Rolex Oysterquartz

[joe100]

Very informative thread. One stop shop for the OQ

[Kingair]

Great info

HAGOne

[GTS Dean]

My first - from 1984. I wore it New Year's Day. One factory service in its whole life.



____________________________
TT OysterQuartz
SS/Black "U" Daytona
TT GMT II-C
DD OysterQuartz
Breitling Aero
Omega Speedmaster Pro

[RRY]

[QUOTE=GTS Dean;3836786]My first - from 1984. I wore it New Year's Day. One factory service in its whole life.



That's a beautiful OQ! Mine says hi.

[GoyGuy]

And mine!



Oysterquartz: The 'Rolex of quartz watches' and the 'The Quartz watch of the Rolexes'

[Czechman]

Just recently sold:


Currently in wrist rotation:

[honitel]

Wow,those are really interesting information up there! I was amazed on the 'ads' lasted without oxygen! Great stuff,I must say!

[B-frog]

hi,

for my first post, pics of mine. i really love this watche, i have 5 rolex but this one is ther most comfortable ever, and precise as well !

the next one , probably a 19018

[Noneed2000]

Love this best topic too.

However, can anyone help me to clarify about the hands of this Oysterquartz.

I can't see any lume on it. Does it normal?

(pic from google)

[Czechman]

Not sure about the hands but that's the first one I've seen with the slate jubilee dial. My 17000 is at the watchmaker so I can't verify if it has lume or not... Seems unlikely the hands would be replaced especially considering the condition of the dial.





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[Fagin]

Hi, you dont seem to hear much about the quartz models on the forum, but i quite like them. I have known of them for some time but never seen one in the flesh so to speak and never seen one for sale locally. Can you give me a rough guide as to prices they are likely to achieve. There are actually 2 on ebay in the uk at the moment but not sure if they are well priced and it is a few hours round trip to have a look. Is there anything in particular that i need to be aware of when looking?
By the way great pictures.

[nicklas356]

17000, 17013, 19019 p-series & 17014 a-serial

[brandxbrand]

Always find it fascinating that current day wrist shots of the quartz are always of mint condition pieces. I mean, there wrists shots out there of pieces from 10 years ago that look beat to a pulp, but never the OQ.

Kudos to those who keep theirs in a1 condition.

[Noneed2000]

Actually, I have ever seen some of DJ dial 's hands without lume too. Don't know the certain criteria from Rolex to choose with or without lume.

Within same dial, I have ever seen both of them too ( with and without lume on hands)

[joseluu]

Originally Posted by Czechman

Just recently sold:

How many times I looked at it!! But...

[GoyGuy]

Originally Posted by Fagin

Hi, you dont seem to hear much about the quartz models on the forum, but i quite like them. I have known of them for some time but never seen one in the flesh so to speak and never seen one for sale locally. Can you give me a rough guide as to prices they are likely to achieve. There are actually 2 on ebay in the uk at the moment but not sure if they are well priced and it is a few hours round trip to have a look. Is there anything in particular that i need to be aware of when looking?
By the way great pictures.

Yes, OysterQuartz are different to other Rolexs. I like wearing this 17014A because it doesn't look like every other Rolex.

Yes, they’re rare, I’ve only ever seen one other OysterQuartz in the flesh, but I live in Australia, where there’s relatively less of everything anyway.

I’ve seen a lot of badly beaten up OysterQuartzs priced too high. I paid $3500 for this one, on eBay, about two months ago, but it’s supposed to be a slightly rarer model (17014A) and it has a WG fluted bezel, and it was made in one of the last production years, Y2000, and I believe it’s had a full RSC overhaul. It has been supplied to me with a 2Y warranty, I assume from the RSC through the eBay vendor. Condition of this one is really very good – pretty well looks like new - and it’s keeping near-perfect time, so far it has lost only 1 second in 10 weeks, and doesn't seem to be losing any more. I’ve bought this one as an alternative to shelling out about $7K for a new mechanical Rolex. I must say I like the styling, size, finish and accuracy of this watch much more than any new mechanical Rolex. The finish of this watch stacks up beautifully against the latest new $13.5k gold/steel Submariner, but without the Sub’s (for me unwearable) oversize and overbling. These OQ’s, in good condition, are just beautifully finished bits of slab steel, Rolex in 'Zen' mode.

Many of the rough OysterQuartz’s I've seen have badly reconditioned cases. I’d be looking for clean, sharp facets. Also there are some with really bad dials and hands… how do they get so wrecked? (Personally I have no ambition to take the back off my Rolex and have a fiddle with its innards – for me this is a job for the trained watchmakers at RSC, operating inside their clean rooms with all the right tools and parts, and no-one else). Another problem, of course, is that many vendors/sellers use blurry, crappy looking photographs when trying to sell their watches, which coupled with a lack of detailed honest info, doesn't help.

If you look for a late model, like this one, then the movement will be younger and you should also score the newer whiter lume, which works quite well, and which seems to be accompanied by the words ‘SWISS MADE’ on the dial at the 6 o’clock position (not visible in my photo, but it’s there); I’d avoid the older tritium models (dials typically seem to be marked ‘SWISS’) as it will probably already be dead or half-dead. The earliest models were dial-marked ‘OYSTERQUARTZ’ instead of ‘S.C.O.C’, and some have no lume on the dial but do have lumed hands. Personally I’d go for the ‘S.C.O.C’ marking (or 'S.C.O.C + SWISS MADE') with the aim of getting a younger movement.

I think the simpler Oyster bracelet on the OysterQuartz 17000 is perhaps more comfortable than the Jubilee bracelet on this 17014A, as the finer links of this Jubilee bracelet tend to create a rougher, slightly sharper surface inside the bracelet.

If you want a watch which is built like the best Rolex ever, but happens to keep the right time, buy one of these.


[IMG][/IMG]

[B-frog]

i agree, very comfy, precise, quite rare, still affordable and the best is the 5 yrs power reserve

ps : the blue jubilee dial is fantastic !

[GoyGuy]

Originally Posted by B-frog

i agree, very comfy, precise, quite rare, still affordable and the best is the 5 yrs power reserve

ps : the blue jubilee dial is fantastic !

Thanks, B-frog. A 5-year reserve? Do you get 5 years out of a battery? Anyway, who cares? Here's my recently-acquired Oysterquartz staying cool in a hot Melbourne summer...



Roll over and die...



Hey, how about some photos of yours?

Isn't this a great case design? Less is definitely more...

[77T]

How about the Rolex Oysterquartz that never was? The elusive Rolex LED described in the upcoming English translation of "Electrifying the Wristwatch" by Lucien F. Trueb, Gunther Ramm, and Peter Wenzig.

As the story goes (I read this on another forum late last year) Patrick Heiniger rejected an engineering project after 5 prototypes of a 5055 driven LED watch were made in the late '70s. There you have it, an Oysterquartz Analog LED watch that never saw the light of day - supposedly all 5 prototypes were destroyed...or were they?

Poorly scanned pic from the original German book, Die Elektrifzierung des Armbanduhr.

[RRY]

Originally Posted by nicklas356

17000, 17013, 19019 p-series & 17014 a-serial

Wow, what an amazing set!

[B-frog]

when friends come and told about "mechanical noblesse" i laugh, of course passion is'n reason, but the OQ caliber is the most accurate ever made !

[GoyGuy]

Originally Posted by B-frog

when friends come and told about "mechanical noblesse" i laugh, of course passion is'n reason, but the OQ caliber is the most accurate ever made !

My Y1976 Air King loses 3s per day. My Y2000 Oysterquartz looks like being exactly right, or maybe losing 2s per year!

[himtfuji]

mine

[padi56]

Originally Posted by Spare201

It is the pinacle of HEQ, The first truly thermocompensating quartz movement. THe thing that is truly fascinating about this movement to me is that there is still a "escapement" The real diffrence is rather that use a electronically actuated stator mechanism they kept the pallet intact and left the escape wheel. It only took breitling until ~00 to develop and market their own (cheaper, piggy-backed fully electronic superquartz movement.)

Not quite true the first quartz wristwatch implementation of thermocompensation was achieved with the integration of a thermistor into the IC circuit was from Sieko.Now this IC application in a quartz wrist watch was first invented by Seiko in 1959.Then a few years after followed by CEH group of Switzerland (of which Rolex was one of the founding members) this was in 1962. This first appeared in 1977, in the Rolex Oysterquartz DJ. The Rolex quartz module was referred to as a VCTCXO (Voltage Compensated Temperature Compensated Crystal Oscillator).But although Rolex have never given any official figures for accuracy it was around +- 60 seconds a year but could be trimed less.While the top line Seiko Grand And around the same time as the Oysterquartz some of the selected Grand Seiko Japanese quartz model these were very accurate quartz model but very expensive even then.But not heard of much in the western world then mainy Japan and far east only.


Note 1: Seiko re-issued a limited edition of the "Astron" around 2000 that used a special version of the 9F movement that was used in the 1980s models but now rated to ± 2 seconds per year after adjustment.
Now most certainly the Japanese movement accuracy was much better than the Rolex movement
Note 2: The 9F movement is reportedly designed to run fifty plus years before it needs servicing.
Note 3: Other Grand Seiko quartz models use the 8J movement. Even less is know about this movement.
Source of information: Japanese retail sites

[Ksersoze]

Here's mine.

[pollus23]

Superb thread!!!!! I'm looking for such an informative post. I like that first blue dial Rolex Watch....

[votepresident]

Note to self: search the forum before opening a thread of my own ^o^

thanks a lot guys, for all the info and the pics

I think my first Rolex will be an OQ :-D

[boxbrownie]

My faithful OQ......as accurate as my £45 Seiko???? Actually the Seiko keeps about dot on each year, the OQ gains about 2 seconds.....so I never complain, its a cracker.
[IMG][/IMG]

Of course the Seiko is only a couple of years old, my OQ from 1977 gives it a good run for its money, just look at the quality of the hands.......wonderfull

[mikkibarry]

Very very pretty watch. I really like the OQs

[benoize]

Originally Posted by Czechman

Just recently sold:


Currently in wrist rotation:

Oohhhhh, that blue dial is just sooooo coooool!

Here's mine