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omegary
·I have a small confession to make, I have a rather irrational disregard for Rolex, there I've said it. Mainly due to the fact that they're the default choice for most, mention watches and the first name that comes to mind is Rolex. Whilst this is a fantastic coup for Rolex and, you could argue, their just rewards for their consistent marketing and advertising campaigns over the decades, I'm not entirely convinced it's justified.
Obviously it's brilliant news for their pricing strategy and in turn second hand values and that means they become even more of a default choice, even amongst collectors. You'd be extremely unlucky to lose money on a Rolex if you keep it for long enough, even buying new. So it's become a self perpetuating catch 22, which kinda rankles when they're so many more interesting and much rarer watches out there that get overlooked.
However there are some models of Rolex that I personally think rightly deserve more attention, are genuinely rare, incorporated groundbreaking technologies and have a rich sporting history behind them. And no I'm not thinking of some military Sub worth the price of small house either. I'm thinking of the Rolex Oysterquartz.
Here's a bullet pointed overview of what's unique about this watch. I'll expand on some of these later.
• It contains Rolexs first and only completely in-house quartz movements. Datejust (cal.5035) and Day-Date (cal.5055)
• These movements took 5 years of painstaking research, development and testing before they were manufactured and eventually allowed to grace a Rolex
• They're an analogue thermocompensation 11 jewel movement (one of the worlds first) that utilised the latest CMOS circuitry and a 32khz oscillator
• Resulting in it being the most accurate movement ever made by Rolex
• Rolex spending a considerable amount of time and money 2 decades earlier designing their famous Milguass to withstand magnetic fields to 1000 oersted. It almost came about by accident that the OQ is antimagnetic to 1000 oersted to, so it could justifiable be called the Rolex Oysterquartz Milguass.
• They're arguably the most highly finished and over engineered movements Rolex ever created
• In Rolex terms it's genuinely rare. The Oysterquartz was produced between 1977 and 2001 and the total output over the whole of those 24 years is less than 25,000 watches. Yes a mere 1,000 pieces per annum, give or take. In comparison Rolex produce around a million mechanical watches per annum and have done for at least 40 years. That's an awful lot of Submariners etc over the decades.
• All this technology is housed in a unique case with a very distinctive bracelet on the early models. Thought of by many as the best bracelet Rolex ever produced, certainly up to the wonderfully engineered DSSD bracelet and clasp anyway.
As you might have guessed by now I've got one of these watches (on my wrist as I type). So here's a few pics to give you a flavour. The movement pic is courtesy of Jocke as I don't have a Rolex case back tool.
Some dial and handset pics (got a bit carried away here, sorry 😲)
Lovely crisp edges to the case and a highly polished bezel
And that great bracelet
Wonderful movement detailing
Dimensions
It's not a particularly large watch but it wears a lot bigger than its modest dimensions would suggest. Probably due to the case shape and bracelet.
Width sans crown - 35mm
With crown - 38mm
lug to lug - 42mm
Height - 14mm
Sporting heritage
Going back to its sporting heritage and hopefully dispelling most peoples conviction that quartz watches are somehow fragile. The Oysterquartz was worn by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler on the world's first accent of Everest without oxygen in 1978. Here's a picture of Reinhold Messner at 24,000 feet wearing his.
And Peter Habeler looking a little chilly.
The subsequent Rolex ad.
I found this American ad from 1979 (the same year as my Oysterquartz). What struck me is the price, they were roughly twice as much as the Submariner at the time.
Best of all, given its rarity they're available for a modest amount, certainly in comparison to the vast majority of Rolex watches anyway. I genuinely believe that they're an unfairly overlooked watch.
Thanks for reading. I hope this was informative and dispelled some prejudices towards quartz technology, it certainly dispelled some of my prejudices towards Rolex. If you're inspired to find out more may I recommend the fantastic http://www.oysterquartz.net site. Loads more information and pics.
Cheers,
Gary
P.S. If any owners want to add their pics and/or more information to this post, please feel free.
Obviously it's brilliant news for their pricing strategy and in turn second hand values and that means they become even more of a default choice, even amongst collectors. You'd be extremely unlucky to lose money on a Rolex if you keep it for long enough, even buying new. So it's become a self perpetuating catch 22, which kinda rankles when they're so many more interesting and much rarer watches out there that get overlooked.
However there are some models of Rolex that I personally think rightly deserve more attention, are genuinely rare, incorporated groundbreaking technologies and have a rich sporting history behind them. And no I'm not thinking of some military Sub worth the price of small house either. I'm thinking of the Rolex Oysterquartz.
Here's a bullet pointed overview of what's unique about this watch. I'll expand on some of these later.
• It contains Rolexs first and only completely in-house quartz movements. Datejust (cal.5035) and Day-Date (cal.5055)
• These movements took 5 years of painstaking research, development and testing before they were manufactured and eventually allowed to grace a Rolex
• They're an analogue thermocompensation 11 jewel movement (one of the worlds first) that utilised the latest CMOS circuitry and a 32khz oscillator
• Resulting in it being the most accurate movement ever made by Rolex
• Rolex spending a considerable amount of time and money 2 decades earlier designing their famous Milguass to withstand magnetic fields to 1000 oersted. It almost came about by accident that the OQ is antimagnetic to 1000 oersted to, so it could justifiable be called the Rolex Oysterquartz Milguass.
• They're arguably the most highly finished and over engineered movements Rolex ever created
• In Rolex terms it's genuinely rare. The Oysterquartz was produced between 1977 and 2001 and the total output over the whole of those 24 years is less than 25,000 watches. Yes a mere 1,000 pieces per annum, give or take. In comparison Rolex produce around a million mechanical watches per annum and have done for at least 40 years. That's an awful lot of Submariners etc over the decades.
• All this technology is housed in a unique case with a very distinctive bracelet on the early models. Thought of by many as the best bracelet Rolex ever produced, certainly up to the wonderfully engineered DSSD bracelet and clasp anyway.
As you might have guessed by now I've got one of these watches (on my wrist as I type). So here's a few pics to give you a flavour. The movement pic is courtesy of Jocke as I don't have a Rolex case back tool.
Some dial and handset pics (got a bit carried away here, sorry 😲)
Lovely crisp edges to the case and a highly polished bezel
And that great bracelet
Wonderful movement detailing
Dimensions
It's not a particularly large watch but it wears a lot bigger than its modest dimensions would suggest. Probably due to the case shape and bracelet.
Width sans crown - 35mm
With crown - 38mm
lug to lug - 42mm
Height - 14mm
Sporting heritage
Going back to its sporting heritage and hopefully dispelling most peoples conviction that quartz watches are somehow fragile. The Oysterquartz was worn by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler on the world's first accent of Everest without oxygen in 1978. Here's a picture of Reinhold Messner at 24,000 feet wearing his.
And Peter Habeler looking a little chilly.
The subsequent Rolex ad.
I found this American ad from 1979 (the same year as my Oysterquartz). What struck me is the price, they were roughly twice as much as the Submariner at the time.
Best of all, given its rarity they're available for a modest amount, certainly in comparison to the vast majority of Rolex watches anyway. I genuinely believe that they're an unfairly overlooked watch.
Thanks for reading. I hope this was informative and dispelled some prejudices towards quartz technology, it certainly dispelled some of my prejudices towards Rolex. If you're inspired to find out more may I recommend the fantastic http://www.oysterquartz.net site. Loads more information and pics.
Cheers,
Gary
P.S. If any owners want to add their pics and/or more information to this post, please feel free.
