Is there something off about this dial?

[Jstump2490]

Long story short, I bought a 2004 Explorer 16570 while on vacation in Japan and after I bought it and wore it a couple days, I noticed the 8 indicator had the black paint chipping so I had the dial replaced when I got back to America. Well when I was looking for new dials on eBay I found the one I had in my watch seemed off. If you look at the spacing of Oyster Perpetual Date, the words are spaced further apart than any of the dials or watches I found and I am wondering if this is normal or if this dial had been refinished. Could there have been variation in manufacture? I’m trying to sell the used dial to recoup some cost but I want to be honest if this is not an original finish on the dial. I have no doubt the watch is genuine, my watch guy would have said something if it wasn’t, just questioning the dial.

Bare dial is the one in question, the image of the watch is with the new dial for comparison.

[KY..]

I think maybe you should have posted this one in the vintage section.
I would question the look of it too.

[magicwatch]

The L under the crown is different position, and so is the R at the end of explorer. Could be angles, but doesn’t look correct.

[0nly5iv3Digits]

Nothing wrong at all here. Genuine Dial. Looks to be from a K or F serial piece.

[Jstump2490]

Originally Posted by 0nly5iv3Digits

Nothing wrong at all here. Genuine Dial. Looks to be from a K or F serial piece.

Interesting, this is an F and I just found another F on eBay with the exact same dial differences, so is this a specific trait of F/K models? Can’t post links yet or I would show the one I just found.

[Edwardfry3]

Welcome

[Jackie Daytona]

Looking at mine it looks exactly like the second (new dial). However I don’t think there is necessarily an issue with the original. That’s not to say it’s perfect or original, but through the years I’m sure with the long run of the 16570 there were a ton of variations. Besides the slightly longer spacing all else looks pretty good which would be pretty tough to match.

[Bxtek]

The first thing to jump out at me (even before I scrolled down and saw your replacement dial in the watch) is the wording "ROLEX". Letters seem to be too tall and "boxy"?

Next thing I would do is maybe put it under a microscope and see the quality of the printing? I have noticed that watchmakers seem to do that when authenticating watches.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by Jstump2490

Long story short, I bought a 2004 Explorer 16570 while on vacation in Japan and after I bought it and wore it a couple days, I noticed the 8 indicator had the black paint chipping so I had the dial replaced when I got back to America. Well when I was looking for new dials on eBay I found the one I had in my watch seemed off. If you look at the spacing of Oyster Perpetual Date, the words are spaced further apart than any of the dials or watches I found and I am wondering if this is normal or if this dial had been refinished. Could there have been variation in manufacture? I’m trying to sell the used dial to recoup some cost but I want to be honest if this is not an original finish on the dial. I have no doubt the watch is genuine, my watch guy would have said something if it wasn’t, just questioning the dial.

Bare dial is the one in question, the image of the watch is with the new dial for comparison.

Dials are made in 3 different factories now all owned by Rolex, so there always have been and always will be tiny variations to most all dials through production years.

[KY..]

Originally Posted by 0nly5iv3Digits

Nothing wrong at all here. Genuine Dial. Looks to be from a K or F serial piece.

Originally Posted by Jstump2490

Interesting, this is an F and I just found another F on eBay with the exact same dial differences, so is this a specific trait of F/K models? Can’t post links yet or I would show the one I just found.

As stated, here’s a link discussing a known anomaly to the dial letter spacing of specific serials…
https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/r...tible.5458048/
Enjoy your watch…

[Jstump2490]

Thanks for the replies everyone, looks like I learned something today about my watch. Out of the decades they made this model, it sure seems odd to make a change like that for just a couple years, but now I know.