- 17/2/14
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Good Day,
After searching for a very long time, I have finally found my birth year grail watch. I have literally been checking multiple sites multiple times a day searching for an excellent example. Will not bore you with a overly long story, but he is the quick version. Started with Rolex in 1987 as a young man, for most of the last 30 years I would buy a new one every few years and trade in the old one. I found the rep forums while doing research for a 116610. I was still still stuck in the 5 digit models and was not sure about the 6 digits. Did not care for the new cases. Anyways I joined here to try a ceramic Sub and got a BK and tried a bunch of modern Rolex reps/frankens. I found that I did not care for the new cases or the new models in general. I stuck around and fell in love with vintage Rolex and being part of the watch collecting communities. I was always a 'watch guy" but not really WIS until I found this place. Did a bunch of really cool franken builds, but in the end went back to gens, but 4 and 5 digit models. All of this activity on the various forums really inspired me to find a birth year gilt piece. I was born in 1966 which is a transitional year so both gilt and matte Subs and GMT's from that year. In the end the 5513 Gilt Bart reference became the holy grail for me. Gilt dials just do something for me that other references do not.
I have been close a couple of times to buying one, but it just did not work out. These are really hard to come by and rarely are for sale. It seems the collectors are hoarding these. So this week I was doing my usual search of sites and found a 66 Bart in excellent condition from a well known vintage dealer. I bought the head only, as I had a mint 1966 7206 bracelet just waiting for this piece.
Watch will be here tomorrow, but I am like a little kid and wanted to share this experience with my watch collecting brothers. Pics from the seller. I will do some follow up photos in the next few days.
After searching for a very long time, I have finally found my birth year grail watch. I have literally been checking multiple sites multiple times a day searching for an excellent example. Will not bore you with a overly long story, but he is the quick version. Started with Rolex in 1987 as a young man, for most of the last 30 years I would buy a new one every few years and trade in the old one. I found the rep forums while doing research for a 116610. I was still still stuck in the 5 digit models and was not sure about the 6 digits. Did not care for the new cases. Anyways I joined here to try a ceramic Sub and got a BK and tried a bunch of modern Rolex reps/frankens. I found that I did not care for the new cases or the new models in general. I stuck around and fell in love with vintage Rolex and being part of the watch collecting communities. I was always a 'watch guy" but not really WIS until I found this place. Did a bunch of really cool franken builds, but in the end went back to gens, but 4 and 5 digit models. All of this activity on the various forums really inspired me to find a birth year gilt piece. I was born in 1966 which is a transitional year so both gilt and matte Subs and GMT's from that year. In the end the 5513 Gilt Bart reference became the holy grail for me. Gilt dials just do something for me that other references do not.
I have been close a couple of times to buying one, but it just did not work out. These are really hard to come by and rarely are for sale. It seems the collectors are hoarding these. So this week I was doing my usual search of sites and found a 66 Bart in excellent condition from a well known vintage dealer. I bought the head only, as I had a mint 1966 7206 bracelet just waiting for this piece.
Watch will be here tomorrow, but I am like a little kid and wanted to share this experience with my watch collecting brothers. Pics from the seller. I will do some follow up photos in the next few days.
