Detail question on the 16710

[watchnwine]

Greeting Rolex experts!

I've been looking to pick up a 16710 for a while and have settled on a small window where they had SEL and holes (2000 - 2003). I'm very attracted to bezel inserts with a fat-font serif font. Question - if it's got a factory fat-font serif insert, should the dial be a serif dial as well? Would a fat-font serif even have come with a non-serif dial or did the serifs for both fall away around the same time (2004/2005)? I prefer serif dials but would like to find something factory original.

Different set of question. A "swiss only" dial only has the single word "Swiss" at 6 o'clock. I gather that was a service dial, correct? Was a Swiss only dial ever a direct from factory retail configuration? When was the Swiss only dial used? If a 16710 gets a service dial replacement today, is it Swiss only?

Thanks - I'm always stunned by the details you all know!

[padi56]

Originally Posted by watchnwine

Greeting Rolex experts!

I've been looking to pick up a 16710 for a while and have settled on a small window where they had SEL and holes (2000 - 2003). I'm very attracted to bezel inserts with a fat-font serif font. Question - if it's got a factory fat-font serif insert, should the dial be a serif dial as well? Would a fat-font serif even have come with a non-serif dial or did the serifs for both fall away around the same time (2004/2005)? I prefer serif dials but would like to find something factory original.

Different set of question. A "swiss only" dial only has the single word "Swiss" at 6 o'clock. I gather that was a service dial, correct? Was a Swiss only dial ever a direct from factory retail configuration? When was the Swiss only dial used? If a 16710 gets a service dial replacement today, is it Swiss only?

Thanks - I'm always stunned by the details you all know!

Don't fixate about fonts on inserts or dials as dials are made in 3 different factories now all owned by Rolex so there is no 100% certain exact date. But as for lume date, up till 1960 Rolex used the word SWISS then dials were Radioactive Radium from around early 1960 on Rolex used T.Swiss.T less than 277 MBq (7.5mCi) and Swiss <T25 less than925 MBq (25mCi)on there dial depending on how much radioactivity they had from 1960 till mid/late 1998.Swiss only dials were then used with Luminova from 1998 to 2000, then after 2000 back to Swiss Made with Superluminova.And now we have from around 2008 Chromalight which is more on a blue spectrum.

[brandrea]

My only advice is you’ll have to pay up for a decent example from a reputable seller.

I was looking for this exact reference combo during covid and found many examples I thought were the ticket.

When I ran them by people in the know, they turned out to be less than what they were advertised.

Good luck, it’s a great reference

[Tools]

Originally Posted by watchnwine

. . .

Different set of question. A "swiss only" dial only has the single word "Swiss" at 6 o'clock. I gather that was a service dial, correct? Was a Swiss only dial ever a direct from factory retail configuration? When was the Swiss only dial used? If a 16710 gets a service dial replacement today, is it Swiss only?

Thanks - I'm always stunned by the details you all know!

The "Swiss" dials on a 16710 could be expected on watches that spanned the period '98/'99/ So, you could see them on U, A, and P serials. Much later or earlier and it could be a service dial or a changed dial.

Swiss only dials were used as service replacements while they stayed in stock but were replaced by Swiss Made when the Luminova factory opened in Switzerland.

[watchnwine]

Thanks everyone for the info!