Vintage watch experience 古董手錶: September 2023

Friday, 29 September 2023

Rolex Royal ref 6444 quartered dial from the year 1956

My Old post from 2014

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Rolex 6444 Royal quartered dial

The simple Rolex Royal and Speedking were watches that commands much respect during the 1980s-90s among many vintage watch collectors. With the increasing popularity of sports and larger watches, these smaller watches have to some extent been sidelines.

I have found a simple Rolex Oyster Royal Shock Resisting, reference 6444 with manual wind movement and 31mm case excluding crown with special dial. The watch has a serial nos of 206,XXX serial number circa 1956. at 31mm, it is consider small at today's standard but it will be a comfortable watch to wear. As these watches are not in huge demand, the prices have become very reasonable. I can already see a trend among collectors towards smaller and more refined watches vis-a-vis the larger and sporty watches.

What make this watch unique is the special waffle designed dials in its original condition.

Rolex Royal Ref 3121 California dial from the year 1942

This is a Rolex Royal Ref 3132 from the year 1942. I first saw this watch with a California dial and Mecedes hands in December 2021 at HK$18,800. I did not buy the watch as I was focusing on some other watches.

The Rolex Royal is a simple hand wind watch using similar movement for the Speed king, Viceroy etc. It has many interesting names. The essence of the ‘California Dial’ is extremely simplistic. A watch dial that consists of both half Roman and half Arabic numerals. Generally speaking, numbers 10 to 2 are Roman and 4 to 8 are Arabic, however the classic architype has changed and evolved over the years, varying from brand to brand to what is recognized today as the more youthful and edgy variant in one’s collection. One needs to take note that there are many reconditioned California dials in the market.

Yesterday, while I was browsing the internet, I came across the watch again with a nice replacement bracelet at a very attractive price. The Rolex Speed king & Royal are the first few nice entry-level watches for any watch collector. I remember those good old days in the 1980s when I first started collecting vintage watches as a hobby.

1942年古董型號3121手上弦怪字面全鋼手表 Royal ref.3121

The Rolex California dial has started during the 1940s where Rolex Bubbleback watches were also fitted with these dials as per the various advertising.

1942 World War II, Rolex U.S.A. Christmas Message

Welcome to RolexMagazine.com...Home of Jake's Rolex World Magazine..Optimized for iPad and iPhone: The Complete History Of the "California Dial"

Rolex Bubbleback with California dial

Semi California dial

Wednesday, 27 September 2023

Rolex vintage oyster diving helmet display

This is a vintage Rolex Oyster helmet display for point of sales for Submariner series. It can also be used as a pill container.

Wednesday, 20 September 2023

Vintage Omega watch made for North Korea Kim II Sung 金日成 Part 3

During the 1970-80s, Omega has made commemorative watches for North Korea. We need to remember that during the 1970-80s, Swiss watches were not in good shape as a result of the onslaught from the Japanese quartz watches. As such, export sales may be one of the options to keep the company afloat.

This is a 1980s Omega watch made for North Korean leader 金日成 Kim II Sung from 1982 and it was commissioned in celebration of his 70th birthday. There are two key characteristics. Firstly, there is a signature of Kim II Sung in red on the dial. Secondly, the week calendar disc is in Korean language as below.

There are other Korean commemorative watch dials with the red 1972.4.15 and 1982.4.15 in red on dial plus the Korean week discs. It comes with a variety of Omega namely Constellation, Seamaster round or rectangular. There are also without the Day calendar and only have the date.

As a history & Political Science student, I have always love watch dial with some history. Recently, I have found another made for North Korea Omega Seamaster Automatic in 38mm size as below and at a very good price too.

My first North Korean watch was in the year 2016 ( Vintage watch experience 古董手錶: Vintage Omega watch made for North Korea Kim II Sung (newvintage-watch.blogspot.com) )

My second was found in 2021 : Vintage watch experience 古董手錶: Vintage Omega watch made for North Korean Kim II Sung (newvintage-watch.blogspot.com)

Another interesting North Koran Moranbong watch Vintage watch experience 古董手錶: North Korean Moranbong vintage watch 1970-80s (newvintage-watch.blogspot.com)

Remembering that there are collectors who hated the North Korean leaders and therefore despise these watches, I just wanted to point out that collecting these commemorative watches does not equal to endorsing the regime. It's about appreciating the vintage watches that were produced during that era and under the circumstances and its historic values.