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Old 23 December 2022, 07:45 PM   #3
BOA
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Real Name: Bruce
Location: Chicago, IL
Watch: Meteorite DD
Posts: 2,636
They're both from the Gibeon meteorite that fell in Namibia long ago. Watches with meteorite dials are becoming more popular of late, including some made from other kinds of meteorites, all of which the article linked below expands on.

https://robbreport.com/style/watch-c...ga-1234613358/

The Gibeon individual meteorites used to be more available, but Namibia cut off letting them leave the country not very long ago, and since then prices for even small pieces have shot up in price on eBay.

I believe there's an art to cutting and finishing slices into dials which includes acid etching to bring out the Widmanstätten pattern, and there there are imperfections found as the meteorite is sliced which means not all of it is usable.

Omega seems to have found a way to darken the dials that looks pretty nice, but that is processing, not a rare example of the same meteorite. I think Rolex does an amazing finish on their meteorite dials. I have one myself, and I still find it mesmerizing years later.

The Gibeon is becoming more scarce and pricier accordingly, but there's still lots of it in the world, and companies like Rolex have likely socked a lot of it away and would have little trouble acquiring more. They don't make so many meteorite dials that they're common, the demand is high, they're often reserved for watches with precious metals or complications, and all that factors in as well. There's nothing else like them, and they're truly out of this world.
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