My first Sub (a short story of sorts)

[007Sub]

Dear fellow TRF members, I'm proud to say that I finally made the leap, and have officially become a member of the Rolex community in my recent acquisition of a 16800 transitional Sub... and quite a story I have to go along with it.

I suppose my obsession with these fine watches started not too long ago. Having owned a brushed stainless steel Breitling Superocean professional for a few years, my eyes naturally were drawn to the Rolex Submariner; with its undeniable superiority showcased not only in aesthetics, but in mechanics, and heritage.

It wasn't long before I read everything there was to read about them, researched every nuance, and memorized every curve.

One of my favorite pass-times soon became watching the rolex sub market on ebay and TRF sales posts.

I toyed, for a bit, with the idea of getting a Tudor... but never felt quite motivated enough.

Aesthetically, I am most drawn to the 5513 of the late '70s with a maxi dial. I simply adore the old matte dials, much more so than the newer gloss with gold surrounds. Moreover, the cream colour of the tritium patina is so classic and understated...to me, a matte dial sub is simply the best.

Still, I'm a fan of sapphire crystals and naturally one day I decided to look into the transitional model 16800; the only sub adorned with the classic matte dial, and newer sapphire crystal. It seemed a perfect combination...the best of both worlds if you will.

Nearly by accident, i stumbled on an ebay listing for a "sub with a matte dial". The listing was very poor, but the one blurry photo caught my eye nonetheless. I messaged the seller asking for more photos, and much to my surprise, when I saw them in my inbox, I was stunned at what seemed to be beautiful example of a 16800.

I decided to place a bid... (there weren't many most likely due to the poor quality of the auction). I knew I was taking my chances, but figured I'd trust my instinct. Again much to my surprise, my bid was the highest at the auction's close.

A few days later when the watch arrived, I went straight to Rolex USA in NYC to have it examined for authenticity and to see what a servicing would cost.

Well my friends, if you have not been to RNYC, I can tell you, its quite an experience. The walls of the elevator are lined with stone etched coronets and the walls a colored with that signature green. The architecture is, as one might expect, pristine, yet imposing.

I walked into the service center located on the 5th floor and was greeted by two lovely women. Not mentioning my ebay extravaganza, I simply said that i recently received this watch as a gift and wanted to assess its authenticity and get a quote for servicing.

The women took the watch and brought it behind closed doors to a service tech. In classic rolex fashion, when I asked to see what the watch looked like open, they refused to bring me backstage :) As I sat in the reception area waiting out the 25 minutes I was told it would take, my conversation with the women was interrupted by a phone call in which one of the service women informed my that they may need to "keep the watch for a week to check on some serial number issues" (or something of that nature). I quickly replied, 25 minutes to a week is a bit of a discrepancy no? Then one of the women said, "let me see what I can do" and retreated to the service area.

Naturally, the first thing that came into my mind was that the watch was stolen! The gamut of human emotion started to pour through my veins. I was nearly 100% sure that I would never see the watch again... that they would come back out and give me the bad news. I started planning my chargeback claim, and thinking of what I may say to the women to avoid further humiliation.

Twenty minutes later, the woman came out from the tech area and to my surprise was holding the watch. She said that, they had some trouble locating the serial number in their database which only meant that it was originally purchased overseas. A wave of relief washed over me. My blood pressure dropped by at least 20%. She confirmed not only the authenticity of the watch but provided me with paperwork on service options (most of which I would refuse as they would destroy the originality/collecability of the watch).

So a very long story short, my ebay chance auction and Rolex research has paid off. I am now the proud owner of a transitional sub; a piece of the submariner history. I still am unsure of the cyclops...I'm debating having it removed, but am stopped via my interest in preserving its originality.

I hope you enjoy these photos. Thanks for reading.

~G

[pz93c]

Fantastic.

[mcjp6]

Great story and even greater looking watch...you must be very happy..

[JJ Irani]

[unclesallie]

great story! relief. i've been to that RSC at NY several times, and the views are great!....for a different ending, see my post at 'does rolex mark its movements'....they do, and even back as far as the '30's according to RSC NY, but there are a fews dissenters on that proposition. Congratulations!

[jdc]

great watch and glad it all worked out for the best

[007Sub]

Thanks for your comments everyone! Unclesallie what do you mean exactly about RSC marking the movements?

[ocwatching]

NICE story..the roller coaster ride of emotions must have been crazy..
CONGRATS on your sub

[007Sub]

Oh it was!!! Thanks for reading.

[Dan Pierce]

Nice story w/ a great ending, Greg. I've taken educated gambles on ebay and have always come out to the good. It's not for the faint of heart but if you take the time to learn it can be very rewarding.
Congrat, welcome to TRF, and enjoy that beauty in good health.
dP

ps: Don't every buy a Tudor. You'll never be the same after.

[007Sub]

Hey all, I just read through this post on movement identification with case SN (http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=83898) as suggested by Unclesallie. Very interesting. I suppose that during my time in RSC NY they were having trouble matching the two numbers in their database which accounted for the moment of terror... but now that they gave me papers with a quote for service options, that essentially stands as recognition of the authentic matching of everything... Right?

[007Sub]

Originally Posted by Dan Pierce

Nice story w/ a great ending, Greg. I've taken educated gambles on ebay and have always come out to the good. It's not for the faint of heart but if you take the time to learn it can be very rewarding.
Congrat, welcome to TRF, and enjoy that beauty in good health.
dP

ps: Don't every buy a Tudor. You'll never be the same after.

haha thanks Dan, I'll be holding off on the Tudors for now :)

[dkpw]

Great stuff Greg and many congratulations on your new Sub. It's yours to do with as you please, of course, but if it were me, I'd keep the cyclops. As you say it's authentic with it and it looks so good on that dial.

Very nice indeed!

[007Sub]

Yeh I'm leaning towards keeping it on. Thanks!

[watchcrank]

nice catch, glad it worked out well. m

[migboy]

great find! congrats!!!

[Raam]

great story!! congrats

[onkyo]

Great story and I am glad it worked out well for you.

Your watch is incredible looking, congrats.

Where in NYC are you?

[007Sub]

Thanks everyone for your kind responses. Onkyo, im in manhattan at the moment. Have you heard of a vintage rolex watch store located in grand central station!?

[Andad]

Good work Greg.

Enjoy wearing it.

[T5AUS]

Great score Greg, that's what it's all about, the research, the hours of checking prices and talking to great knowledgeable people on here, the calculated gamble on the bay, the heart stopping moments at the RWC, you will enjoy that watch even more now

[TCUwatchman]

I have a 1994 Sub, new in box and never worn with box and all documents
It is the classic stainless steel face with black bezel

does anyone have any idea of what it would be worth? I'm looking to trade it in for a newer and updated model, possibly the steel and gold Sub

[thelinendial]

Really enjoyed reading your post and was at the edge of my seat on how it would turn out. Great to hear the happy ending!

[TimeLord2]

Originally Posted by thelinendial

Really enjoyed reading your post and was at the edge of my seat on how it would turn out. Great to hear the happy ending!

The original post is from 2009 but still a good read!

[swish77]

Time-warp post! Wish the OP had included the 2009 price. My guess is that you could have bought this watch on Ebay back then for $3K-ish.