First Rolex: 16600 SWISS dial Sea-Dweller

[floresb]

Excellent post!

[JerimiahLee]

Awesome photos!! Congrats.

[Travelller]

Thanks everyone, much appreciated
Vincent, nice T-dial, sir!

Getting NATO-happy...

[Meil]

Hie,
nice pictures of a very nice watch. Have one on my own, but I did not wear it on a Nato yet. I was always afraid it would be too high. The pictures show that it isn't so.

Yours Meil

[strafer_kid]

Great review of a great watch! Just picked one up again after a few years without one - definitely a keeper!

[Travelller]

Thx

It just so happens I had it on today, on some "copper" NATO

[sdwtchlvr]

Nice watch. The best in my opinion is the luminova dial and lug holes...classic.

[americanB4america]

awesome review and pics.

[phdezra]

Incredible pics and reivew!

[will2509]

I just joined the ranks of the SD club, 2006 model unworn still with labels attached and all documents tool and link etc which means I cant really wear it - sucks!

[Travelller]

Thx again

[strafer_kid]

Love the 16600 SD! The only thing I would change might be to go for bigger maxi type markers, but that would be it! Having said that, it's a super watch and a definite keeper!

[Travelller]

Originally Posted by strafer_kid

...to go for bigger maxi type markers, but that would be it!

Agreed

It's one of two watches accompanying me on my summer vacation :D

[Mr. Somerset]

Beautiful! Congrats on the watch.

[Travelller]

Thx! Enjoyed summer vacation in July and the 16600 came with me...

[Matt C]

Great post of some beautiful pics. Thanks!

[havingagoodtime]

Fantastic write up and photos! I've now decided on my next addition. Thanks again!

[mikli]

great post. Just added a vintage 16600 T dial to my collection, Going to order some NATO to play with. Cheers

[Travelller]

Thanks again

A T-Dial 16600 is a cult-classic! Please post a wristshot once you get it and have it on some NATO goodness

[michwir]

seen the awsome pics you made, wow !!



regards mich

[Travelller]

Thx Nice T-dial

It's been a while since I had mine on so today I got it out of the safe

[miamiman1]

Originally Posted by Travelller

Thx! Enjoyed summer vacation in July and the 16600 came with me...

Nice watch and looks like those pics were taken at Miami international airport.....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Travelller]

In the spirit of Bond (Spectre), a recent wristshot

[Dries]

Great post. Here's my A series

[Travelller]

Originally Posted by miamiman1

...looks like those pics were taken at Miami international airport...

Yes sir - "Miami is for me"

Originally Posted by Dries

Great post. Here's my A series...

Thx and T4S your beauty too

[Recaro18]

Nice write-up! I love my 16600!

[Stratos]

16600 is one of the best divers watches out there!

A real toolwatch.

[Travelller]

I recently purchased Mondani's famous "Collecting Rolex Submariner". The book is massive, 265 pages of thick-stock glossy paper, filled with images of our favorite tool watches



Great book, highly recommend. As excellent a reference book on Submariners (and Sea-Dwellers) as it may be, I'm not sure it is a complete work. Yes, it contains all the key versions of the Submariner, Submariner Date and Sea-Dweller. They even included the Deep-Sea (both versions - I have their 2015 edition) as well as the SD4K.

You've got your James Bonds, Gilt, Spider, Ghost, Red, Red-Depth, Underline, Exclamation-Point, Bart Simpson, meters-first, "At-The-Top", COMEX, MilSub, Double-Red, Great-White, etc. Heck, there's even three dial-versions of the 16600, not including the COMEX and Italian Police-divers ("Polipetto") versions!

Everything you could wish for... except for maybe the A-Series SWISS dial... . So naturally my first thought was "oh no, they were right, it's just another Service Dial...". And maybe it is. The thing is I'm still convinced that most of (if not the whole) A-series were assembled with SWISS dials.

Furthermore, the bezel is from the MK-I (tritium) period as well as the caseback on my A-series (the inner-side of the "MK-I" / Tritium casebacks are stamped with "16600" while the "official" lume dials, Mondani's MK-II and MK-III dials, are stamped with "2220" - Rolex's contemporary coding).



Given the above, I could easily conclude that my 16600 was originally a MK-I T-dial that was serviced by Rolex... if it were not for the sheer quantity of A-series with SWISS dials out there. As such, the possibility that this is indeed a transition dial still exists.

And I'm not the only one to think so...
http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=265018
They are able to show that the 16600 SWISS dial and the Service dial have different fonts (for example, the longer "f" in "ft" as well as added spacing)

But for now, my SWISS-dial 16600 will have to settle for the pages of the T-dial, 16600-caseback, fat-four bezel MK-I...

[Travelller]

Originally Posted by Travelller

...The thing is I'm still convinced that most of (if not the whole) A-series were assembled with SWISS dials.

Errata - looking back at my notes, the SWISS dial was used on some 1998 U-Series and continued into the 1999 A-Series units. The A-series then moved on to "Swiss Made" dials from 1999-2000.

[rosewood1969]

Nice posts! I had a D series but traded it for a U series in 6 weeks because of the tritium and lug-hole charm