Rolex

Let's start with an horological strip tease...

If I show you that...



What are you thinking?

Could it be my Tudor 7924?



Definitely not! The insert is black with thick 5 minutes rectangular indexes and no minutes indexes from 0 to 15...

Here, the 7924:



So, let's go to next stage an unveil the beast...



Under the Swiss Sun, it is even more spectacular!



A Rolex 6200!

I will come back to this Watch, as I took several other pictures of this beast, but i can already tell you that it was the big, huge, phenomenal " Coup de cœur " of this Swiss Week End.

Sadly not mine but who knows, maybe one day?

One can dream!

....maybe not!

Thjs is the Watch which killed all the others, for me, during this week end.

But knowing that I can still see it is an immense pleasure, though.

Not as immense as to own it, but who knows....



Best,

Nicolas

Quel kyf!

The watch is important to Rolex for many reasons. It has so many aspects that make it iconic. Oddly, the movement quality is actually an attraction for THIS watch, but in any other watch would be an issue! BC. 3-6-9. Gilt. Patina. etc etc etc

More pictures...now I am hungry to see your shots

It is the character of this Watch which haunts me.

I already experimented that with my Tudor 7924, which is a true beast. But this 6200 goes farther.

Hmmm!

Yes, I will work on something about your 6200. It is just a question of time.

Best, my friend.

Nicolas

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I never understood if the 6200 was the first Sub, or if it was the 6205...

Best,

Nicolas.

was the small crown 6204 , that has case number from 1953 in the range of 949.000-989.000
here is a sample of the very first back ( for early 6204 ) :

on the contrary the ref. 6200 has case numbers in the 32.000 range ( so from 1954 ) just after the famous " rotation" made at the beginning of that year.
it's interesting that the second batch of 6204 ( made at the very end of 1953 ) has usually the same punchings in the back-inside you see in 6200 with no production date of the back; this kind of engravings is defined by some italian collectors as " lilium back " due to the ribbon punched under the crown :
 

6204.

Now,, I have to figure out which one came first: The 6204 or the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Rotomatic Incabloc, as both the brands stated they were the first to introduce a new Diving Watch...

Best,

Nicolas.

Great information and cool pictures.  Doesn't get better than that.  And two Big Crowns!  Lucky guys!  Although, Nicolas, I still think I like that 7924 more - the dial and insert on yours are just perfect.  Enjoy it!

V/R

Mike

And I will end by posting it, one day...

I needed to get and collect more informations and photos before posting it.

The question is to know which one I prefer. you can believe me, I love my Tudor 7924 a lot, and if I had to choose between the 7924 and the 6200, I would not be happy!

Best,

Nicolas

I am sure it is going to be great - and heavy on the pictures!  In the meantime, enjoy all those BCs my friend (esp that 7924!)

V/R

Mike

with the FF ... but I would bet that this early Blancpain is older than the first Submariner ( probably a few months only ) ....
it's a feeling based almost on the " older look " of the FF ... an and also on the odd ratio between the sizes of watch and dial .
unfortunately Blancpain has lost all his old records in a fire many years ago ..
so that when I asked them info about a very rare FF " Technisub " ( a small company from Genova in the diving milieu ) the answer was : < we know for sure that in the 60s special dials were made upon request ... but we have no records of these special deliveries >

...for me is the Rolex-Panerai 2533 / 3646...despite no graduated bezel.

Modern Diving Watch.

And among them, a bezel. Which is not the case of the 2533, nor the 3646...

I like the way you see it, though.

Best,

Nicolas

I think  there are all sorts of arguments made for which came first...6200, 6204 or 6205. A case can be made for each, actually. The 6200 has the A296 movement whereas the 6204 and 6205 have the improved A260 movement. That sort of supports the idea that the 6200 was at least manufactured first. The reference chronology also supports the 6200. The Basel Fair of 1954 saw the 6204 released officially as the first Sub. And of course Marcello's argument with the serial numbers is very strong. To my mind, I don't think one can say that the reference chronology is water-tight. It is plausible that 6204 came before 6200. What i think is very hard to dispute is the serial number chronology.....that shows 6204 came before 6200. .....  This message has been edited by Baron on 2013-09-17 09:10:38

Your theory is very interesting, Joe, with some good points.

Food for thought? Certainly.

Best,

Nicolas

.....I think it is 100% correct to say the 6204 was the first Sub to be sold...I don't think that is a dispute. Sold first. Released first. I am just not convinced that it was manufactured first.

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many but interesting questions ..
1) for what I know they begun back at 10.000 .. so 32.000 is in the 2nd half of 1954 ( that stops under 50.000 ) ..thus
the time elapsed between the first batch of 6204 and 6200 is roughly 12-14 months.
2) but the real question is the other one : is it possible that the 6200 has been developed ( altough not sold ) before 6204 ???
in my opinion no ( but it's just an opinion ) :
a) we all ( probably ) know that the "big crown" ( with a bigger case and an improved max. depth ) was developed for " heavy duty " service  such as use with thick gloves ( like for military purposes ) and so ( likely ) after a " special " request as the watch currently for sale at that time ( 6204 ) was not judged enough satisfactory .
b) by the way why they should have begun to study the 6204 after the 6200 ??
c) last but not least why do you define the A 260 as an improvment of the  A296 ? they were simply created for watches with different sizes ( A 296  for " big-bubblebacks " , A 260 for " ovoni=1/2 big bubblebacks " ).
for example the A 260 was also used by 6085 , by " the 6100 family " ( LOOLL .. please forgive this "Pisanian" term ) and 6202 ..
models that are for sure older than 6204 or 6200.
for example the 6085 ( " ovone " ) has been produced from 1951 circa if I remember well.

A 260 used for most watches of the " 6100-6121 family " : for ex. 6104 and 6105 had the damned  A296 .
sorry sometimes I write too fast ...

That, of course, is also very plausible....and many of the 6200 that surfaced appeared to have been directed at theBritish military...

without theories ( and questions to be cleared ) it would be so boring ....
we must thank Rolex for her  " secrecy " as < no study no fun ! > ( old Pisanian proverb .. LLOLL )

.....i have seen enough evidence to believe that quite a few 6200s were issued direct to British military....but I have also seen some provenance that suggests it was not JUST military. Does that confirm your findings?

many 6200 were not military or with a PX provenance but sold through Rolex AD all over the world : quite surprising the same story happened with the 6538 " explorer dial " ...
in the early 2000s most people were thinking that this dial had been given only to military watches untill around 2006 I saw in the shop of an AD friend of mine one of these watches brought for a service by the son of the pristine owner : the watch had been sold in Milan in 1955 to his father ( that by the way was a VIP indeed ).
it was in very poor conditions with a damaged dial ( due to many " trips " in salt water undergone in the years ) and also had a terrific tropic 39 ( an ugly replacement fixed in a previous service ) instead of his correct tropic 17.
 

The 6200 suits you very well. I hope you get it into your collection one day.

Now, to know if it is a good or a bad thing, that is another story...

Best,

Nicolas