Ultra-Rare Rolex Custom Enamel Watch...

Questionable Authenticity

Alert: It has come to our attention after publishing this story that the authenticity of the enameled dial on this watch is questionable. This information comes from one of our resident experts, and author of 100 Superlative Rolex Watches, John Goldberger who said:

"This dial was manufactured in the 1990's in Switzerland and the original cloisonné dial was supplied in the 1950's from Cadran Stern Frerés company and they never manufactured a dial with the American Eagle. I think also there is a mistake in the Latin "motto" on the dial! A few of these watches appared in some European Auctions, one of these had a letter from Rolex , but the truth is Rolex doesn't know anything about the provenance of the dial. The quality of the dial is very good but it's 100% fake."

John Goldberger is one of the foremost experts on vintage Rolex watches on planet earth and I trust his evaluation. I did notice the misspelling of "E Pluribus Unum" with the second "U" in "Unum" being an "I" but I assumed it was because the enamel had fallen off.

American Eagle Rolex

I have never been a big fan of watches with hand enameled dials, but I must say this Rolex completely blew me away when I first saw it. According to the owner "It is a super rare Eagle Logo made for a U.S. General and it has all the paperwork and provenance from Rolex."

Many years ago Rolex used to do custom work, but I don't think they offer custom services anymore. The watch was probably made before 1956 because the watch has the Seal of the United States that says, "E Pluribus Unum" which means "Out of Many, One." The reason it must be pre-1956 is because the U.S. changed the seal in 1956 to say "In God We Trust."

The design of this Rolex is very interesting because it has a definite 1950s Populux vibe, with the unusually interesting dauphin hands with the missing lume. I assume the lume disintegrated over the years, but it makes the hands look even cooler.

Also, the juxtaposition between the eagle and the Rolex crown is fascinating because they are both internationally renowned symbols of distinction.

What an amazingly masterpiece!!!

Photo Credit: Tuscanyrose

Customized White Rolex Submariner...

Questionable Authenticity

Alert: It has come to our attention after publishing this story that the authenticity of this watch is questionable. This information comes from a highly reliable source. 

We are currently investigating the authenticity of this watch and as soon as we conclude we will let you know.

The Great White Submariner

Phillip in the German R-L-X.de Forum showed off this really cool looking Submariner that somebody customized with a white dial. I call this combo of a white dial with a black bezel an Oreo Cookie Submariner. 

The only other white dial Submariner I have ever seen can be viewed by clicking on the label tag below named WHITE SUBMARINER.

I really like this color combination and think Rolex should offer it as an option. I think it would look great on a black nylon strap.

I believe this watch was made in the mid to late 1950s.

Photo Credit: Phillip

Customized Vintage Rolex Corvette, Rolex Hurricane & Rolex Royal...

March 8, 2012 Update on this story:

I originally published this story 4 years ago in 2008. I remember how excited I was to find out that Rolex made a Corvette model watch! A person I knew and trusted at the time, told me I was making a fool out of myself, because he insisted the watches were not real. He told me they were absolutely fake and told me I should take them down. I refused, to take them down, because they looked real to me, and instead, I put up a "Questionable Authenticity" tag on them.

Fast forward to today. I received an extremely nasty email from somebody who did not bother mentioning their name, and I posted it below their apparent image on this page. The simple truth is I was misinformed by a pretentious idiot who was wrong. So today, I removed the "Questionable Authenticity" label, and I sincerely apologize for my error.

Below is the nasty email I received in my inbox from TicTocEdmonton@aol.com:

You owe me a Mia Culpa! First, you stole a picture of mine from the internet (it isn't hard to get permission when someone posts on a forum - you just register with the Forum (www.Timezone.com) and then PM or Email the poster to ask permission to use a picture!

Here is your blog link: http://rolexblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/vintage-rolex-corvette-rolex-hurricane.html

Then you DISSED my picture saying that you had a (un) reliable source who said that the watches never existed!

My friend - you owe me. You owe me for stealing my very real picture of my very real and very genuine watches. And you owe me a public mia culpa on your blog for not following through on your promise to investigate further.

Below is a 95% complete list of the names of the Rolex (and Tudor) watches that were made over the course of the 40s (and some into the fifties)...

If you doubt me, start a thread on TimeZone. I promise to watch and I will post a copy of an original ad for both the Hurricane and the Corvette. You'll find me registered as CanadianOysterWatcher on TimeZone.

Oyster Lipton

Oyster Commander -

Oyser Shipmate -

Oyster Chester -

Oyster Raleigh -

Oyser Regent -

Oyster Lincoln -

Oyster Wellington -

Marconi -

Oyster Pioneer -

Rolex Oyster Viceroy -

Rolex Oyster Royal Observatory -

Rolex Oyster Royalite Observatory -

Rolex Oyster Army -

Rolex Oyster Imperial -

Rolex Corvette Observatory -

Rolex Hurricane Observatory -

Rolex Oyster Ellsworth Observatory

Rolex London Chronometer Observatory -

Rolex Oyster Falcon Observatory -

Rolex Oyster Firefly Observatory -

Rolex Oyster Majestic Observatory -

Rolex Oyster Pall Mall Observatory -

Rolex Oyster Royalite -

Rolex Oyster Royal - Royal Navy

Rolex Oyster Seaforth Observatory - .

Rolex Oyster Drake Precision -

Oyster Grenfell -

Rolex Skyrocket -

Rolex Wellington -

Rolex Victory -

Oyster Explorer -

Oyster Edison -

Oyster Neptune -

Princeton Oyster -

Rolex Oyster Everest -

Tudor Oyster Athlete -

Turtle Timer Zell Bros. -

Tudor Bristol -

Tudor Oyster Air-Lion -

Tudor Oyster Essex -

Tudor Oyster Exeter -

Tudor Oyster Sussex -

Tudor Oyster Yorke -

Tudor Oyster Brock -

Tudor Oyster Air-Tiger,

Tudor Oyster Air-Giant -

Tudor Oyster Kent -

Tudor Oyster Devon -

Tudor Oyster Norseman -

Tudor Oyster Regent -

Vanilla Pepsi, and Vanilla Espresso meet Vanilla Coke...

PAN AM

Vanilla Pepsi & Vanilla Coke

The first two Rolex GMT Masters with white dial are 100% authentic factory Rolex watches. Rolex originally developed the GMT for Pan American World Airways in the late 1950s for their pilots to wear. The watch for their pilots had a black dial and it is believed that they ordered less than 100 with the white dial for their executives so they could be easily differentiated.

The white dial GMTs are extremely rare and are probably worth a $100.000 each. But the story does not stop there...

Original 1958 Reference 6542 Vanilla Pepsi & Coke GMT's

I ran a story a month ago about how PCS from Germany took standard GMTII Masters and put white Rolex Explorer II dials and hands on them to make them look very similar to the original Vanilla Pepsi and Vanilla Espresso.

Vanilla Espresso GMT

Pictured above is PCS's stunning custom Vanilla Espresso GMT. Understand that you can not buy this watch from Rolex this way.

Vanilla Coke GMT

Well it turns out that Knut from the R-L-X.de forum also has a custom Vanilla Pepsi, and Vanilla Espresso, but he went a step further and also created a Vanilla Coke pictured above.

Beautiful Watches!!!

Vanilla Pepsi GMT

Vanilla Espresso GMT's

The Ultra-Rare Rolex Ferrari Red Stainless Paul Newman Daytonas...

Questionable Authenticity

Alert: It has come to our attention, after publishing this story that the authenticity of these Ferrari red watch dials is questionable. This information comes from a highly reliable source. 

We are currently investigating the authenticity of the Ferrari red Daytona dials and as soon as we conclude we will let you know.

This may be the first time in history anybody has seen these two ultra-rare Ferrari Red Rolex Daytona Prototypes side by side.

Of course the major differences between the two watches is the one on top has a black bezel.

Also the one on top lacks the Oyster designation under the the word Rolex and has a Jubilee Bracelet v. the bottom Daytona having the Oyster Bracelet.

I only know of four examples on planet earth that have this ultra-rare and beautiful Ferrari Red and Black dial.  I have been talking to many of the top Rolex Experts on Earth and the consensus is that there are between 8 & 22 examples of the Ferrari Red Rolex Daytona.

My guesstimate is they are currently worth about $1 Million US each.

Photo Courtesy of Antiquorum

More Details...

Here is a comparison between my Dream Daytona I designed the dial and hands on, compared to the real "Ferrari Red Rolex Daytona Prototype" from 1979.  The one on top is my design. 

Dream Daytona Design by Jake Ehrlich

My "Dream Daytona" has much larger "Maxi Marker" indices and much fatter black hour and minute hands with much better Lume, as well as a larger Rolex Logo Crown.  

I found a watchmaker who might be able to make this dial for me to retrofit it onto a current Daytona which is much bigger than the 1979 Daytona;  4omm v. 36mm.

Also, in my opinion the current Daytona has much better lines and build quality.

Questionable Authenticity

Alert: It has come to our attention after publishing this story that the authenticity of the Ferrari red watch dial is questionable. This information comes from a highly reliable source. 

We are currently investigating the authenticity of the Ferrari Red Dial Daytona watches and as soon as we conclude we will let you know.

The watch below was auctioned several years ago for $300,000 and is probably worth a Million today.  I have only ever seen three authentic Rolex Daytona's with the Red Dial.

Extremely Rare White Rolex Submariner

Questionable Authenticity

Alert: It has come to our attention after publishing this story that the authenticity of this watch is questionable. This information comes from a highly reliable source. 

We are currently investigating the authenticity of this watch and as soon as we conclude we will let you know.

This is an Extremely Rare Stainless Steel Rolex Submariner Reference 5508 (Movement Number Cal. 1530 (1560).  Made between 1958-1960.  Depth Rating of 330 Feet.   Not only does this watch have an extremely rare white dial but it also has the 3, 6 and 9 arabic numeral indices that are very similar to the Rolex Explorer.

It is really interesting to note how fascinating the early days of the Rolex Submariner were.  I say this because because in the early days before the Submariner moniker was used there was a lot of experimenting with dials, bezels and hands.  Then from the early 1960s up to 2004 there was no real variation. 

It was kind of like Henry Ford saying in the early days of the Ford Automobile company, "You can have a Ford in any color, as long as it is black."

Of course Rolex added the green bezel in 2004 to the LV Submariner, but that is rare.

I Really want one of these and I think it would look really cool on a black NATO Strap!!!

Ultra Rare: My Favorite Rolex Daytonas

Questionable Authenticity

Alert: It has come to our attention after publishing this story the authenticity of these watches are questionable. This information comes from a highly reliable source. 

We are currently investigating the authenticity of these watches and as soon as we conclude we will let you know.

These two Stainless Rolex Daytona watches are perhaps the two most sought after and collectable Rolex Watches on Planet Earth.  It is hard to estimate their current value, but I would guess about $1Million each.  

The both sold at auction years ago for over $250,000, and they are much cooler than the Albino Eric Clapton Daytona which just sold for $505,000.  I think these two watches used to also belong to Eric Clapton.  

These were Prototype Rolex Daytona Model Number 6265 was produced in 1979 watches that never were sold to the public.  I have only ever seen two Daytona's with the Red and Black Dial Above.  I refer to these Minimalist Masterpiece Daytonas as the "Red Daytona."  Most collectors refer to them as "Ferrari Red Paul Newman" Rolex Oyster Cosmograph Daytonas.

They were both auctioned by the Antiquorum in Geneva on June 14th 2003.  The one on top was from lot 309 and the one on bottom was lot 308.

 

The JFK Marilyn Monroe Happy Birthday Mr. President President!!!

Questionable Authenticity

Alert: It has come to our attention after publishing this story that the authenticity of this watch is questionable. This information comes from a highly reliable source. 

We are currently investigating the authenticity of this watch and as soon as we conclude we will let you know.

Marilyn Monroe supposedly gave this Yellow Gold Day-Date Rolex "President" to U.S. President Kennedy.  The watch sold on October 18, 2005 for $120,000. 

Marilyn Monroe gave this Yellow Gold Rolex President to President Kennedy the night she famously sang "Happy Birthday."

The watch case also contains a poem, written on a small piece of paper, titled "A Heartfelt Plea on Your Birthday."  The Poem reads:

"Let lovers breathe their sighs and roses bloom and music sound.

Let  passion burn on the lips and eyes and pleasures merry world go round.

Let golden sunshine flood the sky and let me love or let me die."

Marilyn Monroe was dead two months later and JFK was dead 6 months later.

Indeed reality is stranger than fiction and this kind of illustrates that the candle that burns twice as bright lasts half as long...