vintage - Restore, polish or nah ?
calling on connaisseurs and experienced owners . I’m not yet experienced with vintage watches and I would really welcome your take on Rolex servicing and the matters of keeping all original parts , replacing faded ones , polishing , and overall care and maintenance of vintage watches ? My humble 1970 wideboy 1601 has a few rare assets that make it more interesting that your run of the mil datejust , and that I would like to keep as original as possible , such as the pie pan dial , no lume T dial wide body hands and markers kit, as well as the original big crown bracelet . I would personally like to keep the vintage crystal for example but it’s cracked at 7 o’clock, so that forces my hand. The other thing I’m not familiar with is how to approach the polishing question. This one seems to not have been over polished and case edges seem fairly sharp but i’m just a hobbyist so i don’t even know what to look for . All advice , suggestions and opinions are appreciated .
here to see everybody else’s stamp collection
Buy invicta, sell to random grandma, make 3k, restore rolex, make look new, sell to grandpa for 6k and riccc
Rolex will fix it all up and restore it to as new. Just look at what they did to the Submariner that was recently in the news, you know, the one that was lost for decades, then an Australian surfer (memory check) found it on the ocean bottom all covered with growth. They wound it up and it still ran so off it went to Rolex for restoration. Personally I would have kept it with all the barnacles and algea, etc.
But the surfer found the original owner and returned it. Not sure who did the restoration but once done, it looked brand new. For a cost, of course! 💸
Buy invicta, sell to random grandma, make 3k, restore rolex, make look new, sell to grandpa for 6k and riccc
that’s one version of the old Paperclip challenge !
Rolex will fix it all up and restore it to as new. Just look at what they did to the Submariner that was recently in the news, you know, the one that was lost for decades, then an Australian surfer (memory check) found it on the ocean bottom all covered with growth. They wound it up and it still ran so off it went to Rolex for restoration. Personally I would have kept it with all the barnacles and algea, etc.
But the surfer found the original owner and returned it. Not sure who did the restoration but once done, it looked brand new. For a cost, of course! 💸
That’s a cool story .the original owner must have been mind blown and mot believed it when he got it back ! as for my old boy , I’m not really concerned with making it all like new , on the contrary. even though i’m sure Rolex would do a stellar servicing and put it back in as a good condition as can be . what worries me as what they might suggest strongly , even though a good idea , isn’t necessary And end up replacing parts that could remain original . I guess what I m asking , is how to respect the watch and keep it well maintained yet also try to keep it as original and aged as can be. In other words what is absolutely necessary and what can be kept as is and original . ( avoiding service dial , hands and bracelet for example is crucial for me , and i’ve just been scared by the few stories one can read about rolex unilaterally making calls at times … maybe they’re just urban legends )