New 116718 YG Green Dial GMT2-need verification assistance

[NOPDK]

Have been slowly watching these and waiting to find one for a few years. When it arrived it was my first time seeing this in the flesh and it is a stunner. That green dial is so perfect against the YG case.

My concern is that after throughly looking over the watch (caseback not opened) there is no hologram on the crystal above the 6 o'clock marker. All Rolex should aside from the green crystal Milgauss should have this crystal etching as of 2003. My watch serial places it in 2009 production. I know the holographic etching is tough to see in some light but its not my first rodeo and I compared this side by side with 4 other Modern Rolex and with the correct side light and 10 X loupe I was able to easily find the hologram on all of the other watches. On this one using same angle of light and loupe couldn't locate the hologram. Tried multiple times and by going from my Pepsi back and forth to the Gold GMT with same lighting and same angle it just wasn't there on the 116718.

Aside from inspecting the movement the piece does not have any other indications that it might not be legit. My friend overseas has this piece and it weights within 1 gram of it with same number of links. I figured it would be difficult to exactly copy the weight down to the gram on a gold piece. The movement feel and function is smooth and Rolex, Position of cyclops is correct. Text on date wheel and dial and inner crystal ring engraving are all clean and match my other modern pieces. Warranty card has the hologram on front and serial on that matches serial on watch. Lume is correct for pre-chromalite 2009 lume. Pin holding the watch hands is perfectly finished. Hands are perfectly finished.

So, I am left with an excellent condition piece that passes all of my "is it correct" tests EXCEPT for the missing etching on the crystal. My understanding is that if Rolex has to replace the crystal on a piece the new crystal has a service marking etched into the middle of the coronet that is laser engraved. They don't reinstall crystals with no marking.

Opinions please. Absent opening the case back any other features I should focus on? If anybody has a full link YG GMT2 can you please weight it in grams to see if in same range as what I'm seeing. Has anybody seen a correct Rolex crystal with no etching in this date range? is that possible?

What should my next steps be? Does watch now need to go to Rolex for authentication? If so any guidance on how to arrange that from out of NY state where would need to ship watch to them. Would prefer to not do this but thinking it would be prudent to do so.

[P1nky_Up]

Sounds like you probably have a real watch. My guess would be somewhere along the line maybe the crystal got replaced, but not by Rolex. OR maybe the etching is there and maybe in the manufacturing process it isn’t as deep and doesn’t show up like the others. Regardless, I think my next step would be shooting an email to the AD listed on the warranty card and ask if they did in fact sell that serial number at that time.

[1665fan]

Where did you get the watch???

[KeithP]

Yes- where’d you get it?

[NOPDK]

Purchased from large secondary market reseller in NYC with storefront.

[Solo118]

Weight is spot on, dial looks great etc. The crystal does not look to have the black hole effect, so that is concerning to me.

At this point I would go ahead to an AD or RSC and get the watch serviced. They would certainly call out the offending part and demand you exchange it.

[NOPDK]

What is the “black hole effect”?

[Solo118]

Originally Posted by NOPDK

What is the “black hole effect”?

In a simple explanation, the cyclops (above the date window) has anti reflective coating and it appears that the cyclops has no crystal at all. It is actually my favorite feature of all date models.

On this watch, you can see there is some reflections, where a "black hole" effect would just show you a clear view of the date.

[NOPDK]

here are some close ups of the date from my Pepsi vs the YG Green dial. I went through the fonts of the date disc and all looks consistent. Text is clean and crisp on both date wheels. I know the Pepsi has an updated movement from the 2009 GMT so not sure if date disk changed between those two movements? On both watches the date lines up in same location under cyclops. Comparing the two side by side the number on my Pepsi seem to be slightly (10%) larger than on the YG GMT. But its close enough that might just be me looking for a difference.

let me know if anybody can determine anything helpful from these or if there is some specific tell I can photograph happy to do that. With such a big purchase it is annoying to even have to question such things. But those are the games we play with discontinued pieces.

[1665fan]

Pics where you don’t cover up the word Rolex on the green dial would be nice.....

[rambo99]

i'm sorry, but it looks like a fake one, actually a low grade replica.

[NOPDK]

Originally Posted by rambo99

i'm sorry, but it looks like a fake one, actually a low grade replica.

Please advise on what brought you to that conclusion.

[NOPDK]

dial picts as requested. Please advise on specific things that are concerning for it being fake. Anybody have one that they can take daylight picts of dial text for comparison?

[rambo99]

Originally Posted by NOPDK

Please advise on what brought you to that conclusion.

take it to a watch shop and they can tell you, if you wish.

[NOPDK]

dial macros not in sun

[envuks]

Originally Posted by rambo99

take it to a watch shop and they can tell you, if you wish.

You posts here are super crappy behavior and something you should be ashamed of. I’m ashamed for you. Calling this watch a low grade replica without any indication as to what you base those comments on when the OP is clearly feeling a little vulnerable.

It would have been best if you had not said anything at all.


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[rambo99]

Originally Posted by envuks

You posts here are super crappy behavior and something you should be ashamed of. I’m ashamed for you. Calling this watch a low grade replica without any indication as to what you base those comments on when the OP is clearly feeling a little vulnerable.

It would have been best if you had not said anything at all.


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you should be aware that there were fake watch makers here before to get information from members to improve their replicas. actually i've told the OP to take the watch to a watch shop to examine it, what did i do wrong?

[emtee]

I’m far from an expert but there’s something about that watch that doesn’t look right.

[envuks]

OP:

My 116718 (black dial) weighs 213.5g with one link removed. If I recall correctly, the link is 4.5g (could be 5.5g) so full link mine is 218g (or 219g if I don’t recall the link weight correctly).

The weight difference doesn’t cause me much concern. That’s a difference that could be caused by a polish or two.

The absent crystal crown marking is a bit interesting. While I am not 100% sure, I believe all 6 digit Rolex models have this (as do late 5 digit references). I wouldn’t like that either had I purchased the piece. Could be a non-rolex service part.

While it’s a bit hard to tell, I think I don’t love the dial font on your macro photos. The edges of the text don’t look as crisp as I would expect and the crown appears a little unevenly finished in how the paint is applied. This could just be rolex finish at its non-best. It’s hard to tell so don’t take this as definitive.

If purchased at a store in NYC, perhaps a stop in at the NY RSC could help to provide a firm answer. It’s likely your best bet to remove any doubt.

Please let me know if there is any additional specific info that I can provide that you would find helpful.


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[envuks]

Originally Posted by rambo99

you should be aware that there were fake watch makers here before to get information from members to improve their replicas. actually i've told the OP to take the watch to a watch shop to examine it, what did i do wrong?

Please accept my apology for the call out. I just felt the strong comment that it was a poor replica then refusing to provide any specific basis for the comment was an unkind way to treat someone asking for help


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[NOPDK]

Originally Posted by envuks

OP:

My 116718 (black dial) weighs 213.5g with one link removed. If I recall correctly, the link is 4.5g (could be 5.5g) so full link mine is 218g (or 219g if I don’t recall the link weight correctly).

The weight difference doesn’t cause me much concern. That’s a difference that could be caused by a polish or two.

The absent crystal crown marking is a bit interesting. While I am not 100% sure, I believe all 6 digit Rolex models have this (as do late 5 digit references). I wouldn’t like that either had I purchased the piece. Could be a non-rolex service part.

While it’s a bit hard to tell, I think I don’t love the dial font on your macro photos. The edges of the text don’t look as crisp as I would expect and the crown appears a little unevenly finished in how the paint is applied. This could just be rolex finish at its non-best. It’s hard to tell so don’t take this as definitive.

If purchased at a store in NYC, perhaps a stop in at the NY RSC could help to provide a firm answer. It’s likely your best bet to remove any doubt.

Please let me know if there is any additional specific info that I can provide that you would find helpful.


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Thank you for this helpful post and real metrics to work off of. Most appreciated. The weight in range of acceptable. Another watch friend out of country weighed his and it was within 1gram. You can't fake the density of gold and it is an ever more expensive material so would presume more commonly and easily SS watches are faked.

As far as the poster who simply called it cheap fake you with nothing to substantiate what looked off to them is shameful. I'm interested in making sure a very expensive purchase is correct and hearsay doesn't help. You do not have my thanks at all.

That "cheap fake" comment gave me an anxiety attack so hopped in the car in the hopes that the watchmaker was on duty at my local Rolex Authorized AD. Mercifully he was and was kind enough to look over the piece and run the warranty card info through the Rolex computer system. I think he took pity on me when he saw the look in my eyes. He did not open caseback but his comments after taking it in back for evaluation was that there was indeed no laser engraved crystal coronet. He said crystal looked correct Rolex part aside from that and that he has seen watches from that era with no laser engraved coronet. He said watch warranty card matched info in rolex system and that manufacture of piece was 2005/2006 with date of sale of piece in Texas of 2008. Watch was originally green dial piece and not a dial swap. He said that the rest of the piece from movement function to dial to hands to everything else visible looked 100% correct and legitimate to him. He had no concern piece was a fake. Said being 15yo it should have movement serviced which he was happy to get me in for when I was ready.

Thank you to those who took the time to make a helpful post.

[RaZCaL]

Originally Posted by NOPDK

Thank you for this helpful post and real metrics to work off of. Most appreciated. The weight in range of acceptable. Another watch friend out of country weighed his and it was within 1gram. You can't fake the density of gold and it is an ever more expensive material so would presume more commonly and easily SS watches are faked.

As far as the poster who simply called it cheap fake you with nothing to substantiate what looked off to them is shameful. I'm interested in making sure a very expensive purchase is correct and hearsay doesn't help. You do not have my thanks at all.

That "cheap fake" comment gave me an anxiety attack so hopped in the car in the hopes that the watchmaker was on duty at my local Rolex Authorized AD. Mercifully he was and was kind enough to look over the piece and run the warranty card info through the Rolex computer system. I think he took pity on me when he saw the look in my eyes. He did not open caseback but his comments after taking it in back for evaluation was that there was indeed no laser engraved crystal coronet. He said crystal looked correct Rolex part aside from that and that he has seen watches from that era with no laser engraved coronet. He said watch warranty card matched info in rolex system and that manufacture of piece was 2005/2006 with date of sale of piece in Texas of 2008. Watch was originally green dial piece and not a dial swap. He said that the rest of the piece from movement function to dial to hands to everything else visible looked 100% correct and legitimate to him. He had no concern piece was a fake. Said being 15yo it should have movement serviced which he was happy to get me in for when I was ready.

Thank you to those who took the time to make a helpful post.

I’m glad you received some sort of reassurance.

[envuks]

Originally Posted by NOPDK

Thank you for this helpful post and real metrics to work off of. Most appreciated. The weight in range of acceptable. Another watch friend out of country weighed his and it was within 1gram. You can't fake the density of gold and it is an ever more expensive material so would presume more commonly and easily SS watches are faked.

As far as the poster who simply called it cheap fake you with nothing to substantiate what looked off to them is shameful. I'm interested in making sure a very expensive purchase is correct and hearsay doesn't help. You do not have my thanks at all.

That "cheap fake" comment gave me an anxiety attack so hopped in the car in the hopes that the watchmaker was on duty at my local Rolex Authorized AD. Mercifully he was and was kind enough to look over the piece and run the warranty card info through the Rolex computer system. I think he took pity on me when he saw the look in my eyes. He did not open caseback but his comments after taking it in back for evaluation was that there was indeed no laser engraved crystal coronet. He said crystal looked correct Rolex part aside from that and that he has seen watches from that era with no laser engraved coronet. He said watch warranty card matched info in rolex system and that manufacture of piece was 2005/2006 with date of sale of piece in Texas of 2008. Watch was originally green dial piece and not a dial swap. He said that the rest of the piece from movement function to dial to hands to everything else visible looked 100% correct and legitimate to him. He had no concern piece was a fake. Said being 15yo it should have movement serviced which he was happy to get me in for when I was ready.

Thank you to those who took the time to make a helpful post.

Glad you got it sorted quickly.

Perhaps the anxiety producing posts were more helpful than mine. You did the right thing by taking it to a watch maker despite the journey feeling anxious. Short term high anxiety for long term comfort. Way better than questioning it for days or weeks. TRF works in mysterious ways


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[NOPDK]

.

[WatchOut4It]

Originally Posted by NOPDK

.

Looks great! Congrats on both the incoming and verification.

[peterpl]

The watch is legit - its the crystal that looks weird. It does looks like its missing the AR coating for the cyclops and I've never seen or heard of a crystal without the laser etched crown at 6 especially on a modern Rolex.

In saying that if an authorised watchmaker at an AD said its legit that would be enough for me.

[Michael T]

I have a green dial 116718, Z serial, purchased new. It has the 6 O’Clock hologram. It is very difficult to see. I have to point a high intensity flashlight, in a dark room, at a 30% degree angle from about the 4 O’Clock index to see it. My uncorrected closeup vision is fine.

[Al1969]

I also have a 618 Z serial. Yours looks just fine OP, but if you want to eliminate ALL doubt, why not send it in for a service?

[NOPDK]

Originally Posted by Al1969

I also have a 618 Z serial. Yours looks just fine OP, but if you want to eliminate ALL doubt, why not send it in for a service?

Definitely planning on it next few months. Its 15yo and likely never serviced so best to get that taken care of. Still keeping very good time. Want to enjoy it for a little bit before it goes to the spa. Needed to make sure all legit while I still have recourse with seller. Does yours have the coronet laser engraved in the crystal?

Will likely have crystal replaced at service. No scratches in it but want to have one with the correct laser etched coronet so no future confusion.

[NOPDK]

dial color is so nice. I've been looking at this piece for 3 plus years and finally pulled the trigger.