Rolex 16750 GMT Master Questions

[jban5]

I recently brought home a good friends GMT that was passed on to me.

I've known the watch since new but never kept too up with his doings with it. I know that he always used an AD to work on his watches and when we did discuss this I mentioned to pay attention to not letting them change any parts out with new ones but maybe I didn't start harping on this early enough.

The watch was new in 1982 and has a sn of 73229xx

My only question tonite is about the dial. I went through the one tutorial on dials and still came away not being sure.

This watch has a gloss finish with white gold surrounds. The tritium is pretty dead, will take a charge and last a little while.

What is the consensus about this dial being original?





Thanks for all and any info shared good or bad.

[sherrill]

I don't believe it is original. Rolex didn't start putting the white gold indexes on this model until 1986.

[springer]

It wears a service dial, and I would guess that the hands and bezel insert were also replaced at the same time. It still is a very nice GMT and if you decide to put it back to original, the early 16750 matte dials are available on the secondary market.

[R.W.T.]

Rolex tritium from this period does not "take a charge". It simply glows or not...bright or dim as that may be. It is not affected by light at all. If your dial is taking a charge it has been relumed or is an early luminova service dial but those...glow bright for a LONG time.

[jban5]

Thanks, I suspected as much but didn't know if there was some chance that this fit into some type of category.

I will say one thing about it that relates to today, I'm glad it is an oyster.

Did Rolex "re-lume" dials with superluminova? I thought that they replaced them.

I was pretty sure that the gold indices meant that it was replaced.

I also thought that T <25 would only be on a tritium dial?

[springer]

Originally Posted by R.W.T.

Rolex tritium from this period does not "take a charge". It simply glows or not...bright or dim as that may be. It is not affected by light at all. If your dial is taking a charge it has been relumed or is an early luminova service dial but those...glow bright for a LONG time.

The early luminova service dials were also marked swiss - T<25 so this could be a luminova dial or tritium dial.

[ghosteh]

Originally Posted by sherrill

I don't believe it is original. Rolex didn't start putting the white gold indexes on this model until 1986.

What serial # did that start?

[nicispapa]

Try this:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/540360/

I owned a 16750 with a 8 Million Ser. Nr. with a WG dial.....every 7 Million should be a matte dial

[ghosteh]

Originally Posted by nicispapa

Try this:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/540360/

I owned a 16750 with a 8 Million Ser. Nr. with a WG dial.....every 7 Million should be a matte dial

Very helpful, thanks!

I have an 8.35mil serial number, with WG marker surrounds & formerly glossy dial (that's faded beautifully to matte). On the thread you linked, there's an 8.24mil that is matte without the WG surrounds. In a previous thread, the consensus was my dial was original.
http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=310410

I always thought mine was a 1984 or 1985 (papers show it was sold in '86), which would conflict with what Sherrill said above.
But who knows... maybe I was off & do have an '86.



But regarding the OP's dial, it may not be correct, but it's still a very nice looking watch!
I'd wear & enjoy it as-is.

[armypilot]

It is my understanding and research and documentation corroborates this, Rolex utilized the matte dials from 1980-1983 and sometime in 1984 when the matte dial supply was exhausted they produced the 16750 with gloss dials with WG surrounds from then till end of production.

[springer]

Originally Posted by armypilot

It is my understanding and research and documentation corroborates this, Rolex utilized the matte dials from 1980-1983 and sometime in 1984 when the matte dial supply was exhausted they produced the 16750 with gloss dials with WG surrounds from then till end of production.

Fairly well sums it up. I've seen mattes as late as 84XXXXXX and gold surrounds as early as the late 82XXXXXX range.