That escalated rather quickly! - Incoming 16570 w/ 3186

[MahdiyaDad]

Late in the afternoon today my cousin sent me a photo of a relatively clean Explorer II 16570 with a black dial for sale.

I asked him what series, and explained I'm after the one with a 3186 movement. He said M series and I got a little excited. These are like Hen's teeth where I am and I was actually going to travel to Singapore en route to Tokyo to check out some leads on a few placesthat might have a few available.

My cousin, being the trooper that he is, actually brought the watch to me from his friend selling it, let me check it out. I did the crown test and it has the 3186 movement, I kind of lost it inside and knew then I had to have it. My cousin then drove back to his friend and paid him while I sorted out the transfer to his account.

It was the quickest and most random deal I've ever done in my life. Extremely thankful that I have WIS cousins in the family and that I live in a tiny country which made this possible to do in a record time of 40 minutes or so, from start to finish!

What's more over the weekend, during dinner at a friend's place, they let me geek out and we talked about the next piece on my list. I couldn't decide whether to go Polar or Black, and I wanted the older reference because of the case size and proportions of the hands and dial.

In the end I decided that I'm going to go for both. Some would say a bit excessive, but I plan for these to go to my two daughters when they are older.

But I didn't expect this to happen so quickly!
One down, and the Polar to go next.

[GerardoG]

Congratulations!!!! VERY nice!

[MahdiyaDad]

Originally Posted by GerardoG

Congratulations!!!! VERY nice!

Thanks Gerardo!

[sickened1]

Congrats.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by MahdiyaDad

Late in the afternoon today my cousin sent me a photo of a relatively clean Explorer II 16570 with a black dial for sale.

I asked him what series, and explained I'm after the one with a 3186 movement. He said M series and I got a little excited. These are like Hen's teeth where I am and I was actually going to travel to Singapore en route to Tokyo to check out some leads on a few placesthat might have a few available.

My cousin, being the trooper that he is, actually brought the watch to me from his friend selling it, let me check it out. I did the crown test and it has the 3186 movement, I kind of lost it inside and knew then I had to have it. My cousin then drove back to his friend and paid him while I sorted out the transfer to his account.

It was the quickest and most random deal I've ever done in my life. Extremely thankful that I have WIS cousins in the family and that I live in a tiny country which made this possible to do in a record time of 40 minutes or so, from start to finish!

What's more over the weekend, during dinner at a friend's place, they let me geek out and we talked about the next piece on my list. I couldn't decide whether to go Polar or Black, and I wanted the older reference because of the case size and proportions of the hands and dial.

In the end I decided that I'm going to go for both. Some would say a bit excessive, but I plan for these to go to my two daughters when they are older.

But I didn't expect this to happen so quickly!
One down, and the Polar to go next.

Its a M serial Rolex have never made a series of any watch and whether a 3185 or a 3186 in the case no big deal either way.But the only real way to check 100% is get the back off to see the movement.Now the early 3186 did have a few problems so check your watch is running well especially the date change.

[MahdiyaDad]

Originally Posted by padi56

Its a M serial Rolex have never made a series of any watch and whether a 3185 or a 3186 in the case no big deal either way.But the only real way to check 100% is get the back off to see the movement.Now the early 3186 did have a few problems so check your watch is running well especially the date change.

Yeah, sorry about that am still a bit frazzled by how it went down. Thanks for the heads up about the issues, will keep an eye out for it!

[Annan]

Great catch! I had a Polar M serial/3186 and it was a great watch with no issues during the year I owned it. I flipped it for a 216570 (also gone now). The 216570 was great too but sometimes I wished I had kept that M serial. At 40mm it was a better fit and look for me. Enjoy!

[Nycturbovr6]

Congrats! Wear in good health

[dorflonni]

Congrats! Nice Watch.
New to the forum, and not to change the subject, but what is a crown test?

[MahdiyaDad]

Originally Posted by dorflonni

Congrats! Nice Watch.
New to the forum, and not to change the subject, but what is a crown test?

Thanks :)

I read somewhere here on the forum that one method to check (supposedly) the movement and find out whether it is a 3186 movement, versus the older 3185 movement is by doing a few tests.

The one I mentioned is where you pull out the crown to change the hour setting, and turn it one revolution, in most cases the 3186 movement jumps 8-9 hours, where as the older movement will jump 6.

It's not officially called the crown test, but in my excitement of typing out the post I kinda let out a verbal spew of phrases which may not be completely accurate lingo. For this I apologise.

Never had been in a position where the watch literally fell into my lap like that

I'm still buzzing.

[dorflonni]

Originally Posted by MahdiyaDad

Thanks :)

I read somewhere here on the forum that one method to check (supposedly) the movement and find out whether it is a 3186 movement, versus the older 3185 movement is by doing a few tests.

The one I mentioned is where you pull out the crown to change the hour setting, and turn it one revolution, in most cases the 3186 movement jumps 8-9 hours, where as the older movement will jump 6.

It's not officially called the crown test, but in my excitement of typing out the post I kinda let out a verbal spew of phrases which may not be completely accurate lingo. For this I apologise.

Never had been in a position where the watch literally fell into my lap like that

I'm still buzzing.

Thanks for the information, new to this and was curious, and again congrats.

[watchwatcher]

Congrats!

[mps354]

Congrats!

[sea-dweller]

Very clean and nice!

[Old Expat Beast]

Congrats. I have both white and black, and can't decide which to keep.

[eonflux]

I think another difference between the 3186 and the predecessor is that there's more wiggling with the hour hand on the 3185 when moving the hour hand. But only way you're going to know for sure is to take off the back and confirm you have a 3186.

[MahdiyaDad]

Originally Posted by eonflux

I think another difference between the 3186 and the predecessor is that there's more wiggling with the hour hand on the 3185 when moving the hour hand. But only way you're going to know for sure is to take off the back and confirm you have a 3186.

Yup, hopefully get to do that when I resize the bracelet. I'll check with the AD here.

Thanks again everyone for chiming in and wishing well. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week.

[mjclark32]

Congrats!

[judson]

I also have both black and polar, in a pinch I would keep the black.

[busytimmy]

Awesome watch. Congratulations!

[Koala]

Congrats on such a quick and easy acquisition!

[SemperFi]

Very nice spur of the moment pickup. Congrats!

[crfsocal]

Congrats!

[HogwldFLTR]

Congratulations!!! Great watch I must agree! Just finished touring with mine...

Here it is in the state room...

[MahdiyaDad]

Originally Posted by HogwldFLTR

Congratulations!!! Great watch I must agree! Just finished touring with mine...

Here it is in the state room...

I have to admit, I read your thread about picking what to wear for the trip you went on recently. It helped make my decision easy haha!

Thanks for inadvertently lending a hand.

[DCgator]

Congratz!!

[travisb]

Worked out perfect. Congrats!

[Dickie Watty]

3186? 3185? Who cares. Both great movements.
My 3185 runs like a top, a top that keeps near perfect time that is.

[MahdiyaDad]

Originally Posted by Dickie Watty

3186? 3185? Who cares. Both great movements.
My 3185 runs like a top, a top that keeps near perfect time that is.

Yeah I agree, the deal was good for me and it doesn't matter that much. For the Polar 16570 though I like the dials with the thinner borders on the lume plots, just a personal preference, which came with the last few batches in the production I think. Annan posted a pick and that dial really does it for me over the older ones.

[997.2]

Epic!! That's a great find - a cherry! and that movement!!! 😍
Enjoy the exp!!!


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