King of the Castle!

The missus bought me this lovely little paperweight the other day. Not really Rolex, but looks pretty damned close right? Here's to keeping all the papers on my desk from blowing away! You can get your own here.

Earliest 5513 Submariner Ever?!

Its nice to know that a "lowly" 5513 can still get me excited. This however, is not your normal 5513.

There as been various discussion on the internet lately, as to what is the earliest 5513 to have surfaced. So far, there has been three pieces that have popped up in the 765k range. One being the 3-6-9 purchased by BJS at the Fellowes auction, another being the US military one owned by a collector in Germany, and yet another being shown in the VRF dial archive. Of these three, the owners of the first two have been quite kind in providing generous details about there respective watches. Both have chronometer movements with low s/ns on the calibers, and also both have 5512 casebacks stamped 1962.

Today, I'd like to present a fresh piece to market, with a s/n earlier than the aforementioned pieces. Property of a southern gentleman since new, this piece has the serial number of 764968, with a movement number of 68032. It is interesting to also note that the movement of this piece is not the standard 26 jewel type, but a 17 jewel version, made almost exclusively for the USA market in order to skirt unfavorable import duties of the time. This piece has an amazing to die-for 5512 gilt chapter-ring dial, which was original to the watch as new, and was never touched or altered. Other nice original details on this piece included the original twinlock crown still in great condition, as well as the sharp beveled edges of the case. A study of early 5513 history documented on the internet will lead to the conclusion that this is as of now, the earliest known s/n for a 5513, and also that it is part of a larger batch that includes a few other known examples.

What a beauty!