12 years ago, box but no papers, he wore it daily for those 12 years, it was sold to him by a local jewellers, who always had a good selection of pre owned Rolex, as being a mother of pearl dial. It does has a texture to the dial, not unlike mother of pearl, so took him at his word.

Last night my dad text me saying "this dial glows in the dark"

So today I shone a powerful torch at it then took this pic on night mode, in the dark, on my phone... my word does it glow!!

Any ideas on this dial? Is it super rare, super common (can't find anything on Google) or is it simply super fake??

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[benny88]

Normal pic, lit by torch to try and capture the texture on the dial, zoom in to see.

You can't see the glow under normal lighting conditions, you have to shine a bright light at it, then cup it in your hands to see the fairly faint green glow. The pic above was a 3 second exposure to capture it fully.

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[chocopeluche]

looks really cool, is there any tarnishing on the numerals ?

[benny88]

Yes there is some tarnishing on the numerals and on the hands.

Does this point to anything?

I did see the tarnishing prior to my dad buying it, I just assumed maybe a little water ingress at some point. The plan was to send it in for service asap, but upon finding out the dial glows, he held off just incase it was some uber rare find.

[dhknola]

Could this be an after market coating? I have never seen a dial glow like this, if legit, very cool!

[benny88]

Originally Posted by dhknola

Could this be an after market coating? I have never seen a dial glow like this, if legit, very cool!

I've no idea at the moment, this is what I'm trying to ascertain if it's a super rare dial, or just a franken dial!

The Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust etc is all printed over the texture, if it has been coated then the text has been reprinted. It looks too good not to be original if that makes sense. The glow on the hands is the same colour green and same brightness.

[chocopeluche]

Originally Posted by benny88

Yes there is some tarnishing on the numerals and on the hands.

Does this point to anything?

I did see the tarnishing prior to my dad buying it, I just assumed maybe a little water ingress at some point. The plan was to send it in for service asap, but upon finding out the dial glows, he held off just incase it was some uber rare find.

Tarnishing indicates to me the whole dial is aftermarket because on that model the numerals are 18k gold.

[chocopeluche]

from a distance the printing and dial layout looks good so if you like it, id keep it, but 100% the dial is aftermarket. Aftermarket dial swaps are common for older DJ models.

[benny88]

Originally Posted by chocopeluche

Tarnishing indicates to me the whole dial is aftermarket because on that model the numerals are 18k gold.

Many thanks for your input, I suspect you could well be right unfortunately!

As per your second post about if you like it, keep it, I'm sure that's what my dad will do.

It was bought for a good price so even with a service and adding a genuine dial and new hand set some time in the future, he still won't be at UK dealer prices.