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28 October 2018, 01:31 AM | #1 |
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Logo dials
Rolex made a lot of dials with company logos, team/event logos, military insignias, and Middle Eastern rulers' signatures over the years. Most of them hail from the 1950's-1980's. At one point they advertised corporate-branded Rolexes as a good service award for loyal employees, so they weren't just reluctantly fulfilling special requests--they were actively seeking out clients for it. Here is my attempt to showcase every known type of logo dial to appear on a Rolex.
I wouldn't be surprised if I've covered less than half of the logo dials Rolex ever made; I'm sure they made a lot of as-yet-undiscovered extremely small runs for various organizations. If anyone has pics of any more logo dials, or if you think anything I've listed here is aftermarket, etc. I'm happy to learn! Retailer co-branding (like Tiffany dials) doesn't constitute a "logo dial" for the purposes of this thread; I wrote a separate thread about this. On with the pics: Middle Eastern Dials Saudi Arabia Saudi crest without signature Saudi crest with King Faisal signature Saudi crest with King Khalid signature Saudi crest with King Fahad signature Saudi Ministry of Defence Saudi paratrooper dial (not 100% sure about this one) Saudi Royal Naval Forces crest Royal Saudi Air Force Royal Saudi Air Defense Majid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (Governor of Mecca) signature King Abdulaziz University King Khalid Military Academy Saudi Airlines SNAS (Saudi cargo airline) Dallah Avco (an aviation-services company) Samarec (later merged with Saudi Aramco) Jeddah Refinery Al-Bilad (Their "primary focus is to serve the growing requirements of IT and Oil & Gas Services within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" but they also operate a hotel) Al-Ittihad Club (Soccer team in the Saudi Pro League) Saudi Fund for Development Oman Oman dial a.k.a. Khanjar Crest Omani Police Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said signature UAE Hawk of Quraish (made for Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum) Dubai Police Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan portrait UAE Air Force UAE Armed Forces UAE General Command of Civil Defense (Police) Abu Dhabi military ("In peacetime, the military forces of Abu Dhabi and Dubai operate separately") General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan signature Sheikh Mubarak Bin Mohammed Al Nahyan signature Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan signature (possibly aftermarket?) Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum signature DUBAL (Dubai Aluminium) Bahrain King of Bahrain Bahrain Defense Force BANOCO (Bahrain National Oil Company) Libya ADWOC (Arab Drilling & Workover Company, based in Tripoli) Libyan Army Muammar Gaddafi signature Kuwait Sheikh Abdullah Al-Jaber signature Kuwait Army Qatar State of Qatar Syria Hafiz Al-Hassad signature (President of Syria from 1971-2000. Sometimes spelled "Hafez al-Assad") Origin-unknown dials with Arabic script SAMAD (Based on the wheat maybe it's an agricultural company?) Unknown bird (If anyone can read this dial that'd be great!) National/Military/Police dials (Non-Middle Eastern) Pakistan - 50 Years of Independence Nigerian Coat of Arms Map of India (Given to the first Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharald Nehru, to celebrate their national independence. I probably shouldn't include this because it's not really a proper "logo dial" but a cloisonne enamel dial, and there are several cloisonne enamel dials that deserve equal attention, but oh well) Panama Canal Italian State Police Diving Unit (Polizia di Stato Sommozzatori) United States Air Force Thunderbirds (The Thunderbirds are "the air demonstration squadron of the United States Air Force" and the reason why references 1625, 16263 and 16264 are called "Thunderbird") Company/Organization Dials Charity/Club/Membership Organization Dials 100 Club of Houston (A charity that provides "financial support to the dependents of law enforcement officers and firefighters who are killed or catastrophically injured in the line of duty in 32 counties surrounding Houston") American Medical Association Ducks Unlimited Freemasons Optimist International Phoenix Country Club Oil Company Dials (Non-Middle Eastern) Brown Oil Tools Inc. (Houston, Texas) Circle Bar Drilling Company Gulf Oil Drilling Halliburton Pool Intairdril Sweetwater Drilling Co. Tenneco (formerly the Tennessee Gas Transmission Company) Unidentified Oil Rig logo Corporate Dials (Non-Middle Eastern, Non-Oil) American Heritage International Anheuser-Busch Arkansas Best Busch Bavarian Beer Caesar Chevrolet Cigarette 1 (Boat racing team. Possibly aftermarket? I think the ones with a red "1" are definitely aftermarket) Coca-Cola Comex Diamond Alkali Domino's Pizza (Click here for a breakdown of variants of this dial) Dow Corning Wright Global Insurance Gramco Hallmark Honda Leland E. Green McNeil Akron Nalco (Illinois chemical company) Pan Am Airlines Pearl Lager Beer RMS Queen Mary (Circa 1930's, possibly the earliest graphic/logo dial on a Rolex) Ridgway's Texas Instruments United Guaranty Winn-Dixie (Safety award dials exist for both maintenance and driving) Woods Industries Wyatt USI Team/Event Dials Baltimore Colts (They were the 1959 "World Champions" a few years before the football championship was renamed "Super Bowl") Cotton Bowl (The Cotton Bowl watches were Rolexes from 1967-1970 and Tudors from 1971-1974 and 1976) Detroit Red Wings Greater Greensboro Golf Tournament Lafayette Oil Tourney (I don't know what this tournament is exactly, or if it's related to the modern-day Lafeyette Oilman's Golf Invitational. I've only seen dials for 1967, 1970, and 1973) Nick Price Edition Datejust (1 of 200 made in 1996 to commemorate Nick Price's dominance at the time. I'm unsure what "WJ" stands for) St. Louis Cardinals (Commemorating their 2006 World Series win) University of Houston (Given to a coach according to watchesandart.com) Misc. Unidentified Unknown "MC" logo Unknown "P" candle logo 30-year award Unknown planet logo 10-year award Unknown quad-hexagon logo (I believe I once read this was a petrochemical company logo but I can't confirm that) If anyone can identify any of the blurry logos below, that'd be amazing: And zoomed in: Thanks for reading! |
28 October 2018, 01:44 AM | #2 |
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Absolutely stunning catalogue of images.
Thank you for sharing. Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk |
28 October 2018, 07:35 AM | #3 |
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Great post ... amazing pics
thanks for sharing
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29 October 2018, 06:10 AM | #4 |
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Awesome post!! Thanks for all the research and effort you put into this
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29 October 2018, 11:45 AM | #5 |
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This is really cool! Seeing how logos were used on different dials if fascinating.
Thanks for the hard work and for sharing. |
29 October 2018, 01:07 PM | #6 | ||
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Quote:
Quote:
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29 October 2018, 05:06 PM | #7 |
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Stuck.
Cheers Rob
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29 October 2018, 09:40 PM | #8 |
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2 November 2018, 02:16 AM | #9 |
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Thanks to JAF01 for pointing out that this is one a Halliburton Oilfield Services logo:
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2 November 2018, 02:56 AM | #10 |
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Just stumbled across these portrait dials from 1975:
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3 December 2018, 04:37 PM | #11 |
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Thanks so much for posting this! I too am obsessed with corporate dials on Rolexes. They're so hard to come by !
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11 December 2018, 12:48 AM | #12 |
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Another unknown Middle Eastern dial:
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27 December 2018, 03:44 AM | #13 |
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Unknown MC logo is McCalls printing in Dayton, OH.
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27 December 2018, 04:04 AM | #14 |
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1 January 2019, 04:21 PM | #15 |
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18238 with "Head of State, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria" written around a Nigerian coat of arms logo:
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2 January 2019, 05:10 AM | #16 |
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Mystery solved on one of the blurry unknown logos. This is a "Lord Calvert" 5500:
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12 January 2019, 06:48 AM | #17 |
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Any idea what the model of the MC watch is? I inherited the same watch from my wife's grandfather who received it as a retirement/service gift from McCall's in 1972. It was his prized possession and I'd love to know more about the watch itself. Not sure where to start.
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12 January 2019, 04:17 PM | #18 | |
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Quote:
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12 January 2019, 05:29 PM | #19 |
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Great job !!
Thanks a lot for all these pics and information !! I was looking for this kind of stuff for too long... Envoyé de mon iPhone en utilisant Tapatalk |
15 January 2019, 10:23 PM | #20 |
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nice work
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25 January 2019, 03:39 PM | #21 |
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Glad I popped into this sub-forum and saw this. Great post and thanks for all the effort you put in!
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25 January 2019, 07:40 PM | #22 |
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Rolex Explorer ref. 14270
150 units, circa 2007 |
26 January 2019, 02:37 AM | #23 |
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Nice find, Stratos! Also came across this AC Milan Datejust:
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29 January 2019, 11:41 PM | #24 |
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Great post, thanks for sharing!
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9 February 2019, 08:50 PM | #25 |
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I have seen quite a few of these in the Middle East. Always assumed it was aftermarket dials. Thanks for the enlightenment!
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9 February 2019, 11:40 PM | #26 |
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Really cool, thanks for the post
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11 March 2019, 12:32 AM | #27 |
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Another oil company.
Deepwell Services of Mississippi (USA): |
22 March 2019, 02:39 AM | #28 |
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Kuwaiti Coat of Arms on a 1665:
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17 May 2019, 02:17 PM | #29 |
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[QUOTE=powerfunk;9158684]Another unknown Middle Eastern dial:
[Quote] This just says "Rolex Date Just" in Arabic. They phonetically spelled it out so when you say it in Arabic it sounds like English . Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk |
17 May 2019, 05:01 PM | #30 |
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