116519 whitegold Daytona beach conversion Chrysoprase, pic heavy!

[GreatCircle]

Already have tried quit a few wild configurations for my whitegold 116519 Daytona reference and this time I was ready for a refreshing and rather daring green Beach project! If you are an executive member of the “Daytona needs to be black or white” club please stop reading here….

Luckily and quit surprisingly to be honest Rolex still allows people with an original 116519 to enjoy the vibe of these colorful designs released roughly 20 years ago without paying the absurd exploded grey market prices for the “original” ones. Probably 75 percent out there is converted anyway. AD’s were actually able to factory-order the rather slow selling standard 116519’s in Beach identity many many years after the initial release further fading the ultrathin line between collectable originality and crazy overpriced gathered fake provenance….
(Until a couple of years ago you could buy the colorful lizard boxes on ebay almost by the kilo….)

The more friendly service centre equipped AD’s without too much self imposed restrictions or completely lost in the Rolex rule-jungle may help you ordering the happy four dials and lizard straps from Geneva HQ. Expect pricing for the dials being pretty steep, the straps are an absolute bargain though! Biggest challenge with the lizard straps for the AD is getting them through customs ! This all obvious related with considerable strict CITES regulations.
(Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora)
So if you decide you to want to convert your watch, expect it to take months for sure and in some regions you will not be able to get the straps at all. We all know mysterious Rolex can change it’s mind in a heartbeat but at this moment you can still order all the four colour combinations!

Anyway i chose the green one, made from Chrysoprase. A microcrystalline variety in the quartz family and actually one of the most valuable minerals in that group. Others being onyx, bloodstone and agate that sound probably familiar because Rolex also tinkered these in a dial and found their way to various Daydate variations.

The best and most costly chrysoprase stones can show a kind of very unique bright apple green waxy luster with variable translucency. Nickel is the responsible element for the green colour. The best chrysoprase is usually found in Australia, roughly 85% from the worlds supply originates from down under.

(A raw high quality chryoprase stone, Image source energymuse)



Price for this mineral by the carat is not extremely high but for slicing a dial you need a rather large kind of perfect stone. And for the larger stones with the smallest imperfections and inclusions the prices will skyrocket. Expect to fork out about 5000CHF for just the dial. Yes, that’s correct and the actual MSRP without any greedy grey market “taxes”.





First things first, just the Roman chrysoprase dial installed in a regular 116519 , this was a necessary intermediate step due to the fact the strap was held in customs. But it does look kind of cool on tobacco brown alligator as well and this is actually a 100% approved Rolex configuration! Don’t forget that, no franken nonsense or anything!







Finally after a two month sleepover in customs the lizard green strap arrived, cool!






The depth of this specific stone dial can be seen here, the subdials have been cut out with an obvious very high level of craftsmanship!



In bright sunlight the stone(dial) will reveal it’s beautiful waxy translucent luster as seen here :


More about the lumed hands later, thanks for looking. This whitegold Daytona configuration is probably not for everone to say the least but looking forward to hear some opinions!

[HideMyWalletPlease]

Beautiful watch. The dial is very interesting. I would probably wear it on the brown strap or even a black strap. The dial pops enough on its own without the green strap. Thank you for sharing this beautiful abs unique watch.

[2001jesper]

Wow! Really cool project and conversion. The vibe of the watch is fantastic.

Enjoy to the fullest

[JSolution]

Never thought I would like this at all but it looks really good on you.

[Gladiat0r]

Pretty incredible! Not for me but I totally respect it and think it’s bold and stunning.

[ltmgeller]

Very cool

[Nav01L]

I gotta say I love that, beautiful stone dial, great look altogether

[1665fan]

Did they give you back your old dial?

[Keepchasing]

That turned out wonderful!

[GreatCircle]

Originally Posted by 1665fan

Did they give you back your old dial?

Yes they sure did. It was not exactly my first dial change and thank god in some countries consumer laws still surpass those absolute ridiculous policies confiscating the stuff you paid for ( A LOT!)

[HMHM]

I like the Daytona beach vibes! It's a great watch and hopefully Rolex revives it sooner than later!

[GreatCircle]

For some strange reason the two beach stone dials are shipped from the factory now with green lumed hands. Perhaps for practical reasons, but it just doesn’t look right. Distinguish from the initial released editions probably wont be the reason since just not being able to order the dials is a lot easier then... (Or maybe an exchange only flag for damaged dials).
So maybe Rolex thinks people want lume these days for practical reasons ?

Anyway, the AD was friendly enough to special order the older style no lume hands from the factory and this really looks way better ! Or do you prefer the lumed hands ?

[Oaker1]

I think this looks great ��

[subtona]

I do appreciate a monotone Daytona for its superior legibility.
Those contrasting colored rings wreak having with finding the hands in low light.

[grimps]

I've always liked the beach models , I wish I'd picked one up 2-3 years ago when they was still dirt cheap.
Like custom cars I have no problem with people making their watch look the way they want it to as long as it's not to fool or trick someone into buying the more expensive original versions

[RolexSimon]

Awesome watch! love it.

[indianmachine]

congrats on the conversion, think it looks splendid! What did the original watch look like?

[AJMarcus]

I must admit It looks cool.

[GreatCircle]

Thanks for all the nice comments. It’s a unique look and the dial really is something special. Agree the green strap is perhaps a little too much so probably will wear this with the OEM brown one as well in rotation.

Originally Posted by indianmachine

congrats on the conversion, think it looks splendid! What did the original watch look like?

I had the slate arabic one before and numerous other dials in the past but doesn’t really matter. Got a few questions with PM : you should be able to do this with any non ceramic 116519 ! (Not the Zenith 16519 obviously!)
But keep in mind different regions, different policies…. And doublecheck the customs regulations regarding the straps before you initiate a project.

[fmc000]

Originally Posted by GreatCircle

Very cool look!

[tm10]

Do you know what’s the deal with the 116509? Did they ever come with a chyroprase dial straight from the factory or they were strictly fitted on afterwards?

[GreatCircle]

Originally Posted by tm10

Do you know what’s the deal with the 116509? Did they ever come with a chyroprase dial straight from the factory or they were strictly fitted on afterwards?

Yes, 116509 could have been special ordered by the AD with one of these dials. At least the blue and green, not sure about pink and yellow.
In some countries the dial is printed on the papers , only way to know 100 percent sure if it came like that from the factory or not.

Same goes for 116519, but then obviously all the 4 colours were possible. Only with special orders placed in the years after early 2000’s these watches did not came with matching colour lizzard box and paper holder. This gives you three categories basicly:
1 factory delivered beaches with all the goodies.2002-2002
2 factory delivered beaches without the goodies 2002-??
3 converted ones. Replaced by RSC or watchmakers with parts accounts.

[marmite2005]

Very nice, it turned out great...... beach summer vibe

[tm10]

Originally Posted by GreatCircle

Yes, 116509 could have been special ordered by the AD with one of these dials. At least the blue and green, not sure about pink and yellow.
In some countries the dial is printed on the papers , only way to know 100 percent sure if it came like that from the factory or not.

Same goes for 116519, but then obviously all the 4 colours were possible. Only with special orders placed in the years after early 2000’s these watches did not came with matching colour lizzard box and paper holder. This gives you three categories basicly:
1 factory delivered beaches with all the goodies.2002-2002
2 factory delivered beaches without the goodies 2002-??
3 converted ones. Replaced by RSC or watchmakers with parts accounts.

Thank you for your informative response!
I see sellers on c24 with lume hands and they would claim they are original.