Tag: Rolex

Ematelier Enamel Dials For Rolex Watches review

June 20, 2020

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Watch company archives have been extensively mined over the past years for inspiration from the 1950s and 1960s, with no iconic dial left un-reissued. 1 category of neo-vintage layout left unexplored, however, is the tooth dial — a craft that elevated the watch dial to the level of fine art in the 1950s.
The teeth dials created by Rolex from the mid-20th century are among the rarest and most valuable in the entire world — and also the funniest. Until now.
Ematelier, a contemporary master of the tooth arts, has developed a way to pay homage to these masterpieces. But they are as difficult and time-consuming to make as the originals. “This notion and those dials are certainly not for everyone,” says Ematelier’s Alex Landa. “Our customers thus far have had a strong affinity specifically for watches with enamel dials and for rare and special pieces. These bespoke dials originated from habit requests, and have been driven by the desires of our customers.”
The 1950s represented the heyday of all cloisonné enamel dial artwork, but that doesn’t mean that the dials were being churned out in large quantities. The couple brands making them at that time — Rolex watches, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, and Omega, for example — only produced a few hundred in total throughout the 20 years that they were being created, from the late 1940s to the 1960s. Few artisans were effective at producing them. The main motifs were Viking boats or caravels, maps, peacocks, Neptune, and dragons.

Christie’s auction house sold a part using a Neptune dial made in 1953 for CHF 609,000 (roughly $630,000) in a Geneva auction at 2011, and a similar one with a map motif at a New York auction for $425,000. Phillips sold a reference 6085 with a dragon dial for $676,700 at a Geneva auction in 2016 and a similar slice at a Hong Kong market a year earlier for $750,000.
Every dial was created individually by one craftsperson in the cloisonné style. Cloisonné signifies”partition” since the technique involves putting thin gold wires onto a dial to separate each enamel color that creates the composition. The spaces inside each cloisonné are filled with tooth powder, and every color is fired separately in an oven at 800 degrees Celsius. However, the dials frequently don’t get to there. Every time that the dial is fired or polished there’s a high chance it’ll crack, change colour, or have undesirable marks. The rejection rate in cloisonné enameling is extremely high.
Reproducing them today is no less hard. Ematelier has thoroughly maintained the methodology, artisanship, and superior grade of the originals, and has gone even further: The enamel is mirror-polished.

How the Rolex Day-Date Became the Ultimate Power Watch affordable

June 17, 2020

Anyone who clips onto a Rolex Day-Date each morning likely has a story to tell –especially if they have been wearing it since the 1980s, if it stood for something larger than the sum of its (silver or gold ) parts. His group soon grew in classic’80s style, he shut a big deal and made a decision to invest 10 percent of his profits on”pure foolishness.” Shortly, his collection comprised not just Rolex bits, but whatever he found interesting, from Seiko to Hamilton — even a couple of tank watches. Nevertheless, while his 30-plus piece collection was stolen from the’90s, he gave up and then wore Swatch watches for 20 years.
After the collecting bug bit for a second time, Karl chose to focus on this Day-Date, primarily because the countless variations of the single version made collecting infinitely more intriguing. For Karl, the hugely popular Datejust is just like a junior member of the firm, whereas the Day-Date has been, and always will be, the boss. These days, a fresh Day-Date starts at about $35,000, but Karl prefers to collect models in the’80s and’90s, which mostly range from $8,000 to $12,000, based on condition and the rarity of its attributes. He now has 17 Day-Dates in his collection, also appreciates the range of dials, markers and hands which were available 40 years ago but can not be found on current versions.
“The’80s was the bling age,” he clarifies. “Along with the Day-Date was the bling watch of the decade, since Rolex just sold it in precious metals. Back thenthere have been also pages of options. You could get dials in walnut, birch, mahogany or lacquer’Stella’ dials in flamingo pink or cab yellow — even stone dials. Despite the seemingly unlimited options, it was the’80s — folks wanted more. Yuppie culture grew out of a time when surplus was encouraged. People would purchase a gold or platinum Day-Date, then have it personalized into a nugget watch, occasionally placing diamonds all over it. If you were a Wall Street guy, you’re expected to show off that you’re a master of the universe at 24.”

Jacek Kozubek is an authority in the sphere of classic Rolex watches through his retail website, tropicalwatch.com. He believes that gold Rolex watches have always been a power transfer. “More so from the’80s and’90s,” he explains,”when owning gold things has been a bigger deal because gold had more of a financial value.”
Jacek agrees the hottest of the golden versions in the’80s was constantly the Day-Date, nicknamed”The President” due to this bracelet. “That version was the pinnacle apparel watch Rolex made,” he tells us.
Although some people could blame the success of Rolex in the 1980s to smart marketing campaigns, Jacek believes people wore Rolex watches since”they were fantastic and worked. I believe by designing a great product it turned into a style icon — not a style icon because of some ads.”
In the 1970s, the so-called”quartz catastrophe” threatened to create automatic watches look obsolete. This is when Jacek considers Rolex took center stage. By being pushed out of this tool-market class due to how quartz watches kept better time and were less expensive, Rolex went from being practical items to objects of need.

“The’80s can be when matters became ultra disposable,” he states. “I’ve met many clients that stopped wearing these watches simply since their quartz counterpart was more pragmatic. So brands like Rolex watches went upscale so as to conserve the craft.”
Rolex Day-Date aficionado Karl was gifted his first Day-Date in the early’80s, when he was in his twenties. “I felt too young to put on it, I was humiliated. Though I did wear it to big businesses where they might attempt to intimidate me. Now guys wear it with shorts or jeans and they are right, we were wrong — there aren’t any rules. The Day-Date is still viewed as a sign of success, however they’re not as popular as the Daytonas or even Submariners. But back in the’80s, nobody cared about the steel professional versions. Most collectors then desired Bubblebacks.”

Luxury Omega’s antimagnetic tourbillon is a watchmaking breakthrough

June 15, 2020

This was an auspicious moment — the very first time that the brand’d cleared the illustrious $1m mark at market — but it was an important piece: the only surviving example of 12 tourbillon-equipped versions made to get involved in the Neuchâtel and Kew-Teddington Observatory timekeeping competitions of the 1940s. Having won a prize in 1950, the storied escapement would take centre stage at Omega watches again — quite literally — in 1994, once the Bienne-based firm unveiled the first wristwatch with a tourbillon carriage positioned in the middle of the dial.

The characteristic configuration features in another first for the company: a centre-mounted Master Chronometer-certified self-winding tourbillon that is also outfitted with a further pillar of the brand’s ongoing research and development — antimagnetic properties that allow the tourbillon cage to maintain rotating even while subjected to magnetic fields of 15,000 gauss.
As befits such a prestigious piece, Omega has gone all-out on its 43mm case. In shared with Rolex, Omega utilizes its own proprietary alloys, in this example a fiery 18-carat”Sedna” rose gold at the lugs, bezel and case back (whereby may be seen that the Co-Axial Master Chronometer watches Calibre 2640 movement). The central case body, buckle logo and crown emblem are made from a distinctive 18-carat white-gold metal known as”Canopus” gold.
In addition to its own bridges and mainplate, 18-carat Sedna gold can also be found in the black PVD dial, a chic shade that chimes nicely with the tourbillon cage’s hand-polished bevels in black ceramised titanium.

Rolex watches are extremely valuable items placed in the closet.

May 28, 2020

The Explorer II 216570 has a distinctive Rolex bracelet to ensure a comfortable and nice fit. It is durable and resistant to rust, such as seawater. This also aids the grow watch remain attached to a wrist without any opening. It also allows you to adjust the bracelet to fit perfectly, particularly during hot and diving seasons.

Every one of the two Rolex Explorer II versions has its very own brothers. With a white display, although both have the same functionality. The Rolex Explorer II 16570 has not been in production since 2011. Therefore, the marketplace offers new versions of this, unless they are counterfeit. That doesn’t mean it’s no more up for purchase. In reality, you are able to see authentic pre-owned versions in states at some trustable stores.

Unlike other luxury watches that tend to lose their value with time, Rolex watch prices have remained stable like a bottle of wine whose value grows with time. Therefore, the wrist watch is a valuable item. In the end, it can function as a resourceful investment whilst topping your flair.

The Rolex Deepsea Sea-Dweller is made of high-tech ceramic track rings and is scratch-resistant.

May 26, 2020

Like any other dive watch, the Rolex Deepsea Sea-Dweller includes a bezel. It’s made. As you would not need to worry about destroying it, this is useful during activities that are extreme. Aside from that, the bezel could be corrected in half-minute increments. Last, each turn of the bezel feels firm and exact. It’s a wonderful thing to have as it’d make it easier for you to measure the time.

DIAL The Rolex Deepsea Sea-Dweller appears similar to the Submariner as Stated above. Just cover the”Deepsea” printed on the dial and you would have a hard time distinguishing one from another. To a lot of people, this is a good thing because it sports a design that is versatile and classic. Is that it is blue. In the very top, it gives a navy blue hue . It gradually darkens until it becomes jet at the base as it goes down. This can be a nod as you go 14, to the sea becomes darker. What’s more, the term”Deepsea” that is published in the dial comes in a neon green colour. It’s the same color as Cameron’s underwater craft. The color improves readability as it makes it simple for you to read the print from the dark.

Photo from rolex.com One of the features of a dive watch is the lume. For sailors that are serious, it is important to get a readable watch in dark conditions. Fortunately, the Rolex Deepsea Sea-Dweller could provide. The hour markers are implemented with Chromalight lume and big. Unlike the other versions that glow green of Rolex, a light is given by this one. According to the manufacturer, it may last up to eight hours which will be over twice the average time of luminescent materials. Moreover, lighting that is blue is the preferred colour for lume. According to water absorbs light better than light. Because of this, blue light is the easiest to see when you’re submerged in water.

The origin of the relationship between Rolex Ref series and Day-Date series watches.

May 25, 2020

Have a look and you’ll find the belong to the reference 18XX series, and the ref. 1803 especially. Released in 1959 and staying in production right up until 1977, it had been the third variant of the gold men watch, the first two premiered following the range’s introduction in 1956 in rapid succession. Measuring 36mm in diameter and throw out of 18k white, red, or yellow gold watch(and platinum quite sparingly), the ref. 1803 was fitted with a bezel and was driven by the Cal. 1555. Back in 1967, the movement shifted to the Cal. 1556, ostensibly identical but beating at a higher frequency vph within the previous vph. A hacking function has been added in 1972, stopping the seconds hand once the crown was pulled out to make setting the time easier.

Taken in the Cal, although the two calibers were excellent actors. 1500 series loved by all purists, neither had the mechanism that allows for adjusting the date independently of their hands, a Quickset function. That touch of convenience has been omitted, along with the sheer number of ref. 1803s made over the run that is near means that you could buy them with a 3 band cast in the same metal as the instance, the eponymous President bracelet . This is an incredible amount for an important part of the Rolex story. It was the ref. 1803 that got the Day-Date its unofficial’President’ nickname, even when the watch was photographed on the wrist of Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. It was the reference that introduced the Crownclasp on the bracelet around the end of the 1960s.

But although there are plenty of classic details if you know where to look (pie-pan dialup, acrylic crystal, hollow bracelet links) that the ref. 1803 has aged beautifully. Moreover, the mechanically easy motions have proved themselves to be one of the Rolex has ever made. As a contender for the best worth Day-Date, the ref. 1803 is a definite frontrunner.