Rolex

Miranda
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Rolex: Event Horizon, the birth of Rolexmania and the Daytona 16520

It was in 1989, I bought my first luxury timepiece, a Rolex, a Datejust to be precise, the ref 16210 on a Jubilee bracelet. Salary about £4600, watch £1100

But back in 1989, things were very different today, Rolex collecting, or Rolexmania, was in its infancy. I went to my first auction, Christies, in 1990  at King st. I met with Roger Lister, head of the watch dept. for the first time. At the auction, I saw an original condition ref 6542 hammer at £600. So did a fair condition ref 6200 Submariner. This was not all, a 6154 Rolex Panerai dial.....hammer price £2500.

BUT, there was one Rolex that was in demand like no other watch on the planet, it retailed for £1600, had a 4 year waiting list, (if you could get on to the list), and sold in the grey market for £4000. The watch...a Rolex Daytona ref 16520.

It was unprecedented, the previous Daytona ref 6263/65 was hard to sell at £600. The insatiable demand for this Daytona, shifted attention to vintage Daytona's, especially in Japan and Italy. steadily the early ref 6239/41 began to rise in value and demand especially the tropical dial or as we know it today the Paul Newman Daytona. This interest soon began to manifest it self in other models and collectors began looking at GMT masters, Subs, Sea Dweller etc. And was born a new phenomenon, Rolexmania.

As you can see, for those of us that remember, the birth in 1988 of the 16520 really was event horizon for the Rolex sports watch. When customers could not get the 16520, they turned their attention first to the Submariner 16610, the Sea Dweller/Explorer 2. By the mid 90's you could not buy any steel Rolex sports watch without a wait of at least 2 years. This fuelled the vintage market even more, as attention turned from a new 16610 to a 1680, especially if it had nice red writing on the dial!

During the entire production of the Rolex 16520, it was never available in the shop window. The intense  passion for Rolex today is due entirely to the madness that came with the 16520 series.

Today I had the chance to see and picture, what I consider to be the rarest variant of the 16520.

There have already been many articles here and other watch sites giving a good history of the 16520. The years of 1988 to 1990 should be where the serious collector should turn. just as with early submarines, there are many nuances in the 16520 family, that make them distinctive and collectible.

the obvious place to begin is of course the "porcelain" dial. We know all about this, only available in the early R series, and with a vintage 200 unit  style bezel as well as the "floating cosmograph" dial configuration:

Pic credit: Puristspro

What perhaps is not so well known is that the black dial version is actually as at least as rare if not actually harder to find, although aesthetically, the porcelain dial is exquisite.

I actually find this black dial actually more alluring.

The porcelain dial was quickly dropped, and replaced with a more normal white dial. This is probably the most common of the R series watches. The irony being that you will be lucky to even see one of these:

I am quite fortunate to own one, and here she is:

For me the 200 unit bezel is simply superb and gives a good bow to the vintage. As we know every minute detail in Rolex collecting can affect desirability, and these three are the quintessential 16520. When compared to a a standard ref 6263/65 they still, in my opinion, represent powerful value. They are on the cusp of becoming legendary like a thin case Double red or M first red Submariner.

In 1989, L series models changed. Once again this has been documented fully, but as reminder, the bezel changed into what is known as the 225 bezel, and we saw the introduction of the "4 line " dial. For me personally, the bezel is not as harmonious as the R series, but, with less writing, I find the dial configuration simply sublime. Less really is more in this case. Once again, white dials greatly outnumber their black brethren.

pic credit: Internet, for educational purposes

This particular 225, you will see still has the older floating dial configuration. And here is the beauty of the cross over period between R and L. This is very much like the wonderful variations we see in early 1950's Submariners.

You see it is possible to have a perfectly legitimate combination 200 unit bezel with four line dial, or 225 bezel with four line , floating dial, or even the latter inverted 6 dial non floating.

These are the equivalent of 5508 fourline with red triangle! wonderful mixes. and now to reason for this post. Today a good friend allowed me to share what I genuinely believe to be the rarest version. In 25 years I have only seen 3. Available in either very late R series or very early L series, what I consider (porcelain perhaps excepted- although this is much rarer) the ultimate combination. The 200 unit bezel with four lines dial, in black. For every black version, I have seen 3 three white. And of the white I have seen may be 8-10 in 25 years.

This is the Grail 16520 for me. Beautiful.

unfortunately despite much effort, he wont sell!

Finally, the standard 16520, my black dialled version. the poor relation

Best

Imran

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