Rolex Day Date Ref 18248 Onyx Dial

A Rare Rolex Day Date with Onyx Dial. This is next mint, Nice to wear, and nice to show, Yellow Gold with Bark pattern of bezel. How do you think it is? I had a Date Just with Oxyn Dial but not yet a Day Date. HK Snob

Rolex Day Date Stella Series Red Dial with Chinese Character

Rolex has produced a lot of beautiful Day Date model since 1956, knowing that a lot of collectors in the world eventually go to collect Day Date as one of their expenisve bad habbit after the Submariner, Daytona, Explorer, GMT Master, DeepSea, Datejust, Yachtmaster collection.

Why? because there are a lot of colour, various kinds of material for dial like Gem, mineral, stone, wood, fossil, silk screen lacque printing, coat of arms, stampped Rolex pattern, Different type of date such as Arabian, Thai or Chinese language, decoration by diamond on dial, on bezel, on case for your collection… it makes me crazy…and this is hard to collect all possible colour and dial combination, even though you have that kind of money and time…

Attached two one in Red and one in light blue is my dream Day Date…I have begged the owner to sell me the one in Red! The dial was hand made in Italy!

He was not willing to sell unless he has found another one….Oh! that May take years!

HK Snob

Rolex Ref 116244 Date Just men with Diamond bezel

This is Rolex best seller Date Just, a bit extravagent, set with Diamond Bezel. Rolex Date Just is One of the casual and all time sportive time instrument for most of people. Original Price is HKD$96XXX, Sold!
HK Snob

Where to buy Rolex Daytona Black Dial Ref 116520BL in Tsim Sha Tsui?

According to friend and collector, and overseas Rolex Fans, this Daytona is very hard to find, someone told me that he has been waiting for months…

Black dial has a higher value as people tends to go for Black rather than white as it has a better contrast and looks likes a Ninja in black.

I made a tour Tsim Sha Tsui yesterday and I could spotted that there are about 15 of  Daytona in the Rolex AD, for the shops and those shops selling collectible pre-owned watches. Of curse the real number should be higher as there are at least 50 shops selling Rolex in Tsim Sha Tsim. Assume one stock in each shop, there is 50 pieces already.

Take for an example,  right at Holiday Inn at Tsim Sha Tsui, beside the magnificent Rolex AD, there is “Watch Collection Limited” at G9-G10 ground Floor, there is two pieces, but there was no price.

In Rolex AD there is White gold Daytona Black Dial, HKD$283,200.00 and needless to say they have Daytona Black dial and white… my estimation, they have 4 black and may be 5 white… don't forget they are one of the HK largest watch dealer for Rolex dated back to 1962.

Opposite of Holiday Inn, 2^nd Floor of Brand Off  at Lock Road.

There is a used Daytona Black Dial SS HKD$90,800, and one New Daytona Black Dial at HKD$98,000.00.

Right at Champagne Court near by Mira hotel, there are 5 Daytona Black Dial…price are hidden.

Of Course, the preferred Choice is Rolex AD, there is 100% guaranteed that the watch is brand new, comes with all accessories…at Rolex AD, 100% new price HKD$98,000

Shop Selling new and used watch, even they claim the watch is NEW… there is a chance that the watch is not 100% brand new… Price ranges from HKD$78,000-86,000 for used one…

New one is subject to their markup and your negotiation power…

Tsim Sha Tsui Snob.

Rolex Watch and Mandarin Yellow DouFold Parker

Gold is deeply rooted in the psyche of the Chinese people. Stemming from a powerful mix of cultural, social and economic associations is relevance has been augmented by the country’s experience of totalitarian government. Gold is considered a symbol of prosperity and good fortune in China.  Chinese by all means used to increase and preserve one’s family’s wealth through the generations of Gold saving.

Thousand years ago, and Palace is actually decorated with layer of gold.

And the Royal Clothe of the emperor is printed with dragon in yellow colour, symbol of  Gold…and no civilians is allowed to wear the colour of clothe in Yellow Colour, or will be killed.

Till today, the Chinese still has  strong sense to be more preferred to yellow gold than white gold, or the Precious Platinum.

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Note that 60% of Rolex was imported to HK and China, and Amongst them 85% is Yellow gold, and in Rolex AD shops of HK, the Day Date is almost 90% n Yellow gold, some even 100%, lately the Chinese taste changes towards accepting Pink Gold as a replacement of yellow gold. But White Gold is definitely not their first Choice…As at least I have not seen many mainland Chinese wears White Gold Rolex at all in HK.

Hong Kong people has this implication since the 70’s, White gold Rolex mean “Doing or nothing”, or “ No yield “ in the casino for gamblers. And even worse is “Blue Rolex” means “ Hard to earn a living” Who wants to wear a watch that has such be negative hidden meaning, especially the Chinese, no matter young and old! Of course, 90% people does not understand the different between Date just and Day Date, as Day Date is available in Gold Only. Who will appreciate a white colour watch “ White Rolex” that is not made of Yellow Gold.

White gold is an alloy of gold and at least one white metal, usually nickel, manganese or palladium. Like yellow gold, the purity of white gold is given in karats.And most of all the White Gold watch is more expensive than Yellow gold… as ‘there are some precious metal Iridium, Palladium in the White Gold…

Nowadays Rolex uses 18KT White gold for their Day Date, alloys which are mixed 1 8 parts gold to 6 parts alloy creates 18 karat, and so on. This is often expressed as the result of the ratio 18/24 is 0.750. That is why on the back of the watch body, it was stamped “750”.

However, as my preference for Rolex, the first choice, is Platinum, White Gold, Pink Gold, and Stainless steel. As White Rolex seems has a higher hidden value in plain outlook So called Low key. Well, sometimes, as The Chinese Says, we have to put some

Yellow Chi on the body… “ Chi” means “气”.  So, once in a while, I use Yellow Gold Watch…

When China becomes Richer, and people tend to go for taste,, by 2020* , I believe more Middle class Chinese will think of a 20^th Century good quality Day Date would be a icon of a good taste. So It is time to keep some good quality Gold Day Date now… as today is not popular and is scarce, meaning that it will be very expensive after 10 -20 years.

Mandarin Yellow or Chinese Yellow was the fifth color introduced on the Duofold after Chinese Lacquer Red, Black, Jade Green, and Lapis Lazuli, making its debut in 1927.

It was sold with $7.0. in 1928. 

But now it becomes every  pen collectors’ holy grail pen valued USD$7,000.00 or more for mint one.. The Colour indicates the Chinese Gold Colour... that is one of the reason this pen is priciest.!

HK Snob

PS* According to BNP Paribas, and Goldman Sachs prediction, by 2025 China Economies will be same as US and by 2050, China will be 2X larger than US Economies.

Parker Madarin Yellow Duofold Pen was a courtesy picture from Penhero.com
http://penhero.com/PenGallery/Parker/ParkerDuofoldFlattop.htm

TechnoMarine Alpha Titanium Chronometer

Swiss made TechnoMarine Alpha T7750 Valjoux 7750 automatic mechanical chronograph wristwatch.

Swiss Valjoux 7750 automatic mechanical chronograph movement has been used for many watches in the world such as Hublot Yacht Club De Monaco, IWC Top Gun…etc

This is Technomarine Chronometer, 44mm in size, with original soft black Rubber diving strap. Retail price is about USD$2,000.00

HK Snob

Vacheron Constantin Overseas

My understanding of Vacheron Constantin in HK.

Constantin is the name of what we were told the most expensive watch, elegant watch for rich people to wear in the 80’s.

I still recall there is the Whole Page advertisement on Shing Po at that time for Vacheron Constantin

What they said is hand made, very small number of production and not so man people who can afford to buy, because it is expensive!

That was true, in that period of time like 1970, a Monthly income for a Report in Shing Po was just HKD$250, whereas a Vacheron  Constantin was asking about HKD$4,000  that is two years salary!

In the movie on 1988, Chan Ho Nam is the causeway bay gangster head and Leng Kwan (acted by Ng Chun Yu) was his opponent in the same gang,, I still remembered Mother of Leng Kwan (Hai Ping) asked his son to buy a Vacheron Constantin watch for her…

The Hong Kong Cantonese pronunciation of  Vacheron Constantin is “Kong Si Dan Ton” In 1990, some of the movie script describes the mainland Chinese Called Vacheron Constantin as “Ro Si Dan Ton”

Also there are not so many shop displayed this Watch, thus this make this watch even farther more mysterious and far way from my pocket could afford.

Soon I met a watch lover show had two brands he loved, Rolex Oyster and Vacheron Constantin, he used worn the Model 222 for many years, and that was a beautiful  Automatic Watch

Well, here I show two, Overseas Vacheron Constantin…

Both are original stainless, one with Champagne Dial and diamond bezel and the other with Black Dial and no diamond..

This is some what the basic but the Flag ship model of Vacheron Constantin…

I love more on the Black dial stainless steel…

HK Snob

Rolex Sea Dweller Ref 16600 asking for its new owner

This is a dis-continued Sea Dweller Ref 16600, M-number, year 2008. excellent condition. Seldom used. Since this is supposed to be able to survive 4,000 feet below sea watch, so the Cyclops magnifying glass does not exist as it may crack under such high water pressure.
HK Snob
Ps Watch was Sold

World's First Waterproof Watch and the Watch of the Century, Rolex

Prior to the twentieth Century, men used Pocket watches and women wore wristwatches.

In the beginning of the 20^th Century, wrist watch started to gain its popularity amongst men. German Watch Expert Hans Wilsdorf started a Company on Watch sooner was named with Rolex in London n 1905.

Wilsdrof saw the public demand on high quality watch, especial for men. He started to import watch from Swiss Aeglier Company precision movement to produce watch. In 1912, Wilsdrof renamed this Watch Company as Rolex Watch Company and moved to  Geneva.

Sooner later his Watch was awarded an official chronometer certification for accurate timekeeping, the first watch to do so.

Wilosdrof , however , was still concerned with increasing his watch’s reliability. He knew that dust and moisture could cause the watch’s imprecise, and began working on developing a water proof watch. In 1926, he introduced the Oyster, the water proof wristwatch. This was followed the next year by a famous public endorsement stunt in which swimmer Mercedes Gleitze swam across the English Channel wearing the Oyster, a world first water proof watch . In !931, Rolex improved by introducing a self-winding movement, which made the water seal function even more reliable, and invented the date display in 1945.

Rolex continues to be a world leader in Watch-Making, and the Oyster was named “ Watch of the Century” by a panel of industry leaders in 1990s.

HK Snob

This is a Way to tell you Cartier is Authentic or not by viewing the Roman Figure VII. There should be a "Cartier" encripted on it. Some Cartier model has this word made on "XI",

HK Snob

Vintage Cartier lady Watch

Cartier was founded in 1847 when Louis-François Cartier, then an apprentice to Parisian jeweler Adolphe Picard, took over the business when his master passed away. By 1853, young Louis-François had become a favorite of Napoleon III’s cousin Princess Mathilde, who helped Cartier gain entry to Parisian society.

For the next quarter century, Cartier was strictly a jeweler, but in 1874, Louis-François’...s son Alfred gained the company’s reins. He in turn brought his sons, Louis, Pierre, and Jacques, into the firm—it was this third generation of Cartier that would make the Paris jeweler’s name synonymous with luxury wristwatches.

The first Cartier watches were diamond-studded bracelets for ladies, which were introduced in 1888 and languished until Parisian fashions changed enough in the mid-1890s to encourage the adornment of a bare wrist with a watch.

But the real wristwatch breakthrough came in 1904, when, according to Cartier lore, a Brazilian aviation pioneer named Alberto Santos-Dumont complained to his friend Louis Cartier of the shortcomings of fumbling with a pocket watch on a short test flight. Cartier made his friend a flat, square wristwatch called, appropriately, the Santos. In the process, Cartier popularized wristwatches in France and throughout the world until Today.

In 1912, Cartier introduced the oval Baignoire and tortoise-shell shaped Tortue models, followed in 1917 by Cartier’s most famous early wristwatch, the Tank, which was reportedly inspired by the design of Renault tanks used during World War I. Rudolph Valentino wore a Tank in the 1921 silent classic The Sheik.

In the early 1920s, Cartier partnered with fellow Frenchmen Jaeger and Breguet to produce movements for its watches. Other illustrious Cartier collaborators included Swiss makers Vacheron Constantin, Patek Phillipe, Piaget, and Audemars Piguet.

During the 1920s, Cartier started stamping its watches with four-digit reference numbers—today, knowledgeable collectors know to look for and verify these codes before purchasing an antique Cartier wristwatch. That way, they can tell for certain if the 1932 waterproof Pasha (made for the Pasha of Marrakesh) that they are about to purchase is real or a fake.

By 1940, Cartier had introduced a motoring watch, with a curved shape that was designed to be worn on the inside of the wrist—the winder was on the back of the watch, against the wearer’s skin, rather than the side. And then, in 1942, after the death of Louis Cartier, the company began several decades of stagnation.

Countless variations of the Tank appeared (in the Chinoise, horizontal bars at the top and bottom of the dial rest on the Tank’s vertical "treads"), and in 1965 there was even a watch whose body was shaped like a parallelogram. But it was not until the Must de Cartier in 1976 and the reissue of the Santos in 1978 that the firm was able to reestablish itself as a player on the wristwatch scene.

Attached is an Early 1990 model Lady Panthere, quartz movement, 18KT two tone…

HK Snob

40 Years after its birth, Royal Oak Jumbo has a price!

It has been 40 years after the likely one of most beautiful watch design was created by Gerald Genta in 1972, with continuously applause of such beautiful Watch by watch lovers all over the World, a new Memorial Royal Oak design is created in 2012.

However, the original First Generation Royal Oak indicates that there is a group of die hard collectors looking for it. It is rare as AP produced only very small number of it to test the maket acceptance for the Exquisite Sport Watch as the first time.
Since the timeless 2120 movement was introduced in its Royal Oak case in 1972, with movement thickness of 3.05mm, one of the World’s thinnest mechanical Automatic movement, it provides the Hour, Minutes and Second, Date Display function. At the same time this movement Cal 2120 was being used later on Patek Philippe Nautilus 1976 and Vacheron Constantin Model 222.

The Calibre. 2120 was actually developed by Jaeguar Le Coutre. Now after 40 years, this first generation Royal Oak had appeared in Recent Auction with final bid of HKD$311,250!

Really this is a good start, I have a 18KT Solid gold one… Don’t know how much it values? It is Lower as Some one said than the Stainless steel version, but Someone said it is more expensive!. Well, needless to argue, there I have been seeing more than one time in HK market for Stainless steel Verison, one was In Champangne Court two years back, asking for HKD$59,000.00 as the condition was not too attractive! But the next day I went there, it was sold! The second time I saw it is in auction. I had a wonderful chance to get the Gold one. It is Numbered NO.XX!

It is rare too! It comes with the International Waranty booklet!

HK Snob

Rolex Ref 18038 with Arabian Coat of Arms

Rolex Ref. 18038 Dress up in other straps. The Coat of Arms is beautiful, believe this type of watch with such a condition is extremely rare!

It really looks awesome with a navy green Nato Strap!
This was found his new owner yesterday. (Sold)

HK Snob

Sheffield Cuff Link Watch

This Sheffield Cuff link has a Swiss made manual wind Watch movement. The other one is a Photo frame with cover.

It is in mint condition, I just sent it for Stephen' Overhual, as for the first time after 55 years.

The one beside is a 1930' Masoon Club badge.

HK Snob

Rolex Daytona and Waterman Patrician

Beautiful Life nominated the Most beautiful watches that includes Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date just lady presented in BaselWorld 2010. Framing a dials of different colors from gray to chocolate is fluted or domed bezel encrusted with 24 or 46 scintillating brilliants. At 6 o’clock is the gem-set Roman numeral hour marker. Fresh, refined and extremely elegant, these new Rolex ladies’ luxury models eloquently demonstrate the gracefully feminine style pursued by all ladies’ timepieces. Top Ten Watch UK nominated these watches as the top 10 Most Desirable watch available Today. Through open vote from the people that made these 10 beautiful time pieces ever made and dating back several decades.

1. Rolex Sea Dweller
2. Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph
3. Breitling Emergency
4. Panerai Radiomir 1936 Special Edition
5. Patek Philippe Calatrava
6. Rolex Cosmograph
7. Omega Seamaster "James Bond"
8. Rolex Submariner Non-Date
9. IWC Big Pilot
10. Audemars Piguet T3 - The Terminator
From these two website, we can see that out of these, Rolex plays a major role in terms of publicity, popularity, appearance, value and image… Being a Rolex Owner, you should be proud of the watch you are wearing. If you had all these watch , then you are one of the man, does not mean you are rich enough but have a good taste enough to match with tehse votes of the Website… Simply not simple!
Watch Critics March 2012 edition Alain Chung has a very good illustration of three beautiful Daytona. The Red. The Blue and Green.. Whereby the dial material is Grossular, Sodalite and Chalcedony respectively. Rolex has been the expert in employing natural gem to make the dial, and those watch value will appreciate once after the production is discontinued. Recent year Rolex seldom work on the special dial made of natural gem as that is not easy and expensive to prepare.
Imagine you have to choose the gem for the even colour, inspection for no micro crack, the gem will be lapped to a thickness 0.4 mm approximately. then screen printing on it.. Laser cut holes and opening, insert the index. It may take 30 processes in order to make one, every process make have certain yield loss. Amongst 00 Pieces of the dials, there may be only 30 pieces is acceepted for use!
And that take a lot of time, effort, skill to achieve that, I can say some time the dial costs 30% of the cost of the whole watch.

Whilst when I search for my vintage fountain pen, the Waterman Patrician has the similar colour and likewise the Charisma…
When Waterman was losing ground to the other big three (Parker, Schaeffer, and Eversharp in 1926, They invested in the design of a new Art Deco Pen Patrician which was then launched in 1929, Entirely made of Celluloid and with a solid gold emblem, a fine big nib, the colour is magnificent. The Turquoise was one of the most beautiful pens 20 Century made. And has been top of the dream pen for Collectors.
Look at these Daytona, and Patrician, they have the similarity… Size is Big, colour is absolutely eye-catching, hand made, The Celluloid tae 5 months to settle before they can put it on the machine to chase. It takes 162 process step to make Rolex Oyster Case.
Price is High, a Patrician was selling at USD$10.00 in 1929. These Three Rolex Daytona will not selling less than 1 Million HK dollar. In my opinion, they are still the most beautiful watch money can buy. And there will be only 200 pieces only for each colour.
In term of personal perference, I like Blue (turquoise the most, then Red (the Ripple Red only in prototype) and Green (Emerald). Further more, Rolex would pursuit of the jewelery artistical excellence by carefully selection of proper colour and size of gemstones in cresating these Daytona. HK Snob

Reference
http://www.beautifullife.info/fashion-design/luxury-watches-the-most-beautiful-and-spectacular-models/
http://top10.watches.co.uk/
Watch Critics Magazine by Alain Chung, March 2012