Rolex 14060m Review | Neo-Vintage Charm

What can I say that hasn’t already been said about the iconic Rolex Submariner?

I’ve recently acquired this piece as an early birthday gift to myself and I will say, pulling the trigger was a pretty exhilarating feeling. The submariner has always been a grail of mine and has for the longest time, seemed unobtainable. After doing extensive research on all the different refrences, I landed on the 14060m. This particular piece being made in 2004, feels like it shouldn’t technically qualify as vintage but I guess 19 years is 19 years. I wanted the two lines of text as well as the beefy 3130 movement which had been extremely accurate with a average loss of only -.03 spd. I’ve had older non solar G-Shocks that have kept worse time. Although this will deteriorate with age, knowing that this watch will always be capable of this with a service is a comforting thing.

The aluminum bezel insert is a beautiful shade of black and having two Omega Seamasters with aluminum bezels, I’m used to the level of durability they provide. I’ve never cracked a ceramic bezel but knowing aluminum is cheaper to replace and less likely to crack actually gives me more peace of mind strangely enough. I guess generally it’s just one less thing to worry about as I wear the watch daily. Scratches can always be dealt with but cracks would be a much bigger headache.

I’d say what I like most about this reference however is how it wears on the wrist. Being listed as a 40mm case it actually measures as 39mm and wears so slim compared to the newer “maxi” case refrences. The lug to lug of 47mm and thinness of 12mm also contribute to the wearing experience. I find that because of it’s lower profile, it hardly ever gets noticed by non watch people. This helps when you’d rather go unnoticed when out In public. The symmetry and cleanliness of the dial also adds to the versatility and charm when it comes wearability.

The watch tends to work on virtually any strap you put it on. This is also made easier by the lug holes on either side of the case. Since that the newer models got rid of this feature, it’s very nice to have. No need for those very expensive strap changing tools in order to swap out to your favorite nato or rubber.

Being a neo-vintage piece in conjunction with the hollow endlinks and hollow links, durability was a slight worry for me. Fortunately I came across several articles attesting to the durability of this particular reference, having worn it daily for over a month I will say I agree. You get that vintage rattle at times, especially when your wrist shrinks after a long day and I will say I didn’t expect the level of comfort that would come from the hollow links. Still, it would’ve been nice to have that extra durability present especially considering omega was making solid link bracelets during that same period.

I would say the lume could be better but I think I’ve been spoiled by Seikos lumibrite and the large lume plots on my Seamaster 2254.50. Also considering the age of this piece it’s not too shabby at all.

My biggest negative would be the micro adjust on the bracelet. It seems like for whatever reason, the holes are a bit further apart than traditional bracelets. This might seem like an odd thing to complain about but it has been troublesome to find the perfect fit being as one adjustment would be too tight and another would be slightly looser than I’m accustomed to. This was remedied by removing the dive extension and replacing the last link on the 12 o’clock side with a SteelReef adjustable link. This came at a pretty expensive cost info but has fixed the issue for me. To be fair, if I had slightly bigger wrists I wouldn’t even have noticed this issue but I have come across quite a few forum posts detailing this issue so I know I’m not the only one to encounter this.

Would I say this piece was worth it? Absolutely. Rolex has made countless iconic pieces in the past but I will say there’s something about this piece that always catches my eye when I see it in photos and on the wrist. It’s an understated beauty that calls back to the past, you just feel like you have a piece of history on your wrist that can still take a beating.

4.8/5