Curious!!

great find

 

There's some info about the white GMT in the 2020 hardcover edition of VRFM - Vintage Rolex Field Manual chevalier edition
(page 147 shows a known fake)

 

Do you have a picture?

 

Different dial than erpin9’s

 

@erpin9 Very cool looking watch!
Have you posted this to VRF too? I know some members are active on both OF and VRF but some aren’t. It’s be worth their two-cents too.
@janice&fred id love to see a pic of the white sub. Any chance you have one?

 

May be a stretch, but have you tried contacting HODINKEE to see if they could share any thoughts given they published that article linked earlier in this thread? They may be open to discussing such a rare piece!

 

No i have not posted it on vrf. I plan to seek the expertise of someone like Eric Ku or Stefano Mazariol to make an honest assessment of the watch in the near future.

 

Exciting find. White GMT dials are sold from replica sites, true. But Erpin's dial is silver vs white, with radium lume and burns to boot and the printing looks legit. Having compared the printing to some early 60s black dial 1675s sold online it appears to match one particular style dial exactly in terms of characters, font size, style, kerning, centering, and layout for which I could find several examples sold as original. To my eyes at least. Looking forward to hearing what the experts have to say.

 

As Eric certainly knows, there are many mega-rare vintage watches scattered all over the thousands of islands in the Philippines. We were lucky enough to find quite a few of them and over the years most of our interesting finds wound up in the hands of Eric Ku and James Dowling.
Rolex and other brands, it seems, used to use the Philippines as a sort of "dumping ground" for obscure models which probably explains why so many ultra rare stuff has been found there over the years. White dialed subs, Paul Newmans and other assorted daytonas, Commandos, and tons of 1655's are still in the hands of Philippine collectors as well as sitting in someone's drawer forgotten. Trick is to network and find them. Not an easy task given the fractured nature of the landscape. Eric's latest find makes perfect sense given it's locale. NYC or Europe not so much.

 

I’ve never even been close to being in the market for one, so I haven’t really researched any. But ever since I’ve got into vintage watches I’ve been hearing about the illusive light dial GMT’s.
After seeing this I really can’t fault it, so I will follow this thread with great interest.
If this turns out to be sketchy I really need to do a retake on how I assess vintage watches.

 

Indeed, a truly rare thing . We look forward to further posts in your story

 

Very. I am reminded of a video Rick Harris of “Pawn Stars” fame did on spotting a fake. His comment, to paraphrase, was that Rolex are perfectionists and that if its not perfect, its fake. As this predates the scary fakes emerging from China, I’m of the mind that this is an original dial. Its perfect. That said, I’m not nor have I ever been in the deep end of Rolex collecting so I too follow with interest. I love the watch.

 

Everytime i buy a vintage watch, i do a thorough research just to make sure its all original and all parts are period correct. When i first saw this GMT, my immediate impression was the dial looks authentic but since there are not many examples to compare it with, i also had to resort to comparing it with same period GMTs. My watchmaker who is also a diligent person was able to see similarities with other early sixties GMT models. As can be seen, the dial has aged naturally with radium burn marks to booth and overall discoloration of the dial except for the edges that were not exposed to sunlight. I am not a renowned expert but in my humble opinion it is authentic. However, i still leave it to the wisdom of those who have more comprehensive knowledge of vintage Rolex watches to validate my opinion.

 

Most likely the majority of situations like these are never resolved definitively. However, it sounds like you are happy with the watch regardless, and that is most important.

 

yes Dan and no regrets on my part. There will always be a question mark about its legitimacy but its the least of my worries.

 

Saw your post as well on rolexforums. This is as you know one of the most controversial pieces known in Rolex territory. Perhaps also ask PS to get some pussy oil to remove the stains. Just kidding.

Really cool negotiating story and piece>> no guts no glory.
Discussion also on reddit, which a referral to an article by the before mentioned Steffano Mazzariol https://web.archive.org/web/2015080...2010/02/rolex-gmt-master-ref-6542-albino.html

Did you post it on VRF? Thats the place to discuss this kind of piece imho.

 

Yep that's the place.

 

I will try posting it on vrf soon. Honestly, i am much more comfortable posting here. Great members in this forum.

 

Eric the forum owner is a fantastic guy and 99% of the others are too. However you might want to simply run the watch by Eric in private as I have done in the past as well. This way you shield yourself and the watch from the "peanut gallery" of negative-nancys.