Comments:
New "old" watch added to the collection
No bells and whistles here.. Just a 14270 Explorer.
The #114270 was my first mechanical watch early on in my career and has had a significant impact on my collecting journey - it cost me SGD $3,500 which was a lot of money back then (at least for me) to spend on a watch. I wore that watch like the tool it was intended to be and thoroughly mangled the watch (p.s. I wasn't very careful with it 😂). Do I regret letting the watch go? Why yes, I do every now and again. Not because of how rare or how it's doubled in value over time but because of the memories I made with it on my wrist and the years I had it as a one watch collection (yes I was that guy).
A couple years later.. I chanced upon my grail (a Blackout 14270) at an Antiquorum auction (2016/2017 iirc) and managed to make it mine. Boxes, papers and in pristine condition. Honestly, I couldn't wear the watch like I was supposed to. I ended up coddling the watch massively and it sat in my safe for years before I decided to move it along. Sad but also relieved in a sense.
Fast forward to present day, the watch you see in this post came to my attention. If you know this watch, you know it doesn't come up often. Compared to the piece I had this was more "special" (nerd speech begins here). The Blackout Explorer I used to own was a late E serial and did not have an extended seconds hand while this current example does.
To give context, the Blackout 14270 Explorer is classified into E and X serial ranges (1990-1991) and what differentiates them are the black 3-6-9 numerals, silver font text, and a longer seconds hand. The earliest E serials had all of the above, they soon ran out of longer seconds hands so later E serials had them replaced with shorter ones. Soon after, they also ran out of silver text dials and that was replaced with white text for later X serials. So if you wanted a "full" Blackout, you needed to have fulfilled the 3 criteria - black 3-6-9, silver text and longer seconds hand - which is the example you see here 🙌.
The #114270 was my first mechanical watch early on in my career and has had a significant impact on my collecting journey - it cost me SGD $3,500 which was a lot of money back then (at least for me) to spend on a watch. I wore that watch like the tool it was intended to be and thoroughly mangled the watch (p.s. I wasn't very careful with it 😂). Do I regret letting the watch go? Why yes, I do every now and again. Not because of how rare or how it's doubled in value over time but because of the memories I made with it on my wrist and the years I had it as a one watch collection (yes I was that guy).
A couple years later.. I chanced upon my grail (a Blackout 14270) at an Antiquorum auction (2016/2017 iirc) and managed to make it mine. Boxes, papers and in pristine condition. Honestly, I couldn't wear the watch like I was supposed to. I ended up coddling the watch massively and it sat in my safe for years before I decided to move it along. Sad but also relieved in a sense.
Fast forward to present day, the watch you see in this post came to my attention. If you know this watch, you know it doesn't come up often. Compared to the piece I had this was more "special" (nerd speech begins here). The Blackout Explorer I used to own was a late E serial and did not have an extended seconds hand while this current example does.
To give context, the Blackout 14270 Explorer is classified into E and X serial ranges (1990-1991) and what differentiates them are the black 3-6-9 numerals, silver font text, and a longer seconds hand. The earliest E serials had all of the above, they soon ran out of longer seconds hands so later E serials had them replaced with shorter ones. Soon after, they also ran out of silver text dials and that was replaced with white text for later X serials. So if you wanted a "full" Blackout, you needed to have fulfilled the 3 criteria - black 3-6-9, silver text and longer seconds hand - which is the example you see here 🙌.
Thumbs up, I love the 14270 blackout
Here is mine. The blackout is one of the rarest modern Rolex and it has an intriguing look. While I like the silver print and the look of blackout numerals, I would characterise the long lollipop hand as one of the many Rolex oddities that needed fixing...
I'd agree with you.
But they definitely should've kept the silver text!
You have a beautiful example too 🙌
You have a beautiful example too 🙌
Best Rolex
Lovely watch. I let mine go four years ago with a lot of hesitation at the time and it is the only watch that I regret selling. I still have a later Explorer 114270 but would like a ‘Blackout’ again.
Thank you for showing.
Prices have remained relatively constant.
Considering the run of the mill 14270 have almost doubled in price.. The Blackout variant hasn't quite gone up in the same way.