500C, A crazy idea

[Singslinger]

I'm 58 years old with pretty weak eyes but I don't have a problem seeing the time on my white dial, ceramic Daytona.

IMHO, telling time is harder with the black dial version.

[atn_uk]

I have a much cheaper example chronograph that has the same legibility issues, in fact it was one of the things that prompted me to start looking elsewhere and eventually led to me buying my first Rolex.

I must have a good look around to find a more legible alternative as I do like a chronograph.

[Vince KSA]

I'm 100% with the OP here. I love my 116500LN but really struggle to read the time without my reading glasses on (I'm 50 & long sighted). So anything close up even wrist distance is difficult to see & blurred slightly.

See my example against one of my other watches below and even the most fervent Daytona fan must see that its not the quickest watch to read at a glance.

Still love mine though.



compare.jpg

[AK797]

I wouldn't mod a genuine watch like that, glad you asked for this intervention.

[wisguy]

I'd do it, you can always get new hands if you don't like it.

[kitsgq]

Why not? I mean worse case you can get a new set of hands and put it back to factory specs if you don't like it. I think the black hands on the rendering above looks great. Do it!

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[ap1]

My eyes are changing yearly for the worse and I’ve got a mix of glasses, taking them off to read, just got multifocal contacts etc. causes fits with a lot of things but somehow the powers that be know I’m a WIS and have spared me this complaint about Daytona’s, in fact
It’s my favorite model. I will say the brown dial on PM is pretty much unreadable though

[fskywalker]

go for it!


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[lecorsaire]

Sell it and buy the black one. I wouldn’t do this to a white DaytonaC. It is Rolex’s most limited watch. While you can replace the hands, it would no longer be original.

[rod442]

I say if it improves your enjoyment of YOUR watch, do it.
And I do like the pic posted as a mock up. rolex should offer one this way.

After all, its about the same as a different set of wheels on a car.
Who cares if its not original, it can always be put back right.

[ijpx]

Just swap to the black one or move your wrist. Voila!! Your favorite watch again!!

[feb29]

I have 116500LN Black. Same issue here with legibility without glasses a spatially at dark. I'll do the swap of hands if it improve legibility.

[Easy E]

It's over, donezo, finito, kaput. 500C is out the door, down the road. Took the money and ran. I tried so hard to like this watch. As previously mentioned, in the right light it was my favorite, just not all the time, annoying at best in others.

In my efforts to find a DLC job on the hands I was met with great resistance. I couldn't find anyone that seems trustworthy to just take the hands - case and bracelet, no problem, but the hands were considered too small and too delicate for most DLC shops. Further, the hands would have to be de-lumed, stripped of any coating, and then re-lumed (after market hands were never an option for me). So, my couple hundred dollar experiment was going to cost closer to $800-$1000. Plus I have burned up a couple of days trying to sort this out, and I'm done, it's over.

E-

[crewsin]

Good on you for avoiding the stress and cost for the experiment. There are a couple rules I have for watches, one of them is legibility. I know it’s just functional jewelry but it has to be functional first and foremost. As such, I would never buy a skeleton watch, etc.


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