First Rolex.....First Post

[47Straight]

I just took ownership of my first Rolex and I've been searching the internet trying to learn more about it. That, of course, lead me to this forum. As I read through the forums, I started to get the impression that some on the board might appreciate the story behind it. So here it goes.

My father was a doctor who had a love for Rolex watches. His love for them meant that I gained an appreciation for what a Rolex watch is, but I never really knew a lot about them. Over the years he owned several but ended up with just three; two men's watches and one lady’s watch that he bought for my mom. Of course, he had a reason behind that number as he had 2 sons and one daughter. As you have probably now guessed, my father passed away about a year ago. It was at the end of a long fight with Alzheimer's.
The two men's watches that he kept were a gold watch with a burl wood dial that he bought in the early 80's and a stainless watch that was his first, which I thought he had bought in the 70s. He went into memory care about 18 months before his passing. After he had been there for about 2 months, we realized that he had been wearing the stainless watch the whole time. We immediately bought him a cheap Timex to wear that was far less likely to walk off and gave the Rolex to my mom to keep with the other two watches.
Well, unknown to my brother and I, my older sister decided that she liked the latest style of women wearing men's watches and she talked my mom into giving her the stainless Rolex. She had several links removed so that it would fit, and she wore it as her daily watch until my dad passed away. At that time, my mom found some notes of my dad's that said he intended my brother and I to have the men's watches and for my sister to have my mom's watch when the time came. So, my sister gave the watch back to my mom along with the additional bracelet links. My mom took it to the jeweler to have the links added, but the links didn’t fit. It turns out that my sister’s jeweler likely gave her the wrong links when she had the bracelet sized.

So, the next question for my brother and I was who would get which watch? We both expected that the gold watch was probably more valuable than the stainless, but that really wasn’t what this was about. I was with my dad when he bought the gold watch and knew he had paid about $10,000 for it in the early 80s. However, the truth is that I never really wear yellow gold. I’ve always been more partial to the stainless/silver/platinum look. My wedding ring is platinum. All my cuff links, other watches, etc. are all stainless/silver. Also, I knew my brother really wanted to gold one. It IS a very beautiful watch. So, I told him to take it. For me, it was really more about keeping something that my dad loved and wearing it to remember him. I knew I would wear the stainless watch more.

I took the watch home and the next order of business was to deal with the bracelet. My mom also asked me to have it appraised, so I took it in to our local Rolex dealer to see what could be done. Their appraiser was on vacation, and they needed to see if they could get links for the bracelet, so I left it with them.

The next week, when the appraiser was back from vacation, I called them to check on the watch. The original person I spoke with came on the phone and first told me that they couldn’t get links for the watch, and that I would have to buy a new bracelet to get something that would fit. She then told me that they had had quite a time trying to appraise it. They checked the model and serial number but didn’t really have much for comparison. They had called an expert that they work with in OKC to get more information.

At that point she said, “you do know what you have here, right?” I told her that I knew Rolexes were valuable watches and that entry level for a new one was probably $5,000-$6,000. She then asked me if I was looking to sell it or keep it. I told her that it was my father’s watch and that I wanted to keep it. She asked me if I was sure because the expert they spoke with, and sent pictures to, had offered me $30,000 for it! After a long pause while I re-thought my previous response, I told her “No, it was my father’s watch and I want to keep it”.

So, as many of you have probably already surmised, I have come to learn that my first Rolex is a Reference 6238 Pre-Daytona. The serial number dates it back to 1965, a little earlier than I had expected. The Oyster band was made by C&I and has a date stamp of 7-66. I’m trying to confirm it, but I believe my father bought it just before I was born in early 1967. The dealer is currently deciding if they will actually sign a formal appraisal, but they recommended that I insure it for around $40,000.

I ordered a new oyster bracelet so that I can wear it, but I will obviously keep the original bracelet. I’ll probably get a new leather band for it as well. I’m hoping to find links along the way so that I can restore the original bracelet to its full length.

My brother has yet to take his watch in for an appraisal, but after a bit of research I’m pretty sure it’s a Day-Date from the early 80’s. I’m thinking I won’t tell him what this old, stainless Rolex turned out to be😊. I don’t know if my dad even realized what he had. This whole event has given me a renewed appreciation for vintage Rolexes, and I hope, at some point, I have the means to collect a few more. Until then, I’ll probably just hang out here a little more often and learn more about them.

It appears that I need to have 10 posts to link pics so I'll add them once I have the posts.