Rolex Country Code

Since 1985 Rolex used 3 numbers as to indicateCountry Code of that Rolex Watch.

On the Warranty certificate there were punched holes representing the Country Code.
That is an indication where the watch would be shipped from Rolex Genève.

The Rolex has certain marketing demand on watch from every different country, some of the
special watch may not be available in certain country, and some of the watch of Country A and
Country B may have minor difference. Only Rolex marketing manager knows the myth.
Somehow that Country code could be used to answer question from the Customs officer
when you cross from one Country to the Border of next.

Rolex has never published a list of country codes, these codes are the collection of
Rolex watch collectors.

* These "special" country codes stand for Rolex Headquarters itself and are only used
for a direct purchase by private customers at Rolex headquarters.
Those watches Cannot be Fake…!! What a Collectible Rolex Country Code!

HK is 888 which is very Good for Chinese, “發” pronounced as “FAT” meaning simply “Wealth”
“Treble 888 is really good Country Code for people of HK! “發發發”

828 is Taiwan and 838 is China which are all good numbers, so you should know Rolex has a
good understanding about the need of Chinese.

These are the Country Code we have for your Reference.

Code Country 010 Switzerland 012 Switzerland 013 Switzerland 014 Switzerland 015 Switzerland 021 Switzerland 022 Switzerland 023 Switzerland 025 Switzerland 026 Switzerland 033 Switzerland 037 Switzerland 044 Switzerland 045 Switzerland 061 Switzerland* 100 Germany 109 Germany* 110 France 112 France 113 France 119 France/Comex 120 Austria 121 Austria 123 Austria 126 Austria 128 Austria 130 Belgium/Luxemburg 133 Netherlands 134 Netherlands 135 Netherlands 136 Netherlands 137 Netherlands 138 Netherlands 150 Spain 160 Great Britain 170 Italia 200 Greece 201 Malta 202 Turkey 207 Corfu

Code Country 208 Greece 213 Portugal 217 Portugal 217 Portugal 218 Portugal 226 Danmark 228 Danmark 233 Danmark 237 Iceland 265 Sweden 267 Sweden 270 Sweden 271 Sweden 283 Finnland 321 Czech Republic 325 Serbia Montenegro 400 Hong Kong 413 Korea 430 Singapore/Brunai 431 Malaysia 440 Taiwan 500 India 505 Pakistan 514 Bangladesh 527 Middle East 529 Saudi Arabia 532 Saudi Arabia 535 Katar 536 Abu Dhabi 537 Dubai 538 Oman 542 Iran 548 Israel 612 Egypt 634 Congo 668 Mombasa 680 South Africa 700 Canada 710 USA 720 Mexico

Code Country 722 Mexico 733 Honduras 741 Bahamas 742 Bermuda 752 Jamaica 757 Antigua/Aruba 758 Virgin Islands 761 Netherl. Antilles 762 Aruba 765 Antigua 766 Saint Martin 767 Grand Cayman 768 Panama 770 Venezuela 780 Brasil 781 Chile 790 Argentinia 810 Australia 818 Phillipines 828 Taiwan 838 China 842 New Zealand 871 Hawaii 872 Alaska 873 Guam 888 Hong Kong 900 Japan 902 NATO Airbase (D) 906 NATO Airbase (D) 907 NATO HQ (D)

HK Snob

Cartier Divan Limited edition

Cartier Divan Mother of Pearl Dial, Quartz movement. Stainless steel case. 2005 Limited Edition for 2,000 pieces for lady who has crush on Cartier. An original Cartier Alligator strap. 99% new with Box and Waranty certificates.
HK Snob

Rolex Date Just Lady 31mm

There is a trend for big watch on even ladiest, Daytona, Panerai, Royal Oak Off shore, not everyone could get a right match. Somehow if you think that a bigger watch can bring you more into the trend, go for it.

But if the wrist is small, a proper size of watch may add a bit of feminine gentleness… this is a cut out from Rolex Website. I do think that this 18KT solid gold would be a powerful debate for a smaller but elegant watch.

For an example, Ref, 178288, Rolex Date Just 31mm, Oyster 31mm 18 KT Yellow gold, White Mother of pearl dial President Strap. Or the one in the photo.

It is just the Right size Rolex for woman.

HK Snob

How Do Breitling make their watches?

Quality Watch Made by Breitling

COSC aka C.O.S.C. is Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres, the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute, which is an independent institute responsible for certifying the accuracy and precision of wristwatches in Switzerland.

There are 26,000,000 watch made by Switzerland a year made by about 600 Swiss Watch Companies.

Rolex submit by far the largest number of movements about 600,000 units a year to COSC followed by Omega SA, Breitling, TAG Heuer.
Note that Breitling submits 100% of their movements for certification but other manufacturers only submit certain models.

So how do Breitling made them?
A Prototype Breitling takes 14 months to complete, it was made by 2,000 drawings and assemble plans for such a watch. They need test prototypes watch running for 12 months, after that, Breitling Engineer dismantles 350 tiny parts for inspection in a forensic way, many of the parts have to gone through SEM (Scanning Electronics Microscope) that can magnify the parts to 14,000 times for securitization.
They will look for minor wear and tear, or any micro crack, or any damages, thence to improve the design or part fabrication. They may release a new version of watch with new parts of revised version, or change the types or amount of lubricants, tightening the specification for assembly.

The base plate of the watch is made of brass alloy , a material best for machining, and having proper for the watch. All parts are made at +/- 5 microns dimension and some even smaller.  They will go though certain QC check points by visual inspection for AOI ( automatic inspection machine) for zero human error.
They clean all the pasts by submerging in a Ultrasonic cleaning bath, rinse it and dry it by air.

Those 346 parts will be ready to be assembled to a number of 71 pre-assemblies.
These 71 pre-assemblies will go through a Central High Way with 36 operations for final assembly. Then pass to Casing Up stage, pointers, hands and dial will be assembled, clean by purges of clean compressed air before the final casing with crystal and crown.

Then the assembled watch will gone through a 90 minutes self winding test on a Auto winder.
The insert the watch into a pressure chamber to see if there is any drop or pressure, to ensure the case is water tight. The movement will be tested for accuracy, functional check and final cosmetic inspection.
From the up stream process to final packing, the watch would have gone through 1,000 test and check before it leave from the factory to your hands.

This is a time consuming process to keep your Breitling time accurate all the time.

HK Snob

What is the best known Reliable Vintage Watch Movement?

If one were asked what kind of watch will you buy if you are offered one chance to buy. I guess that 75% of the people would choose Rolex!

Reason is simply Rolex is a tough guy, it runs day and everyday, it works hard and never steal your time away!

New or old a Rolex after an Overhaul it will run well for 5 -20 years without any special care of. Particular model Orchid I bought for my mother in 1982, it still running well and accurate without any Rolex Service at all!

It I have a few watches that I have been used for 20 years and still keep time very accurate You should note that a Rolex should maintain a daily accuracy of +4 to +6 seconds, * after a few years it would slow down to say + 2 seconds as the lubrication oil dries over the years, and it carries the tiny particles, dust and the debris of the movement wear out, the viscosity of the lubricants changes high and additional friction will slow down the watch.

In the 70’s Some of the best movement that collection won't miss: IWC 85 series, Vacheron Constantin 920 (Audemars Piguet 2120, Vacheron Constantin 1120, Patek Philippe PP28-255*) Patek Philippe 460, Omega series 5, and the most adorable 1570.

Especially Rolex is the most cost effect amongst al these top brands. I still recall that PP AP, VC and Piaget had been named as The Big Four from Switzerland in all ads and watch magazine in the 80's.

The new design watch has to fulfill the new demand of the market, consideration for mass production with cost reduction, there have been a lot of changes in watch movement design, we have seen a lot of expensive watch that could not work in some “harsh condition”, it stops once in a while that you do not able to foresee when, some expensive thin watch crown was able to be pulled out or broken, some expensive watch could not take time accurate better than 10 Seconds a day, some have broken Escapement fork, or deformed hair spring. Some watch worth more than $20,000 still using the simplest form of adjustment on the hairspring, at least you should put a screw set type, of course I don’t expect a Gooseneck adjustment on this watch unless I pay more $10,000. Well, many of the watch buyer or users do not know much about the design of the watch. The brand name would tell everything!? Sometimes it may not.

So How about a Rolex Ref, 1570? Well, I met the carpenter on the Ship “ White Sea”, he worn an old worn out case of Ref 1570 and his job is to chip out the rust on board the ship’s deck every the other day. Right hand with a hammer, left hand holding a Chisel, its Rolex had been tortured by such vibration for over 1`million time, but his Rolex on his left hand never stop… that was one of the amazing story I say when I work on board the Merchant Vessel “White Sea” as a Radio officer. It was scrapped and sold 1983 in Bombay.

My Conclusion

The Rolex Caliber 1570 is a real workhorse movement and there are tons of them out there ticking away. Many of watchmakers and Watch Collector tell me that the 1570/1575 which were introduced in approx 1965 are one of the best movements ever made. If you have one, I am sure they are running well.

Rolex is a name for Celebrity and also a workhorse for Carpenter!!

PS
* When I buy Rolex, some time I select one with fast 8 Seconds a day..

as you know Chinese's supertitions, "8" means "rich" and If I wear a Rolex with 8 seconds fast everyday, meaning that I will be Rich Everyday... but the problem is nowadays not so many Rolex AD still offer a Selection on the watch by checking the heart beat of the watch...only a few does. and Usually it is not too easy to get one, normally Rolex is shipped with +2 to +5 seonds a day from all i know... Correct me if I am wrong!

HK Snob

Price Information of new and used Rolex in HK, Thailand, Singapore, Europe

Written by a 1972 Montblanc Meisterstuck 82 fountain pen with Salior Kiwakuro Extra Black Ink on Conqueror Paper

New Watch from Rolex AD
Many countries Rolex AD had started increasing Rolex Price, but still the official price of Rolex HK is cheaper than many countries. For an example, Rolex Daytona official price in HK is HKD$98,000, whereas they are selling About HKD$100,800 in Thailand.

Thailand
For an example, Rolex Submariner Ref, 1l6610LN in HK is HK$62,100, after 5% discount will be, HK$58,800
In Bangkok , they were selling Baht 270,000, after 5% discount will be HKD$65,769 base on Exchange rate 1 HKD=3.9 Baht
That is a difference of  HKD$6,969. that is a price good enough to buy a Tissot Touch+

Rolex Ref 178341 Rolex Datejust Lady 31mm (RG/SS - Brown – Diamonds) Rolex HK AD is selling HK$99,600 less 5% HK$96,200  where as in  Thailand is selling USD$13000 , that is HKD$101,010 net. So HK is HKD$4,810.

UAE is likely Cheapest for Rolex
UAE is 10-12% lower than HK for all Rolex model except Daytona Steel, Daytona Black white is now AED 45,000.00 on 13 July 2012, So next time you go there, do not forget to buy one

Singapore
Due to their strong Singapore dollar 1 SDG=7.9, they would be cheap to buy Rolex in HK , but I know that you know the shops in Singapore, their discount can be up to 15%. So there may be a good bargain if you negotiate with the shops in Singapore
I still remember I bought 4 Explorer I new in Peoples’ Park with HKD$14,000 each , at that time HK was selling HKD$18,000. that was 1996.

In April 2012
Rolex Daytona Ref, 116520 Either black and White Dial, HK Rolex AD is selling HKD$98,000 net but We can get it HKD$97,000 in Praque, HKD$93,000 in Vienna but
HKD$100,500 in Budapest. Desmond told me that he bought aDaytona 116520 white dial in Switerland with Euro 8,903 (HKD$89,920) after discount and tax refund in August. So that is a good price!

In grey dealer in HK, we can get it with HKD$950,000 to HKD$96,000
So they are quite close, with Vienna cheapest.
Note that there are more Black Dial in Manila Makati as Philippino like White more than Black, but in HK, more people like black and few likes White. Price of White and Black dial is by right the same price.

Pre-owned Watch price update in HK
I had a short tour to some of the shops in Sham Shui Po Like Luen Shing and Kuen Kee we can see the price of Rolex Watches are:

Submariner ref, 116610 HKD$35,000-
GMT master HKD$52,800-
Submariner Blue Dial Two Tone HKD$49,800
Ref 10460M Submariner without date HKD$29,800
GMT master 40mm HKD$35,000

Kuen Kee pricing  (latest update 23 Sep 2012)
Ref, 16600 Submariner is selling HKD$38,000 to 47,500
Explorer II Ref, 16571 is selling HKD$28,900 to 39,000
My Comment is that if you are fond of Two Tone, The Rolex Submariner is worth to buy as their price is attractive, may be people tends to go for either solid gold and Stainless steel, so Two Tone is being ignored, that is a good deal if you like them!

Price was the listed price on the shop on 9 September, that is a price for your reference only, there are more expensive one depending on condition, some are coming with original Warranty certificate and box.

You can get another HKD$500-1,000 discount depending how well you know the shops and your skill in negotiation.

From what the price I know It is cheaper to buy new Rolex in UAE and Daytona in Switerland.

Note, Overseas prices are supplied by Rolex Fans in my blog, that is for your reference as there is factors like timing and Exchange Rate for that country.

Sham Shui Po Snob

German Watch

German produces watch with same kind of passion, precision and accuracy as Switzerland used to be.

Germany has long history on watch making, not just those names you have seen in HK, like A. Lang, Ghasutte, there are numerous brands which have very good quality in general.

These are common names we know such as Lange, Ghasutte, Nomos, Limes. Thomas Ninchritz, Thunderbirds, J. Springs, Habring, Bombardier, Friedenchild,  and Braun…

When I visited Munchen last time, I had a chance to se many of the German Watches…

They are great watch to wear, not too expensive as comparing with Switzerland…

They are good to wear, simple to use, last for long and most important is much easier to afford.

Note that this name Braun, we have the famous shaver who can be the best in technology comparable to the Dutch Philips. However Braun also produces great Audio Equipment., in the 1986, the Braun Loudspeaker with active amplifier, it could beat all the European, American and Japanese great names in Loudspeaker under Absolute Sound Listening Test, JBL, B&W, Audio Research, Tannoy, Advent, Sony, Infinity...etc

Recent reports says that Apple iPhone, iPod design was a copy of 70’s Braun products!

Braun Watch is the icon of Simplicity, function and good quality… when you have chance to see Braun , look at heir watches.

HK Snob

A Passion for Watch

Sometimes we are not aware we are in the material world until you see some other people…who...

I met today and he has a great idea to use a safety pin to wrok as his watch buckle… See attached picture.

My old man taught me do not compare with other, as some one may just spend a few million dollars to buy his third car… Well, I may save up one year salary to buy a “better watch!”

Well! So long you like what you have and you enjoy what you have, and you treasure what you have with passion… that is the greatest joy of life….

I like Rolex… don’t think that I earn money easily… I have one third of my time being complained by customers, one third of my time complained by family asking me why work so late and one third of my time being questioned and scolded by boss! So what?

When I have time I look at my toys… I use a magnifying glass to see how precise, and how beautiful that Rolex dial…how perfect the Oyster curvature body can be so smooth as It was polished by Robot at such a precision of 0.3 microns

I wait until midnight and see when the Date and Day wheels to advance once with that Crystal Clear sound of ‘ Tick”…  and it happens EXACTLY at 00:00 midnight!

That is the joy that could overcoming all other nuisance and unhappiness I had today.

Tomorrow I wear this watch to work! And start another hard day’s life. But once I see my Rolex, it seems smiles to me!

Since we have to work hard, please treat yourself with a bit RESPECT, go buy a decent Rolex by year end to REWARD what I have suffered for the whole year!

And Please do not put that Rolex in the dark, cold Safe in the bank… you should wear it on you warm live write and give it a few round of twist… it will gain it life and go with you!

HK Snob

Rolex OysterQuartz White Gold Ref, 19019

Another White Gold Rare Species, Rolex OysterQuartz Ref, 19019

Rolex Was made a new technology conquering other Swiss Watches by launching a OysterQuartz which is a migration from mechanical watch into Electronics Watch, they obtained the first patent mechanical Electronics Quartz Watch back to 1952.

In the book written by British Collector James M. Dowling “The best of Time” mentioned that there were 21 amongst 50 Rolex patents were related to Electronic watches.

Rolex had announced the Digital LED Sport watch under Ref 7056 prototype, don't worry, it has not been on sales. If you got one, you will be very Rich!

First Rolex Quartz model, the Ref, 5100. built with Beta 21 in 1970, same Movement as Enicar and Omega was using. They made 1,000 pieces, then started to make Rolex’s Own Electronics Quartz movement. In 1978, after 5 years research and development, Rolex introduced Cal. 5035 on its DATEJUST and Cal. 5055 on the Famous DAY-Date.

They're an analogue thermo-compensation 11 jewel movement (one of the worlds first) that utilized the latest CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) which has an advantage of low power consumption. And the heart of the digital time circuitry with a 32khz Quartz oscillator. This was likely the Rolex’ most Accurate Movement. It was made under such a great care to treat it like a piece of Gem, highly polished. Beautifully insert into the Solid, Robust, Sturdy Oyster Case.

OysterQuartz was extremely rare as they were produced in such a small number of 1,000 pieces a year, Since 1977 till 2001, they have totally made with a number less than 25,500 pieces. That is a small number in comparing with 150,000 mechanical Movement a year in the 70’s till close to 1,000,000 a new nowadays,  That is so rare to be found now.

Imagine also Rolex produced 10 pieces of stainless steel watch, only about 3 two tone and 1

So , this Ref 19019 is the rarest species of Rolex watch. If you can find a special Dial White Gold OysterQuartz, please send me a picture… How About Platinum? I have never heard of.. How about Stainless steel OysterQuartz, it must be the Prototypes, I you can find one , that may be the only one on Earth!

Now A day, a Ref, 19019 Rolex OysterQuartz White Gold may value about HKD$120,000. if you can have a special Dial like Red, Blue or Yellow ( I think it might not have)  the Price is a few folds higher I guess!

So When people wear a White Gold OysterQuartz, that is a real Collectible Item.

HK Snob
PS
The above White Gold OysterQuartz was a Courtesy Picture oif Chrono24, and the One Yellow Gold OysterQuartz is mine, and I had once owned a Solid Yellow gold Black Dial without Diamond and two Two Tone Black Dial. I am looking forward to buy the one in White Gold from one of the Hong Kong Collectors. Just have to match with timing that I have that amount of money at same time he needs to sell it...

Also I missed buying the very special OysterQuartz from friend of mine last year, I feel regret now as it was in mint condition, great design and great FAT body (not been  polished)... I think this watch has less than 30 pieces in teh world!

 

Rolex, The Most Adorable Watch of HK Snob

Rolex is without doubt the most recognized watch in the world today, what is not so well known is that the modern Rolex is the basis of almost all modern watches. The waterproof case, the self winding movement, the date window in the dial, the GMT two time zone watches and the diving watch are all Rolex inventions.

The Company itself is unique in that it is still privately owned and that the principal shareholder is a private family trust all of whose profits are given to charity. Due to this unique structure it does not have to concern itself with short-term profit goals and can therefore plan for the long term. 

History of Rolex

The Founder of Rolex Hans Wilsdorf, who created this name “Oyster” to the World’s first waterproof wrist watch in 1926. All Rolex Oyster are warranted pressure proof to a depth of minimum 300 feet/100m and for some special model up to 4,000 feet.

How the oyster case is made?

Each of the Oyster case is stamped out from a solid block of stainless steel, 18kt solid good or solid platinum. I remember that the TV ad in 1985 had this description:” Each Rolex Oyster case is made at least 162 separate operations are necessary to transform the metal block into an Oyster case, a further 32 operations are needed to manufacture the Twinlock winding Crown, nearly all finishing is done by hand” until today!

Quite irony, if that is a Hong Kong Company, likely they will call this ‘’ Stupidity” as once product is successful we should go for next step for more profit ; “Cut Cost” to reduce the operation of 162 procedures to say 80 on the case.

They probably reduce 80% of the cost of making the Case... Why Rolex did not take this move? Just because the believe in a stubborn way, that this is always the best cost to have 162 operations to make the case that has to take the tons of pressure without minor crack and that watch case could likely last for a few hundred years!

On 23 Jan 1960, a Rolex was carried with the Trieste on his virgin historic dive to 10,916 Metres at World’s deepest place under Mariana Trench at the west Pacific Ocean, near Guam. The Famous “ Submariner” was introduced in 1961, till today, it is still the most successful Sport watch from Rolex.

Rolex is Accurate

Someone said watch does not need accuracy, but Rolex is stubborn on this , watch has to be accurate.. and their they watch is accuracy as 80% of their watch is certified official as Superlative Chronometers in Switzerland for 5 positions at three temperate for 15 days,+/-4 sends a day, in other words each of their parts must be conforming the tolerance of tolerance of 46.29 ppm. That is not the toughest part, it has to withstand an acceleration force and high temperature in dessert and low temperature in Alaska without any reliability issues. How do they make it? It is Rolex Quality!

Why Rolex is so successful?

Over the years, Rolex has not changed the design at all, just perfect it with some minor modification, as for Watch Collector, the early Model is sough after, and the famous Comex Submariner is in auction for $200,000 now for a watch that was only sold at $350 in 1960.

Why Rolex is so sturdy?

They have used double Shock protection on the precision part like the shaft of the timing wheel, and the Escapement fork spindle. Thus unique feature keep Rolex a name of the most Durable Watch. I have a Rolex running for 20 years that is 4,905,600,000 cycles of the escapement fork, it is still taking good time and need not overhaul yet!

This may be exceptional case, but Rolex does not need to take care too much like others!

The Quality Speaks for itself

It is their stubborn in design, engineering, parts manufacturing and assembly.

Rolex ship put about 800,000 chronometers a year, I have never heard of any return of a Rolex.      

That is Rolex earn a name of quality of most reliable watch in the world.

It is not cheap of course, $5,000 for a stainless steel watch, $25,000 for a gold watch and $50,000 for a platinum watch, the beauty for this marketing strategy is common Movement!

Common movement

They use the almost same movement, only the difference is the material for watch case, model and other associated package... Another successful factor of Rolex is very conservative in changing to new design. I took them almost 10 years to change from a six of 36mm to 42 mm case diameter in order keep up trend for "big size!"

This is my Rolex I take it with me for the past 2 years, I never look at it unless I want to read the time most of the time only Other people look at it! Because It is a White Gold Rolex Day Date!

HK Snob

Who is next Omega Brand Ambassador?

                                I took this picrure at Manila using my HTC One

Cindy Crawford

She was an OMEGA ambassador since 1995, Cindy Crawford has been promoting OMEGA products longer than any of the company’s other ambassadors. Cindy Crawford participates not only in advertising campaigns but is also actively involved in events and in product design – giving her personal input and helping to give the finishing touches. Her inspiration and opinions are of great value to OMEGA. (1995-2005)

Nicole Kidman

Alongside her acting career, Nicole Kidman is a tireless campaigner for children’s and women’s rights and is a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF Australia and UN Women. The United Nations has also named her a “Citizen of the World”. Since joining OMEGA’s family of brand ambassadors in 2005, Nicole Kidman has figured prominently in the “My Choice” advertising campaign and has made select public appearances on behalf of the company.

(2005-now)

Zhang Ziyi

Zhang Ziyi is an actress of rare beauty and monumental achievement. Zhang perfectly fits the OMEGA brand ambassador profile: in addition to a film career which has earned her worldwide critical praise and public acclaim, she is a passionate advocate for the things she believes in. She is a Global Ambassador for the Special Olympics, the competition for individuals with mental disabilities and is a spokesperson for “Care for Children”, a foster-home program in China.
Zhang Ziyi is the highest ranking woman on Forbes’s list of China’s most powerful celebrities and the journal also rates her as the woman with the greatest amount of social influence in China.

(2009-now)

China is the biggest Market for Omega in the next 15 years, I beleive they are looking for some prominent representative China beauty as an Ambassador.

Who is the next Omega brand ambassador?  Fan Bing Bing…!  HK Snob's rough guess!

HK Snob

PS. Who do you like Most!?