Vintage Rolex, how deep can I go

[rolexandlange]

The perfect vintage Rolex for me probably doesn't exist, but I want to go to vintage as the next chapter in my collecting journey.

I like to sleep with my watch on so I don't want it to be too heavy. When I wake up in my mountain cabin, I like to sprint from my front door straight out to the dock and jump into the water for a sunrise polar plunge. Nothing makes you feel more alive. So my watch needs to be able to withstand this and have enough water resistance for that morning dive off the dock. Mostly surface swimming.

After cooking breakfast and timing my eggs with my watch, I ride my mountain bike down the hill on a somewhat bumpy path down into town where I work in my office like any other stiff. Then ride the mountain bike back home, maybe swim a little more with my kids, and off to dinner back in town (driving this time) or cook at home. Put the little ones to sleep and do it all again the next day.

Ideally I could do this all with a 16750 (quick set date attractive) or a 1665 (love the superdome crystal but would miss the quickset) on the wrist, but how realistic is it? Am I risking damaging the hands/dial by mountain biking with brittle tritium lumes? Will I eventually flood it by swimming? I think I can mitigate the water ingress risk with proper servicing, but preserving the dial and hands seems more precarious if doing mountain sports while wearing.

I know most of you will say I need to take my watch off for these sort of things but that is not my intention for this piece in my collection. I want my watch to have stories, and for my kids to remember it on my wrist when we summited half dome or went camping together.

Thanks for reading and looking forward to this thread.