Vintage Rolex on Sale Submariner 1680, 5513 and Sea-Dweller 1665

Rolex Submariner Ref 1680 S/N42XXXXX HK$78,000



Rolex Sea-Dweller Ref 1665 S/N60XXXXC HK$125.000

Rolex Submariner Ref 5513 S/N52XXXX HK$105,000

 


HK Snob

Story of Rolex Polar

Rolex Explorer II ref. 16570.


Rolex followed up the Explorer II ref. 16550 with the ref. 16570 in 1989.

It kept its 40mm size and stainless steel Oyster case and Oyster bracelet design.

New to the dial was the black outlines of the hour markers and against the cool white dial, the luminescent indexes really pop up. It is so called Polar!

Also new to the Polar ref. 16570 was the movement. Early models of the 16570 are equipped with the Caliber 3185 automatic movement, while later versions are powered by the Caliber 3186. Also found on the later versions of the ref. 16570 is the “ROLEX ROLEX ROLEX” engraving on the rehaut as an anti-counterfeit measure.

This particular ref. 16550 dates back to 1997/1999 so it’s powered by the Caliber 3185 and does not included the rehaut engraving.

Whether opting for a new vintage or the Explorer II Polar, these Rolex sport watches are a real take two.

Robust stainless steel coupled with a cool white dial and a bright 24-hour hand makes for a timeless sports watch that brings out one’s adventurous side.

Both exceedingly practical thanks to its time, date, and GMT-hand functions, and impeccably designed, the Explorer II Polar is a Rolex not to be missed.


HK Snob

Rolex words

Say "NO" to Polishing

Life is too short to wear inexpensive watches

Sexy Plexi

Only Rolex, no Polex

There is always a hidden reason for a Cheap Vintage Rolex.

Minimalist likes No Cyclops

Pepsi, Coke, Hulk, Batman, Smurf, Kermit, Thunderbird, eagle, President, what else?

HK Snob

What is the Vintage Submariner practical for everyday use?

 

Not all vintage Submariners are going to be practical for everyday use. Some may be too fragile, others extremely rare or valuable. However, there are many great vintage Submariner options that will hold up to the rigors of daily life with reasonable price. One, in particular is the Rolex Submariner reference 16800.

 

Rolex Submariner 16800

Submariner 16800 was first released in 1978 as an improved version over the earlier model 1680. It remained in production for a full decade until it was later replaced by the reference 168000. While it improved substantially upon its predecessor, the reference 16800 is known as a “transitional” Submariner to next model Reference 16610.

 

Water Resistance

This model introduced Rolex’s caliber 3035 movement, and added a quickset date function to the Submariner. The reference 16800 was also the First Submariner to feature a sapphire crystal, and the first to benefit from the improved depth rating (from 200 meters to 300 meters).

 

Rolex Submariner 16800

The Rolex 16800 was a breakthrough for the Submariner line; however it retained certain key traits that linked it to its predecessors. Most notable among these was the matte dial with painted hour markers. Some, very late examples of the 16800 were fitted with gloss dials and hour markers outlined in white gold. These are considered “less transitional” than earlier models, and much more closely resemble the reference 168000 Submariner that followed.

 

Vintage Rolex (VR)

Choosing a vintage Submariner over a new one is a great way to maintain exclusivity and ensure that your Rolex Submariner is unique. While not all vintage Submariners are practical for everyday use, consider 16800 is using sapphire crystal for scratch proof, 300M water resistance, Quick set date, and higher bph 28,800 with higher time keeping accuracy. The reference 16800 is a fantastic option that boasts contemporary specifications and durability. Moreover, it is less been pushed to sky high the price.

A Submariner Ref 16800 is available between typically HK$58,000 to 65,000 nowadays.

HK Snob

Rolex On Sale

Rolex On Sale




1, Daytona 16520 A series no Paper $140,000
2. Submariner Hulk 116610LV BNIB $76,000
3 Submariner 16610LN T-25 dial with paper and Box $45,000
4. Submariner 16800 patina Dial watch Only $60,000 Year 1981.
5. Sea Dweller, 16600 Overhauled by Rolex, Changed with new Crystal, bezel insert. with RSC Paper $44,500
5. Submariner Kermit 16610LV Flat 4, Mint, full set $100,000
6. Submariner Kermit 16610LV Sharp 4. normal wear and tear lines on it, with Paper and Box $70,000
7. GMT Master Pepsi 16700, T-25 dial, with paper and box $55,000
8. Explorer II White dial 16570 watch only light polish $30,000
9. Explorer II White Creamy Dots 16570 Full Set $40,000
10. Vacheron Constantin Overseas black dial big date, with Box $60,000


HK Snob

Rolex Date Just Ref 16234 with Sodalite Diamond Dial on Sale

小有 全原裝😍Sodalite寶石面 大水泡鑽石字😍ref.16234 大裝36mm.case. 😃K:serials 連原裝鋼帶,送配色鱷魚皮帶代用鋼扣.原裝盒 勞力士服務中心行紙.

Rare Rolex Date Just Ref 16234 36mm men' auto watch with Sodalite dial with 10 pieces diamonds.

K series, just been service checked by ROLEX S service Center HK with light polish.

Including original steel bracelet.

Sodalite dial with diamond could be found only on few pieces of Rolexes, this is the third one I.have seen in the past 5 years.

If you want to.have a Like no other wstch. Consider this.

Price is sweet too.

P.O.A.

Hk Snob
HK Watch Fever

Pre-owned Daytona Ref 6265-0 on Sale

Rolex Daytona Ref 6265-0 Serial Number #:5527XXX
Approx year of release 1978-1979
It comes with Rolex Service paper
Note; That the dial is servce dial.
Perfect Running Condition.
HK$370,000


HK Snob

Rolex Daytona Zenith on Sale (Ref 16520)

Two Daytona Zenith Ref 16520 A Series is on Sale.



White one and Black one as pair.

Serious parties please give me a suggestion on this two items.

It is rare to get Full Set in pair like this.

This is a consignment by a Philippine Daytona Collector.

HK Snob

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Ref 26020ST Safari Chrono 42mm

Used watch.

Watch Only HK$99,900

Or trade with Rolex

HK Snob

Rolex Collectible items for Sale

A Rolex Collector is willing to sell some of his private collection to serious Investors and or collectors.

They include:-

Daytona Ref 16520 white dial, Full set, A series.

Daytona Ref 16520 black dial full set, A series

Daytona Ref 16520 Black Dial Full set, K -series, Patrizzi dial

Submariner 14060 flour liners Series M (2007) full sets NOS.

Contact me and discuss.

HK Snob

When Patek meets Audemars and Constantin,,,

The Big Three Musketeers of Swiss Watch.

I met two Philippine watch collectors in the hotel.


These are three watches that each carries a history of its own, no one could not gree that they are master of Swiss Watches…

Patek Philippe (PP)

Polish watchmaker Antoni Patek started making pocket watches in 1839 in Geneva, along with his fellow Czech-born Polish partner Franciszek Czapek. They separated in 1844, and in 1845 Patek joined with the French watchmaker Adrien Philippe, inventor of the key-less winding mechanism

Vacheron Constantin (VC)

The company was founded in 1755 by Jean-Marc Vacheron, an independent watchmaker in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1770, his company created the first complication, and nine years later he designed the first engine-turned dials.

Audemars Piguet (AP) s

AP is a Swiss manufacturer of complicated mechanical watches founded in 1875 by watch makers Jules-Louis Audemars and Edward-Auguste Piguet.

 

These are their iconic sport designs till today.

PP Nautilius – Designed by Gerald Genta and launched in 1976.

AP Royal Oak – Deigned by Gerald Genta and Launched in 1972.

VC Overseas – Designed by Dino Modolo and launched in 1994, and Chronograph was launched in 1999.

Basically they are automatic watch with power reserve for about 40 hours

They are adjusted to 5 positions.

Water proof

VC – 150M

PP- 120M

AP-50M

Price PP s much more expensive than the AP and VC as it is made of solid Pink gold.

Make your choice to take one you like, they are fine accurate time piece that can service you for many decades.

HK Snob





Originality and Patina of a Rolex

Ref. 8171, Movement No. 56'924, Case No. 686'258, Circa 1951. 38mm diam. Sold for US$161,000 on 7 June 2016

A Rolex reference 8171 in stain steel that we sold at Christie’s New York last June. A pilot purchased the watch in the early 1950s and likely wore it for a few years until it stopped working for certain reason. That is one of the most complicated watches ever made by Rolex and featured a moon phase indicator as well as a complete calendar display. Probably due to the complexity of the movement and the associated cost of servicing it, the gentleman put it away and it passed down within the family unused for decades.

This Rolex stainless steel triple calendar with Moonhase and patina. Signed Rolex, Perpetual, Precision, Ref. 8171, Movement No. 56'924, Case No. 686'258, Circa 1951. 38mm diam. Sold for US$161,000 on 7 June 2016….. Seems you don’t think that watch could hit that final bid amount the Auction!

It is due to its originality and Patina!

 

 “Patina”

I open dictionary to find the meaning of “Patina”… Patina is a green film formed naturally on copper and bronze by long exposure or artificially (as by acids) and often valued aesthetically for its color, or a surface appearance of something grown beautiful especially with age or use, contacting the sunlight ultraviolet and or heat.

Eric Wind, Specialist in Watches in New York, reflects on the move towards ‘honest’ vintage watches whose appeal is enhanced by the ‘ravages’ of time:-

“One of the most interesting trend in vintage watch collecting has been the desire to move away from watches that have been restored and polished to look ‘like new’ in favour of watches in original condition with honest patina. Nicks, scratches and fading that may have developed over the course of decades of wear can enhance a watch’s desirability.”

This trend towards seeking honest patina has extended worldwide, particularly over the last fifteen years, and is associated with a massive growth in the number of vintage watch collectors. Many people are drawn to vintage watches for the beauty of having something that looks old.

 

 The concept that collectors prize originality over restoration is one of the things that many people find most surprising about collecting vintage watches.

 

Aged to perfection

The concept that collectors prize originality over restoration is one of the things that many people find most surprising.

These are the points we might need to note when you get into a Vintage Rolex.

Dial and hands

Radium and tritium lume on dials and in hands can look, from a warm creamy white, orange to a bright yellow, is so much cooler than the stark and sterile bright white look of LumiNova and Super-LumiNova found on new watches made after 1998.  So watch before 1998 is preferred as they have the chance to get “Vintage Look!”

The original sets of dot on the bezel, and the hands of the watch is usually different colour under the watch over the decades… Unless that the hands are looking so new with WHITE, or the bezel of a Pepsi GMT looks vivid red instead of purple after 30 years, It is time for you to have counter check by expert. As the hands or bezel may have been replaced with newer versions… thence the watch value will drop.

A tropical (dark chocolate) dial is mots preferred and price could be many time higher than the same watch of same age without tropical dial.

 

Case

Preferred unpolished.

If the cases were polished to remove scratches and make them look like new, making the lugs a bit thinner in the process through the removal of metal. A Fat boy is always preferred instead of a thin guy had been trimmed off his fats.

Of particular interest and desirability is a black dial that has turned brown or ‘tropical’ with fading over the years.

 

Note before you send your watch to Services at Rolex Service Centre:-

They always ask your permission to change the dial, hands, bezels even bracelet to new one.

They NEVER return your original parts after the service… Whether how would they use the parts is a big questions to me… well, you can guess… will they destroy it?

 

The dial of a Rolex Submariner can be 80% of the total price of your Rolex given by your grandfather…

Net time think carefully before you send the watch to Rolex for service…

My suggestion is KEEP it as it is as that is the Originality history of the Watch.

 

Other choice, send it to some of the renowned watch servicing company for a more intimate care to service your family heritage!

 

If you don’t like that Patina looks of the watch, give it to me I buy you a Char Siu Rice…. And I don’t mind keeping it for you.

 

HK Snob

 

Watch on Sale

Sea Dweller 1665 Patina Dial $570,000

Day Date Oyster Quartz 19018 Birch Dial $73,000

Submariner 5513 $125,000

Daytona 16520 A series $145,000

HK Snob

Rolex Investment.

Rolex Daytona Ref 16520

Since 1988 to 2000

Rolex Watchgret

Should we go for new Release Rolex or a Known Vintage Rolex as an investment project!? I have no definitely answer on this… as both are one of the ways to make your Rolex becoming an investment item. It depends on Which watch you buy.

Imagine that when the Daytona Zenith 16520 was released in 1989, I was able to buy it with HK$29,500 at Chow Tak Fook.

If I had made up my mind to purchase say ten pieces my investment with Lump sum HK$280,250 probably I get extra less 5% discount.  Total investment cost $280,250.

Well, I believe I can sell it now at each $180,000 each now with NOS BNIB for black, so I could made

 a profit of $1,519,750!

 

However note that if I put that Money on real estate we, in 1989, I could still buy a house with down payment of $300,000 by now it may be having a net profit $2,000,000!

 

Rolex Submariner Hulk Ref 116610LV

So What’s Next!?

The Rolex Submariner and “The Incredible Hulk” completed their unlikely 48-year collision course in 2010. While the renowned durability of each may have been their only common thread for a half-century, the Baselworld 2010 appearance of the Rolex Submariner 116610 LV “Incredible Hulk” forever bound the two icons from Rolex and Marvel Comics.

This one doesn’t require much preamble; it’s a big green Rolex Submariner. Combine the “Super Case”/”Maxi Dial” of 2008’s 116619 Submariner with a green bezel and a green dial, and you’re one online forum quip away from a gamma-burst of Rolex collector infatuation.

This Incredible Hulk is listed at $68,100 at Rolex AD in Hong Kong. I think I have seen there is no stock for one in three month is one of my known AD shop…. So you still can put your name on the waiting list.. but don’t think that they will call you to collect the watch…

It is selling from Dealer to dealer from $60,000, 2014, $63,000 in 2015, $66,000 in 2016, $69,000 March 2017, and astonishing $72,000 by May 2017… (Crazy price)

From this data we know two things, generally Rolex had reduced the making of Sport watch across all lines beginning of this year and particularly lesser is made on Submariner Hulk.

I speculate this will be discontinued by 2018, Let’s watch Out. After the discontinuing, the price will up to more than $80,000 immediately.  And probably $120,000  by 2024.

HK Snob

 

Abbreviation

Watchgret- watch regret

AD- Authorized dealer

NOS- new old stock

BNIB- brand new in box

Dollar indicted here is HKD – Hong Kong Dollar  (1 USD- 7,75 HKD)