Matte Dial on a 16760 GMT II ?

[jamesthejeweller]

I've been cycling through my GMT collection recently, I've been lucky enough to collect an example of each of the key GMT models, from the 6542 through to my most recent (2018) 116710BLNR and everything in between.

I'm purposely and shamelessly wearing them in an attempt to demonstrate to my AD that I am and always have been a GMT fan so that I might move up this ridiculous list system for the new BLRO!

This week's GMT is a 9.3m serial 16760 'Fat Lady' (hate that nickname), anyway I've attached some photos that show off the very evenly patinated dial, I've owned the watch for many years and it's always been matte, but now it's starting the fade into a charcoal grey colour which is amaze-balls, I'm almost of the opinion that this dial is factory matte as it's so uniform and without bubbles or blemishes and has been this way for 10+ years!

Side by Side with my 1675 MK2, which is factory matte, you can kinda see what I mean. Anyone else ever seen or owned a perfectly even matte 16760, I've seen many which are spidery, bubbly, patchy, dandruffy, scabby, streaky, but never one that has a 1675-esque matte finish.

J

[jb335]

I'm just here to say, gorgeous GMTs!

[raywoc]

Sorry to resurrect this thread from like a year ago, but I was just curious if you found anything out about your unique matte dial? I have just taken custodianship of a 16760, and I am trying to figure it out. Mine has a 9.4 million serial.

The dial has an almost pebbly texture to it evenly across the entire dial. It has a gloss like sheen but is not smooth and shiny like the glossy dial on my 5513. From your photos it seems like yours has a similar texture to it, but far more matte.

I also noticed that ours also has the same style of font - where the letters are more serifed and blocky, and and the "O" and "C" in Officially Certified are slightly bigger than the rest of the letters. This was listed as "mark 3" in Orchi's Dial Variation post from 2009. Even finding examples of dials with this serif font is difficult.

Part of me wonders if in the later half of this production run, Rolex switched to a different dial style, maybe to prevent the crazy crack/spidering that you see in some other examples? Just conjecturing... And if these are in fact a rare dial.

[saskmh]

Matte dials on a 16760 are not unique. But they are rare. The varnish on a few early 16760’s have turned matte over the years. I have one as well.

[Tavli3]

Here’s mine, looks matte to me


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Buchmann69]

He

Here’s my 16760 circa 1988
My dial is more glossy