Historically, if one looks back at the many different vintage Rolex watches that have drawn collectors attention, one finds subtle nuances in the dials that cause the attraction. For example, when a dial has something that differentiates it from the vast majority of dials in a reference, it becomes much rarer and thus something of a challenge for the collector. Many gilt Subs from the 1960s and 70s have these quirks on their dials that subsequently led to them becoming highly sought-after icons.

Attention on these vintage pieces has been intense. So intense, in fact, that few seem to have paid much attention to the more modern references that have similar dial anomalies. It is often assumed that the modern Rolex is something of a commodity and is essentially identical to the next modern Rolex. This is very much not the case. This article will highlight a very real dial anomaly that will evolve into another “quirk” that allows Rolex collectors to differentiate between a single reference and turn what was once a common reference into one that has some real rarity within it. I think it is probably true that Rolex collectors love these dial anomalies because it differentiates between watches that look so similar. But when there is a dial anomaly, it places the watch as much harder to get and thus collectible. The hunt is always a big part…..

The phenomenon that I want to draw attention to focuses on the transition from Tritium dials to Luminova dials to Super Luminova dials. This transition happened in 1998-1999.

Rolex shifted from Radium to Tritium in the mid 1960s. Tritium persisted on Rolex dials up until around 1998, In 1998, Rolex started issuing watches with Luminova on the dial. They switched to Super Luminova in 1999. This single phenomenon has unwittingly created a wealth of anomalies on dials.

Why? Because Rolex marks the shift by making changes on the dial. In the vintage world of the 1960s, the existence of an exclamation mark at 6’o clock or an underline on the dial has led many to argue that it was Rolex’s way of differentiating between Radium and Tritium. Modern Rolex does exactly the same thing between Tritium, Luminova and Super Luminova. However, in the modern examples, there is a very clear factor that differentiates between the three. And it is this differentiator that, I believe, will create a number of modern rarities that collectors will want to hunt down. These variants are, without doubt, very rare examples and I will illustrate four such examples in this post using the GMT 16700, GMT 16710, Submariner 14060 and Explorer II 16570 as references.

So, here is the issue……


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