naturopath Posted June 13, 2016 Report Share Posted June 13, 2016 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?)? Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligoat Posted June 13, 2016 Report Share Posted June 13, 2016 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sogeha Posted June 13, 2016 Report Share Posted June 13, 2016 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naturopath Posted June 13, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2016 Ok, that's what I was thinking. Thanks for the confirmation. Sigh... There goes a few more bucks :-) Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panerai153 Posted June 14, 2016 Report Share Posted June 14, 2016 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. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naturopath Posted June 17, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2016 I really need to have an expert look at my current dial and figure this thing out. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revere Posted June 17, 2016 Report Share Posted June 17, 2016 30 minutes ago, naturopath said: I really need to have an expert look at my current dial and figure this thing out. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk I think there are certainly folks on this forum that would be knowledgeable enough for that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligoat Posted June 17, 2016 Report Share Posted June 17, 2016 If you have a white dial in a '69 sub, it stands to reason that it's a service replacement dial. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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