Rolex oyster perpetual datejust real?

jimdgreat1 · Mar 10, 2020

I honestly don't know. Fully expected this to be fake. Long story short. A friend contacted me today and asked me to look at some watches from her dead x. I barely know Omegas. No experience with Rolex. The band seems cheap but I haven't handled any. Pictures will do best. Let me have it. Smooth second hand movement. The font looks right. Hard to tell with the scratched crystal.

Dan S · Mar 10, 2020

At first glance it looks like a legit ref 16013 from the 80s. The degradation of the blue dial around the lume dots is very typical. Look between the lugs at 6 for the serial and between the lugs at 12 for the reference. There should be a date code inside the bracelet clasp.

jimdgreat1 · Mar 10, 2020

Didn't bring a spring bar tool. Told her best thing to do was take it to the local watch guy. He should know almost immediately. The Tulsa time guy seems good.

Dan S · Mar 10, 2020

I think the lugs have holes, so you can probably remove the bracelet with a paper clip or safety pin. But if she's going to take it to a watchmaker, you don't really need our opinions anyway.

jimdgreat1 · Mar 10, 2020

They do. Meet at the local watering hole. No paperclips.
Asked here to save her the trip to the he watch place.

Thanks everyone.

Evitzee · Mar 10, 2020

Rolex transitioned the DJ to sapphire crystals around 1978 or so, if the crystal is plastic it is mid-70's watch. Serial number will be definitive.

Dan S · Mar 10, 2020

Evitzee
Rolex transitioned the DJ to sapphire crystals around 1978 or so, if the crystal is plastic it is mid-70's watch. Serial number will be definitive.

The DJ did not transition until the late 1980s IIRC. I'm pretty sure the OP watch is a 16013 with acrylic crystal (based on the flat dial and domed crystal). It could be from the very late 1970s or most of the 1980s.

Evitzee · Mar 10, 2020

Dan S
The DJ did not transition until the late 1980s IIRC. I'm pretty sure the OP watch is a 16013 with acrylic crystal (based on the flat dial and domed crystal). It could be from the very late 1970s or most of the 1980s.

Nope, I had a TT DJ I bought new in 1976 in Houston from an AD.....acrylic crystal and US made Jubilee bracelet (poor quality and stretched like hell). A couple of years after I got the watch Rolex switched to a sapphire crystal and better quality Swiss made bracelet. I was bummed out because I had the older version and you couldn't put sapphire crystal on a plexi case. Sold the watch around 1980.

Partagas · Mar 10, 2020

Some quick Googling seem to show 1988, but maybe that's not correct.

Dan S · Mar 10, 2020

Evitzee
Nope, I had a TT DJ I bought new in 1976 in Houston from an AD.....acrylic crystal and US made Jubilee bracelet (poor quality and stretched like hell). A couple of years after I got the watch Rolex switched to a sapphire crystal and better quality Swiss made bracelet. I was bummed out because I had the older version and you couldn't put sapphire crystal on a plexi case. Sold the watch around 1980.

Interesting, I have a 1980 DJ ref 16000 with an acrylic crystal and my first Rolex was a 1984 16014 with acrylic crystal. Below are photos of the latter.

In my experience, the first 5-digit SS and two-tone DJs (16000, 16013, 16014, 16030) had flat (not pie-pan) dials, quick-set date movements, and acrylic crystals. And they were made until the late 1980s. Prior to that, the last 4-digit SS DJs (1600, 1601, 1603) had pie-pan dials, non quick-set date movements, and also acrylic crystals. After the 160xx DJs, the SS models moved to sapphire crystals (162xx).

I can't speak about the solid gold DJs, since I've never owned one. They may have switched to sapphire earlier for the gold DJs.