Apologies in advance, because my hideous noob ignorance is now going to be flaunted. Also, the body of text that follows has also been posted on another forum, which may well compound the offence.
What I wanted to discuss is something that surprised me recently, when I noticed that the MilSub and 369 reps I own have visibly bigger dials than the vintage pieces with date dials. I’m ridiculously unobservant, so this took far longer for me to spot than it should have. I also lack an enquiring mind, so hadn’t really questioned why, when browsing the various dial sellers, Submariner dials came in a range of diameters. The difference this makes became obvious when I ordered a cheap dial from Raffles, and it wouldn’t fit in the hole in the intended case...
I’ve been trying to do some further research into the differences in dial sizes that these rep vintage Roleys have. What I can’t find out is why there are 29mm dials in many of these vintage reps, when it doesn’t seem that gens were ever in this size. I’ve been ordering some JK watches recently, and the date dial 1680s in the JK range all look like they’re 26mm (I already have a single red and a Cartier and they’re both 26mm). The watches without dates - the 551_ watches, look like they all have 29mm dials. Am I right in thinking this? And does this have any basis when compared to gen watches, or is it just rep inaccuracy?
If the latter is the reason why, I guess that the “cheapest” option for getting a more accurate 551_ rep is to buy one of the 1680 case versions, then spend the same amount again on a 26mm 551_ dial from Yuki. Which isn’t a bad price to pay for a more accurate rep (of course the case markings will be wrong, but at least they’re covered up!).
What I wanted to discuss is something that surprised me recently, when I noticed that the MilSub and 369 reps I own have visibly bigger dials than the vintage pieces with date dials. I’m ridiculously unobservant, so this took far longer for me to spot than it should have. I also lack an enquiring mind, so hadn’t really questioned why, when browsing the various dial sellers, Submariner dials came in a range of diameters. The difference this makes became obvious when I ordered a cheap dial from Raffles, and it wouldn’t fit in the hole in the intended case...
I’ve been trying to do some further research into the differences in dial sizes that these rep vintage Roleys have. What I can’t find out is why there are 29mm dials in many of these vintage reps, when it doesn’t seem that gens were ever in this size. I’ve been ordering some JK watches recently, and the date dial 1680s in the JK range all look like they’re 26mm (I already have a single red and a Cartier and they’re both 26mm). The watches without dates - the 551_ watches, look like they all have 29mm dials. Am I right in thinking this? And does this have any basis when compared to gen watches, or is it just rep inaccuracy?
If the latter is the reason why, I guess that the “cheapest” option for getting a more accurate 551_ rep is to buy one of the 1680 case versions, then spend the same amount again on a 26mm 551_ dial from Yuki. Which isn’t a bad price to pay for a more accurate rep (of course the case markings will be wrong, but at least they’re covered up!).
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