Hey gang;

So very pleasantly I was surprised by the following "I didn't know I needed that!" book this Christmas:



But then this evening looking through it with a good cup of cafe au lait reminded me of this (not my video, just the best I've stumbled across on pieces where Rolex made all components except the case):

A sample pic (again, not my watch, just an example):


Basically I know/understand that in some instances, especially postwar as the above example seems to be, tariff/duty/taxes on some things like PMs could be very high, and thus the watches were essentially ordered sans case and then added by a local maker.

With my new book I find these once again intriguing me, especially as Silver & co seem to have encountered so many rare ones over the years (if anyone else has the book, the low 100s pgs under 'Early vintage are mostly where I'm at) - anyone know of special hallmarks to look out for, or be wary of? Best way to 'authenticate' one, if it is even fully possible? Heck, any other books I should 'need'?

*As for the book, to anyone who might debate it, it is a wonderful visual resource, but scant on information to an extreme in many instances. At times it almost seems more like what in a sense it is; a catalog. But again, the visual references along can be invaluable to a vintage collector - please note, dial originality appears unmentioned in general, which I find somewhat odd, but that's just my two cents. .

 

Rolex had a lot of regional watches only available in certain markets. The most notable is the Canadian Explorer which was out before the 3 6 9 Explorer which is so popular today. The difference is, the Canadian Explorer was a dress watch and not a sports watch.
Be careful, many unscrupulous sellers have tried to market these Canadian Explorers as some special pre-production, super rare prototype Explorer. They were actually built is great numbers as a standard no frills dress watch.