Were there any 1969 rolex 1860 dials NOT RED?

[naturopath]

I have seen some conflicting things, so I figured that I would ask a dumb question that I should probably know:

Were the there any 1969 Rolex 1860 Submariners made WITHOUT red writing on the dial (all white?)?

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[alligoat]

I don't think the white 1680 dial came into existence until 1974. Prior to that everything was red.

Check out the dial archive at Vintage Rolex Forum- prior to 1974, circa SN 4million, everything was red.

[Sogeha]

I have seen a couple of red subs with serial numbers that put them well into white sub production. My guess is someone had a spare dial or a dial in a beat up case and thought they could pull a fast one by swapping it into another case. Knowing this and Rolex having a tendency to "update" things at service, there may be the occasional red sub that now has a white dial. 

[naturopath]

Ok, that's what I was thinking. Thanks for the confirmation. Sigh... There goes a few more bucks :-)

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[panerai153]

I have seen a couple of red subs with serial numbers that put them well into white sub production. My guess is someone had a spare dial or a dial in a beat up case and thought they could pull a fast one by swapping it into another case. Knowing this and Rolex having a tendency to "update" things at service, there may be the occasional red sub that now has a white dial. 

There is no doubt that when watches were sent to a Rolex Service Center, parts were changed with what was available. At some point, Red letter dials were no longer available from Rolex so they were replaced with white. Because of this, there is no telling how many Red subs and to a much lesser degree DRSD's were "converted" by RSC's.

One factor was back then, these were pretty much "tool" watches. There was no internet, very few watch collectors, and of course no one had any idea that these stainless steel everyday watches would become so collectible. For the most part, folks sent their watches back to Rolex when they really needed a service. They were thrilled to death when their watch returned looking like the day they wore it out of the AD. Most didn't care that the new dial had white writing instead of red. Only much later when watch knowledge became much more available via the Internet and many more began collecting, and participating in forums did it become really important to have watches that were original, or at least have parts that were in keeping with their serial range.

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[naturopath]

I really need to have an expert look at my current dial and figure this thing out.

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[Revere]

30 minutes ago, naturopath said:

I really need to have an expert look at my current dial and figure this thing out.

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I think there are certainly folks on this forum that would be knowledgeable enough for that. 

[alligoat]

If you have a white dial in a '69 sub, it stands to reason that it's a service replacement dial.