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Old 1 September 2016, 11:14 AM   #1
bobabreath
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When did Rolex start using white gold hands?

Hey all,

I recently acquired a matte dial Submariner 16800. I have noticed there is some slight corrosion on the hands and it seems this is not uncommon with this model and older Subs. The metal on the hands definitely don't appear as shiny and almost look like stainless steel.

So my question is whether the hands are white gold or not. Is it possible that white gold hands only appeared around the same time as the white gold surrounds in the dial? Hope some of the experts here have an answer!
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Old 1 September 2016, 11:21 AM   #2
MorningTundra
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When did Rolex start using white gold hands?

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Originally Posted by bobabreath View Post
Hey all,



I recently acquired a matte dial Submariner 16800. I have noticed there is some slight corrosion on the hands and it seems this is not uncommon with this model and older Subs. The metal on the hands definitely don't appear as shiny and almost look like stainless steel.



So my question is whether the hands are white gold or not. Is it possible that white gold hands only appeared around the same time as the white gold surrounds in the dial? Hope some of the experts here have an answer!


Interesting... I'd also be interested to know how to tell the difference between a WG and SS tritium hands set (without a mass spectrometer).


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Old 1 September 2016, 01:10 PM   #3
jedly1
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roughly speaking yes , the early matt dial transitional sapphire watches still came equipped with plated hands , and manufacture longevity was not good, somewhere in that transitional period they began moving to white gold and cured the corrosion problems in one swoop...it seem logical it was AROUND the time of the introduction of WG surrounds on the markers but we've seen examples of matt dials with WG hands so IMHO it started a little earlier.
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Old 1 September 2016, 02:23 PM   #4
BrazenC5
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OT, is it common on the 16800 to have a varying font widths in the bezel insert? The 50 looks super wide compared to the other numbers.

Quote:
Originally Posted by bobabreath View Post
Hey all,

I recently acquired a matte dial Submariner 16800. I have noticed there is some slight corrosion on the hands and it seems this is not uncommon with this model and older Subs. The metal on the hands definitely don't appear as shiny and almost look like stainless steel.

So my question is whether the hands are white gold or not. Is it possible that white gold hands only appeared around the same time as the white gold surrounds in the dial? Hope some of the experts here have an answer!
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Old 1 September 2016, 03:09 PM   #5
onthedial
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These "transitional" 16800s are fascinating precisely because they are literally References influx--older parts being used up thus creating many, many variations. That said @bobabreath do you know with any degree of certainty that the current handset installed is original to the watch? Also like @BrazenC5 said, the "50" looks bizarre. Do you have another pic of the insert wherein the camera lens plane is parallel to the flat(ish) surface of the watch? In other words, a shot that's straight on, not at an angle?
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Old 1 September 2016, 03:52 PM   #6
Kingface66
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Quote:
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OT, is it common on the 16800 to have a varying font widths in the bezel insert? The 50 looks super wide compared to the other numbers.
That's just an optical illusion created by the light source hitting the area on the insert where the 50 is. Here's my 16800 w the same effect, (making the 50 look wide) and then with the watch turned upside down (making the 20 look wide).



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Old 2 September 2016, 06:10 AM   #7
bobabreath
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Here is a more straight on shot. The "50" is a normal size. Looks bigger in the first pic because of the angle with the camera.

However, one thing is that the "40" has a pointy 4. Most of the bezels around this time I thought should have a flat/fat 4?

This watch has no known service history and has not been polished, so I am pretty sure all the parts are original.
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Old 2 September 2016, 10:41 AM   #8
MorningTundra
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Is it common for the bezel pip to darken faster/more than the dial and hands?


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Old 2 September 2016, 12:05 PM   #9
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Is it common for the bezel pip to darken faster/more than the dial and hands?


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Funny you should mention that. When I researched 16800s before buying one, I pleasently surprised to discover that, what seemed like, most of the ones I looked at had rather dark pips. Check out the ones HQ Milton has been selling
http://www.hqmilton.com/search/resul...eywords=16800/
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Old 2 September 2016, 12:18 PM   #10
MorningTundra
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I'm a little surprised that so many appear to have mismatching patina between inserts, hands and dials. If tritium was this unpredictable wouldn't there be mismatching patina between hour, minute and seconds hands and even hour markers? I'm wondering if a lot of these have service dials, hands and inserts? In other words, not "all original".


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Old 3 September 2016, 12:14 AM   #11
Kingface66
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Originally Posted by MorningTundra View Post
I'm a little surprised that so many appear to have mismatching patina between inserts, hands and dials. If tritium was this unpredictable wouldn't there be mismatching patina between hour, minute and seconds hands and even hour markers? I'm wondering if a lot of these have service dials, hands and inserts? In other words, not "all original".


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I think it's more about batches of lume, and how they react. That is, the markers were all applied from one batch of tritium, then hands installed (possibly from another batch) and insert from a stock of inserts. And depending on the batch of tritium, the different components of a watch dial can certainly age, and react, differently than another, even on the same watch. Not representing HQ Milton, and all of Jacek's watches, but with that many examples showing slight patina change between a dial and its hands, I sincerely doubt they're all service replacements. Especially, when not disclosed in the description.
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