My Rolex Daytona. Polished or not?

[_RSub_]

Hello, everyone!
I own a 116520 ref. Got it used in mint condition long time ago.
But now I’m a bit puzzled whether it was a polished piece or not.
I wear it rarely so the condition is still great.
I rely on your experienced eyes)
And I would be grateful for your replies!
If the lighting is bad, I will make new pictures.

[rockysw]

looks all good to me.

[Socal Runner]

100% polished. Not a bad polish job at all though. Looks clean. I've had a few older watches of mine touched up lightly like this. Once you can see it you know. I would bet it's been polished but who cares. Enjoy it!

[frank gama]

Originally Posted by Socal Runner

100% polished. Not a bad polish job at all though. Looks clean. I've had a few older watches of mine touched up lightly like this. Once you can see it you know. I would bet it's been polished but who cares. Enjoy it!

[garyk]

What's the difference? Great watch looks fantastic!!!

[0nly5iv3Digits]

Yes it's been polished. Quite easy to tell.

[xrole]

Originally Posted by 0nly5iv3Digits

Yes it's been polished. Quite easy to tell.

What are the main giveaways in your eyes?

[illiguy]

Originally Posted by xrole

What are the main giveaways in your eyes?

If helpful, some pics of an unpolished 116520. As others have said, the Daytona case profile is curvy and not boxy by design, but hopefully you can see the squaring of lug tips and sharpness to lines even as they curve.

Another tell is scratches on the bezel, but the “ink” fill around the numbers is still a robust black color and not faded.






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[928ktgold]

Originally Posted by illiguy

If helpful, some pics of an unpolished 116520. As others have said, the Daytona case profile is curvy and not boxy by design, but hopefully you can see the squaring of lug tips and sharpness to lines even as they curve.

Another tell is scratches on the bezel, but the “ink” fill around the numbers is still a robust black color and not faded.






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Very sharp lugs! Could this be a newer 116 after 2012 while the OP’s watch is an early 2000 watch that had factory lugs softer

[illiguy]

Originally Posted by 928ktgold

Very sharp lugs! Could this be a newer 116 after 2012 while the OP’s watch is an early 2000 watch that had factory lugs softer

Perhaps. The one I shared is a scrambled serial with chromalight from 2014. Could not say when OP’s watch was from.

[123Blueface]

Well one thing is for sure, yes, has been polished, before left the factory.

[_RSub_]

Thanks!
Very interesting. What was the giveaway?

Recently I ve had an idea of selling or exchanging it and so I decided to undercover this issue. But we have poor watch services here where I’m staying now. Therefore I’m addressing the forum (but it’s always a pleasure for me😁).

I had a brand new GMT 116710LN and the edges on that watch were much sharper than on my Daytona. But this can be because of the factory model differences, can’t it?

And here are more pics in the daylight. As in the cafe lighting the watch looks too smooth in my view.

[0nly5iv3Digits]

Originally Posted by _RSub_

Thanks!
Very interesting. What was the giveaway?

Originally Posted by illiguy

Polished. The lugs should be more squared off and 90 degrees at the tipsyand you can tell they’re a little soft around the curves

This^

[omar-rye]

Originally Posted by _RSub_

I had a brand new GMT 116710LN and the edges on that watch were much sharper than on my Daytona. But this can be because of the factory model differences, can’t it?

The Daytona case is rounded by design from the factory. Don't compare it to your ceramic GMT, which has very sharp, 90 degree edges.

[rockysw]

Originally Posted by omar-rye

The Daytona case is rounded by design from the factory. Don't compare it to your ceramic GMT, which has very sharp, 90 degree edges.

this. +1

[JustWatchesInc]

pics are not the best but from what I can see it looks polished

[illiguy]

Polished. The lugs should be more squared off and 90 degrees at the tipsyand you can tell they’re a little soft around the curves.

[jimcameron]

Got it used in mint condition long time ago.

...and now you'r worried about if it was polished?

Just enjoy a great watch and forget about the nonsense.

[1William]

Polished. Great watch.

[StackLexus17]

Polished, but its still incredible.

Always have a soft spot for the steel bezel models.
Very classy

[JarheadJim]

Wear it and enjoy it. Very nice piece.

[omar10213245]

polished, but it looks fine. I always assume that if i'm buying a preowned watch (especially a rolex), and it's not covered in hairline scratches and whatnot, then it's very likely to have been polished. as long as it's not butchered, that's ok with me.

[jitdc]

Not a bad polish job but it's been done. There is just something about the softness of the lug corners and even the bracelet edges.

A non-polished watch has the appearance and feel of sharper angles/edges. Like on certain clasps for example, the center polished areas will be very crisp on the edge, almost sharp in a sense. The underside of the lugs will look rounded as well.

Sometimes the bezel gets replaced as well instead of being polished. When they polish it the tachy scale numbers can lose some of their black fill. Not sure just by looking at the pics what the story of that is with your watch.

[Bazil]

It’s a great watch you have, just enjoy it …

[wgdaytona]

Yes, polished; but not a bad job. Looks nice, enjoy your watch.

[lamkinpark]

100% polished,

[928ktgold]

116520s I’ve seen have softer lugs than the 116500ln I used to have. Here is a brand new example
https://chrono24.app/rolex/rolex-day...US&SETCURR=USD

Edges looks softer than my previous 116500

[Zach69SS]

Looks like it was polished but a good job, some of the edges, the bezel is tricky one without seeing it in person, as others have said; Daytona bezels are very hard to polish without damaging the numerals in most cases they are replaced.

The watch is in beautiful condition wear it and enjoy it it’s a classic piece .

Cheers,

[Onequik135i]

Here is a pic of my previous unpublished 2009 520 which I had long traded away to give you an
Idea what an unpublished model would look like. You can see very prominent brush marks along the bracelet area especially.


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[faz]

Pics are not the best, but looks like it was polished. But as everyone else said, who cares.

Here https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=909780 are pics of my wife's daily 116520 Daytona that went to RSC and I asked for it to be polished.

It came back beautiful. (inside the thread there are pics that I posted from before as well.)