Hi friends, this is my first thread in this forum and I am doubting about my dial.

I have an Explorer from 1993, SXXXXXX and its dial is degrading to a brown color and I'm not sure about if it is common or rare.
I've seen Submariners with this decoloration but not even on Explorers.
What do you think about?

P. S. The band is a generic jubilee one, the oyster is kept to avoid damage.

 

Never seen that on a 90's Explorer before, nice that it's degrading evenly.

 

That is not normal...

 

Ok. Only occurs when the sun influences on it.

See this picture now. I am from Spain, sunny country.

 

I agree with that, especially for a watch from the 1990s... did the OP buy this watch brand new or pre-owned?

If he bought it pre-owned my hypothesis is that this watch had some moisture infiltration and the dial has been cleaned up before selling the watch again... this is the only explanation that jumps to my mind...

 

That makes sense to me, since it hasn't been cooked based on the lume color. I've seen that black to brown in the starburst nipple dials from the 80s, but never a gloss dial.

 

Me neither!! And never in a 1990s watch... at that point the paint that they were using for the dials was much more stable and resistant to the sunlight.

 

Hello Matt, as you say it's a pre-owned one but certificated as all original at a Rolex official dealer. Movement was in perfect condition and about the dial they said it was original also.
Maybe a fabrication defect? Does any body know if is possible to find different types of logos as Mks in others Rolex?

Show you a composition of mine an another 14270

 

I don’t know much of anything about Rolex. But I do enjoy a good game of “spot the differences.”

Looks like the top photo has the 12 o’clock marker covering a portion of the crown. Additionally check out the way the R in explorer aligns with the P in perpetual (among other lettters).

 

Now that you mention it- looking at the top and bottom there are a whole host of differences- coronet touching 12 indice, line weight, serifs...may be just camera angle and optical distortion, could also be production differences from an earlier model to a late one...but there are differences, and there have been aftermarket disks available for thes watches for a while

 

I’m never gonna post a detail picture of my beloved Speedy of 18 years on this forum. Within an hour I will be crying, then by hour 3 I’ll throw it in the Chesapeake as I won’t be able to stand looking at it anymore.

 

I love OF but this still gives me a laugh when I see it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxKcNtFng3x/?hl=en

 

Dear Germanicus, don’t get me wrong... I’m not saying that your watch is not genuine, absolutely!! I’m just saying that an infiltration of moisture could affect the dial and left the movement without any consequences if serviced properly in a short amount of time.

In addition, your macro of your dial leave me a little bit concern... the font in the 2 pictures are completely different and, as WYO_Watch the Rolex crown at 12 on your watch is not perfectly centered. IMHO there are some possibilities that your dial has been re-done by someone... that doesn’t mean that it is not genuine, but I would say that if you are sending your watch to Rolex for an estimate on a service they will definitely quote you the replacement dial as well...

As I said, I have a strong suspect that your explorer dial has been re-printed.

 

@Germanicus
At the end of the day it's not a fabrication defect, it's a refinished dial. Even if the dial didn't start to degrade well into your ownership it's a shame you didn't inspect the dial text/printing more closely before purchasing--it's the "tell."

 

He mentioned that his watch had been certified as all original at a Rolex dealer. Does that mean the ADs aren’t going to inform the client that the dial on a watch he brought in for certification has been refinished by a third party?

 

Is there a chance the AD honestly did not know about the dial being refinished?

 

That is a little disconcerting. I’m planning to get a used Explorer 112470 and was hoping that paying an AD to verify the watch would save me the trouble. Isn’t that supposed to be their job?

 

I am assuming (yes; Ass-U-Me) that the AD probably did what most of us would on a cursory examination: pull bracelet and verify serial and model stamps, pull back cover and verify correct movement, and called it real. I highly doubt they were scrutinizing the dial or hands like we all do, they checked it, the numbers were correct, get it back out the door

 

I don’t think they see it as their job, their job is to sell wait list spots for non-existing stock and take watches in for service. Authenticating is probably a “service” they look at as a loss leader and pita- kind of like the “is this real” threads that pop up here from one time users every day. They probably don’t care enough to really scrutinize.

 

Last post on this rant - I am so sorry @Germanicus that this happened to you. If that is indeed a redial and you bought it, had it authenticated and it passed inspection, then you got screwed despite taking the correct precautions. It’s a suck-ass way to learn a hard lesson.
If I were in the market for a used Rolex (I would never buy new as there are literally millions of used ones out there and Rolex has made it clear that my money isn’t good enough for them), I would leave a good faith deposit with the seller, take a ton of pictures, and post them here for scrutiny. I trust the eyes and expertise of the members on this forum over an AD doing a third party inspection any day of the week.