Vintage Watches A 1972 Rolex ‘Red’ Submariner With Full Set, A 1956 Omega Constellation In 14k Yellow Gold, And A 1972 Breitling ‘Long Playing’ Top Time Chronograph
The Red Sub is my favorite watch of all time, the one I would pick to wear for the rest of my days. To me, it checks all the boxes, and it’s just easy. The style is classic enough to really work with everything, it has a date function that’s pretty useful, and to spice it up, there’s that little line of red text. Rolex used red text in some of the earlier Submariners but stopped after the 1680. In recent years, the brand brought back some red text in the 43mm Sea-Dweller, paying homage to the OG Sea-Dwellers, but it’s really not the same thing. It’s funny, when I was first introduced to the Red 1680, I wasn’t a fan of the top-hat style crystal. Now it’s one of my favorite details. From the different mark dials to the band-aid textured lume to the folded-link bracelet, these have so many little details to obsesses over. The bracelet on this watch has an error divers extension where Rolex misspelled “patented,” instead spelling it “pateted.” It’s uncommon for Rolex to make a mistake like this, so many collectors find this desirable because it differentiates the watch from others.
Antiques Roadshow guest cries after late father’s Rolex valued
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A son became emotional on the Antiques Roadshow tonight as he discovered how much his late father’s Rolex watch was worth.
Expert Richard Price said the watch was a Rolex Submariner and was introduced in 1967 and it had the word submariner written in red, which is why collectors today call it the red submariner.
Richard said: “Ten years later all that writing was all in white, when did you get this?”
The owner explained that it was his father’s watch and said: “He bought it for himself in 1972, when I was 7 and the whole family went to Birmingham to buy it.
“My dad died in October and he gave it to me a couple of months before he passed away, it means absolutely everything to me, it’s a part of my dad that is.
“It’s a very, very special watch that and will be forever.”
(Image: BBC)
Expert Richard explained a bit more about the watch’s history and said it was a “lovely watch” and that the original invoice showed it had been bought for £132.
The watch had two additional straps which had been kept, which were “worth a chunk of money on their own anyway”.
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Richard said: I hope you guys are going to be really pleased with this, it’s going to be around the £20,000 mark.”
The son was speechless and held back tears as he nodded when Richard asked him: “Are you happy with that?”
Richard said: “It’s something that you’ve obviously loved and you’re going to keep forever aren’t you.”
The son nodded and said: “Yeah.”
Richard said: “I think it’s a lovely story and a great inheritance” as the son tearfully replied: “Thank you.”
*Antiques Roadshow continues at 7pm on BBC1 next Sunday
One of the Rarest, Early Rolex Submariners Is Heading to Auction This Weekend
Even a watch as beloved and well-known as the Rolex Submariner didn’t have all the details nailed down from the start. For proof of this, all you need to do is take a look at an early example of the timepiece that’ll hit the auction block this weekend.
The Sub in question, a Ref. 6536/1, dates back to 1955 and will be offered as part of Phillips’s Geneva Watch Auction XVIII this weekend. Although the watch isn’t radically different from the diver that’s become a fixture of so many watch collections, a closer look reveals that with this model, the watchmaker was still experimenting with its now-iconic design.
Ref. 6536/1 was released two years after the Submariner’s 1953 introduction. Rolex may release new iterations at a leisurely pace these days, but back then the two-year period between 1953 and 1955 saw the release of three distinct Submariner references—before this one’s arrival. The 6536/1 would end up sticking around until 1959.
This specific example features a 37mm stainless-steel case topped by a hash-less bezel. Despite being 66 years old, it is in impeccable shape. Its thick lugs and bezel barely show any signs of wear. What’s most impressive, though, is how vibrant the dial and gilt print remain all these decades later. The dial also features a tiny detail rarely seen on other Submariners: a depth rating rendered in red script and without noting meters or feet (it reads “100/330” instead of “100m/330ft”). The only examples of the reference bearing this detail were made in 1955, making it especially desirable among collectors.
“You really see the DNA of the Submariner we know today,” Phillips watch specialist Tiffany To says in a video about the timepiece. “When we go to the Rolex shop, you can see it has the diving bezel, luminous markers, the oyster bracelet, and we take the elements for granted. But when you look at the watch and how it was originally designed in the 1950s, you see the continuity of the design language and it makes you appreciate the timepiece even more.”
This rare, early Submariner will go up for bid this weekend, although you can place advanced bids now through the Phillips website. The auction house expects the watch to sell for between $54,000 and $109,000. If you miss out, don’t worry: there will be plenty of ultra-exclusive Rolexes to choose from at the show.