After a bit of a miscalculation I'm back on my quest for a nice birthyear (1963) watch. I love Railmasters but I have a three Omegas now. I'm not a big fan of Rolex watches, they're a bit blingy for me, but I do rather like the 1601 Datejust.

They look to be comparable in price so which would you say is the better quality watch?

 

I don't want to comment on quality as it would vary from watch to watch since we're speaking vintage, but I would go with the 1601. trick is to find one that age with a decent tight jubilee. either that or cheap enough on a stretched jubilee that you can have rolliworks in california rebuild the band.

 

Thanks, I hadn't considered the important of the band. I'm in the UK so would need to find someone here who can sort that out, or make sure the band is unstretched.

 

Time to get into a Rolex. You won't be disappointed. Good luck.

 

The older style jubilee bracelets are tough to find in nicer shape but it's a great strap model.

Depending on what defines "quality" to you, I would say they are pretty equal but as stated, it's contingent on the specific watch and what kind of budget you're allowing.

 

well you're in luck as there's a guy in the UK that just started rebuilding those bracelets and he posted some nice work over on TRF. prices were very reasonable as well.