Late grandfather’s Rolex
Hey all and greetings from Australia.
im a Max subscriber and looking to buy first mech watch soon
but while I’m learning I’ve come across this watch - my mother has it, it belonged to her late father - who wore it for decades as a cattle and crop farmer in Queensland.
anyone know the model?
thanks y’all
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What a gem!! Don't know what model it is but I would be thrilled to inherit something like that ☺️
Greetings fellow Australian watch nerd.
I'm not up with Rolex's back catalog but I'm sure someone here will have the information you want.
Great watch to inherit though, what a beauty. If you want to get it serviced or look at drop me a message, I know someone in Melbourne who may be able to sort it out.
Hey Team ... yeah i think my Mum wants to wear it around but would be great to get it working.
My grandfather was a classy guy - son of a country lawyer, went to boarding school in Brisbane and then went into farming ... cattle, peanuts, wheat, barley ... very decent guy.
Also played saxophone and was a great fan of the big bands of the 1940s. Told me the story of the bridge across the Brisbane river being filled with military traffic from the US army moving north in WWII to fight the Japanese.
Would be great to get his old Rolex going again.
Did a Google Lens search & did not find any other dial/case combo that matched that.
Only 3 results matched the case, but none matched the dial.
GL & I hope a Rolex enthusiast has better news for you.
It looks like it says RODEX on the dial but it may be the quality of the photo.
It looks like it says RODEX on the dial but it may be the quality of the photo.
That's likely due to the big crack in the crystal impeding the view!
not sure how Pa kept this thing going ... maybe it took on some different dial parts to original over the years
I’ve done some digging and reckon, if it is a Rolex, and if it’s not a Frankenwatch, then it’s likely to be a Rolex Oyster “Shock Resisting” from the 1950s or 1960s.
looks to have a Frankenstein hour hand.
Greetings fellow Australian watch nerd.
I'm not up with Rolex's back catalog but I'm sure someone here will have the information you want.
Great watch to inherit though, what a beauty. If you want to get it serviced or look at drop me a message, I know someone in Melbourne who may be able to sort it out.
go Aussie!
Little different than my great grandpa’s Rolex , which I believe is a ‘34 - it still self winds and keeps time (poorly!)
Ok bit of an update.
the watchmaker says it's possible he could find a donor mechanism to get the missing parts from, and get the watch serviced and working again ... he's quoted A$1,600 ... if he can't get the watch working, he will not charge
The watchmaker said it is genuine Rolex, solid 14K gold case (not plated) but is very roughed up with some missing internal parts.
My mother is going to go to some other watch makers and get some quotes
i convinced her to keep looking at doing it up ... she didn't see the point but i said it was her father's watch and it would honour him to get it going again, and it's something he would likely do also, if he was still alive (he always fixed something, instead of replace it)
Little different than my great grandpa’s Rolex , which I believe is a ‘34 - it still self winds and keeps time (poorly!)
Reminds me of Tangerine's watch in "Bullet Train"
Beautiful Watch!
Great news with this watch. Genuine Rolex replacement parts have been found and my watch maker in Adelaide will have it restored and fixed by next week. The watch is from the 1950s and will be fitted with a leather strap, which apparently was common at that time. Can’t wait to see it and I expect my old Pa would be delighted 🙏👍
Also - my mother gave me the watch outright, when I said I’d try to fix it.
Pic today from the watch repairer - genuine parts sourced from Europe … leather band … wow hello!