Homage Forum

Hey Guys, I received an email blast from bob’s watches and seen this 16610 sub. I have a 1999 16610 purchase from AD out of high school and my watch has’t done anything like this. I am in love with the brown tropic dial looks amazing however I am questioning how “Gen” this is?

What do you guys think would a 1991 rlx sub dial do this? Even with the extreme heat they claim that caused it? The dial seems to be to perfect imho, the box is to new and missing some paperwork?

What do you guys think on this one? Natural patina, dials been heated to do this artificially or not Gen at all

https://www.bobswatches.com/rolex-subma ... 16610.html

UV light from the sun may be able to cause that. Specially on watches not designed to withstand that.

Other vintage watches present this issue.

hmmm .. I don't know about that ... my old man's 1675 that he wore throughout Miami decades in the sun never ever did any fading like that.

I have seen cream dial Rolex 16550 explorer II from 1987, which were deemed to be an error from the dial supplier, and Rolex quickly corrected that. There are a few but they are rare and not caused by any light or weather.

Now ... for a more modern black sub dial to do that type of color change? and the markers and hands to stay white? ... that's suspect. ... "This example is unique in that is also features re-lumed Tritium hour markers and the dial has since changed to a striking brown hue." ... there are lots of aftermarket dials out there, and then all it takes is someone with a good know how to chemically age is with some exposure to vapor, then relume the plots. If a dial aged like that .. the tritium plots and hands should follow some tinting as well.

I've seen some of those "tropical" dials on old 1675 and vintage subs .... but never on a newer model dial

https://rolexpassionreport.com/23316/th ... -tropical/

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EBWing wrote: ↑May 20th, 2021, 1:49 pm Hey Guys, I received an email blast from bob’s watches and seen this 16610 sub. I have a 1999 16610 purchase from AD out of high school and my watch has’t done anything like this. I am in love with the brown tropic dial looks amazing however I am questioning how “Gen” this is?

What do you guys think would a 1991 rlx sub dial do this? Even with the extreme heat they claim that caused it? The dial seems to be to perfect imho, the box is to new and missing some paperwork?

What do you guys think on this one? Natural patina, dials been heated to do this artificially or not Gen at all

https://www.bobswatches.com/rolex-subma ... 16610.html

Its a very nice looking watch.....But...You do wonder

I am aware that this suggestion is perhaps questionable, but you could try to get Orchi_palar from Insta to take a look.
He doesn’t seem to be the most easy going person, but I have the impression that he knows quite a bit about RLX and how to discern fakes.

You could also perhaps try perezcope on Insta. See his latest post about a doctored tropical Daytona dial for example.

VRF ... Vintage Rolex Forum

I think the answer is in the text.

"Dial color has been altered due to heat exposure and shows cracking and a nick near 4 o'clock marker."

"This example is unique in that is also features re-lumed Tritium hour markers and the dial has since changed to a striking brown hue."


My translation. The watch dial was altered by heating. Most likely after the heating they needed to relume the dial.

The color is too uniform to have been altered by exposure to the elements. If the dial was altered by heat while installed in the watch, I would be worried about other issues.



I speak used car sales-ese.



Edit. I just looked at the photo again. I may be wrong. The text on the dial is far too white to have been heated.

I agree with [mention]binbin[/mention] on the wording of the text. Something funky happened. They are admitting that the dial has been relumed. It is good the seller is honest but why did it need relumed? How was it exposed to heat. Was movement exposed as well? Maybe not even original dial.

I am not a Rolex expert but ~$15,000 for a 16610, with questionable ageing/wear. That seems like a high price.

However, it does have character.

Yes thanks all, I agree with everyone beautiful seems off! Exposed to extreme heat? What kind? Yeah seems to have been done artificially I know if you take a torch to an anodized NW dial it turns brown….. yeah I am staying away maybe “Gen” but…. Thanks again everyone for your thoughts.