ROLEX PROJECT

I’m guessing it’s 36mm

@JwRosenthal I found another heart breaker.

Melted it down...holy crap...this is the second time in the last week I have seen this happen to exceptional watches, that had the owner actually taken a half second to research online would have known they were worth more than scrap value. But as mentioned in another thread- as gold reaches towards $2k/ounce, we will see more of this.

Walk away from this project- it’s going to take you forever to find a case for it, these day/dates are different movements than the standard DJ so the interior dimensions are different- you need a DD case, and unless you have deep pockets or are very lucky, it won’t happen. Plus these gold dials would look awkward with a stainless case IMO, just not a good combo. Gold markers and hands on an ivory dial with stainless case is classic, but gold dials are different.
Lastly and most importantly, half of the value in Rolex is the collectibility and this would be a Franken and have basically no value above the sum of the parts.

I say let your watchmaker part this out on eBay and get his money out of it and spend your $2.5k on an OPD, Airking or another $1k toward a 1601 on jubilee and walk away with a complete watch that will retain if not gain in value.

Trust me- I have been starry eyed with the lure of a great project only be 10x into the hole and end up selling it for a fraction of what I had in it...I am taking about vintage cars here, but same thing. Buy one that’s done unless you have the means to source parts, do the work or have a deep wallet. Once you walk away from that and take the same money and throw it at a watch that’s on the wrist you won’t even look back

The difference is, that pictured watch has gold: dial, hands, bezel, pushers, crown, and center links all to tie it to the stainless case.

Chances are the OP would only find a stainless case. Having that paired with a good dial and gold crown would look random and awkward.

Glad to help pull you back from the ledge. If you have $2.5k burning a hole in your pocket and have an itch for vintage Rolex, you’re in 5500,14000 and 1501 territory...some seriously awesome watches for little money on the Rolex scale.