Stone Rolex dials video

[miamiclay]

Jasper Lijfering of Amsterdam Vintage Watches has just this week released this long (>40 minutes) video all about the history and intricacies of Rolex stone dials. I may not agree with every single opinion, but that is picking at the tiniest of nits. Massive kudos to Jasper (and Laurent) for assembling and discussing this matter in such detail.

If this topic is of interest, there is quite a lot of info here.

https://youtu.be/gQiFrIJ8AVE?si=OmcApkJU77kRIsCV

[Incroyable12]

They also produce extremely high quality aftermarket stone dials in Guangzhou China which is where the Chinese jewellry industry is located.

The print quality is practically indistinguishable from factory ones.

[foxytimes]

Thanks, Clay, for the tip. Always nice to watch Jasper. For a long time I wanted to visit them in Amsterdam, but didn't manage to find the right time slot.

On their website you can find some spectacular pieces in the museum section. And they always have interesting watches for sale. The €-prices are relatively steep because the US$ is rather weak in comparison nowadays but one can find pieces that - while not rare - are less common in the collectors scene.

[WiseRat]

Originally Posted by Incroyable12

They also produce extremely high quality aftermarket stone dials in Guangzhou China which is where the Chinese jewellry industry is located.

The print quality is practically indistinguishable from factory ones.

Agreed 100%. There are fake stone dials floating around in the vintage market that are nearly impossible to tell the difference from factory. Especially Onyx. 10 years ago onyx DD's were very hard to come by, and suddenly now every vintage dealer seems to have a DD Onyx for sale, with more appearing by the day. Beware.

[Incroyable12]

Originally Posted by WiseRat

Agreed 100%. There are fake stone dials floating around in the vintage market that are nearly impossible to tell the difference from factory. Especially Onyx. 10 years ago onyx DD's were very hard to come by, and suddenly now every vintage dealer seems to have a DD Onyx for sale, with more appearing by the day. Beware.

The factory stone dials are so expensive now I'd be afraid to wear one. A dealer told me that a loose WG onyx DD dial is now around $200k.

The one thing that the aftermarket ones can't get quite right are the frames.

[foxytimes]

Originally Posted by Incroyable12

The factory stone dials are so expensive now I'd be afraid to wear one. A dealer told me that a loose WG onyx DD dial is now around $200k.

The one thing that the aftermarket ones can't get quite right are the frames.

Yes, indeed. And some stone dials are cracked. The cracks are not easy to spot on lapis surfaces e.g. - I wonder how the cracks happen if mounted. Temperature, humidity, movement, tension?