Err...1st n foremost...
Orchi wishes to thank Buddy Stephano Mazzariol...
for his continuous great contributions to many things...
pertaining to Vintage Rolex watches...

Orchi just got back n happened to read his wonderfully written article regarding the 6542 Albino...

http://www.network54.com/Forum/207593/thread/1265350716/Rolex+GMT-MASTER+ref+.6542+ALBINO

Orchi has few questions...hoping that the great wisdom n experiences...
from VRF Buddies could kindly enlighten Orchi further regarding 6542 Albino...

While Orchi believes the 6542 Albino might have existed...
Orchi was thinking these 6542 GMT watches were
not available to the masses...or rather they were probably made by Rolex under a certain trial or even on special order basis...
perhaps in very very few numbers.

1. Looking at this picture taken from back of the Dial...
(Courtesy of Buddy Stefano's Blog)



Orchi noticed that the circular cavity...
(to accommodate clearance with Date wheel assembly centre)...
at 10:30 o'clock next to the centre hole is looking fresh...

The earlier Dial for previous version of Cal.1030 movement might not need this circular cavity...

So Orchi is assuming that the circular cavity of the Albino Dial...
might have been "drilled" or machined...
in order to fit the later version of Cal.103x movement...
(or Cal.1066 movement)

2. Having the above in mind...
Orchi initially thought the 6542 Albino were made about Middle of 1950s...
for the special order....(maybe by 1955 or early 1956)

So maybe...
the earliest 6542 Albino would be made with the early Cal.1030 movement...
which might not need the circular cavity at the back of the Dial...

3. The markers of 6542 Albino are plotted nearer to the CR minute track...



On this situation...it would be possible for the later n separate...
yet special RED "GMT-Master" OCC Dial variant of 6542...
which could be the same as this picture of 6542 watch courtesy of Buddy Darkner Imperator...
(Courtesy of Buddy Stefano's Blog)



Orchi had initially assumed that...
the earliest Mk.1 OCC Dial variant of 6542 GMT have markers closer to the centre...
("RO" where "O" is oval shape NOT square...n "L" is more centre under the base of crooked Coronet.)

Orchi's sample: (IV.56)

?t=1265694768

Buddy Stephane's sample in VRF Dial Archive:



VRF's Dial Archive:


Is the above Mk.1 OCC 6542 Dial...?


The later Mk.2 OCC Dial variant of 6542 GMT(1957/58) also have markers closer to the centre...
("RO" where "O" is more square NOT oval...n "L" is slightly left-sided under the base of sturdy Coronet.)

VRF's Dial Archive...


Buddy Stephano's sample:


Is the above Mk.2 OCC 6542 Dial...?


4. IF Orchi assumptions were to be correct...
the 6542 Albino with markers close to CR could be made on special order around 1958...or later...
n the lume hour markers are Radium...? Orchi's assumption is Tritium...

Thus, Orchi is hoping to be enlightened further...
whether Orchi's observations of the 6542 GMT OCC Dial variants could be correct or not...

Orchi would also appreciate very much to see a picture taken around the edge of your 6542 Albino Dial...
(Dial laying flat).

Once again...Orchi applauds to more feedbacks from the learned VRF Buddies...
on the related issues...

Best regards
Orchi.

Man, you can use " I ", nobody will forget your alias by now

Interesting post anyway...even if the subject is now a perpetual roundtrip in the wait of official Rolex infos.

http://www.r-l-x.de/wbb2/thread.php?threadid=99352&sid=81a458ce6c075faa0668b676f5b72df8

Peace and humility for 2010

Stainless steel regards

orchi's normal mode of expression ie: orchi assumes/I assume.. orchi thinks/I think
his way of speaking diminishes him not and I am surprized that you have to write in this vein, to such a friendly guy.

Rgds Sparky

..........



&



"in the wait of official Rolex infos"

which kind of "Official Rolex Infos" should we wait for ?

do you think that Rolex still has all the "Proto" + "Proof" + "Experimental" Dial (all done by Dial's Makers, NOT by Rolex itself ...) infos in their Archive, my friend ?


mmmmmmmm, could be ...... but very hard to belive.







cheers.

seance on Pendle Hill could settle it .. lol.

Rgds Sparky

(Please no misunderstanding, there was no will of rude attitude in my previous post)

...some dials could have been documented this way :



Waiting for drawers to open

Stainless steel regards

=============================
Orchi noticed that the circular cavity...
(to accommodate clearance with Date wheel assembly centre)...
at 10:30 o'clock next to the centre hole is looking fresh...
=============================

Or what we see is gold?

Could they have used a standard gilt (already electroplated with gold)base dial on which they have based this low-series/experimental dial?

I.e. "painting" it white and then printing the black text?

my dear friend Valdo,


your letter concerns a WATCH, prodeced by Rolex, with a specifical Reference, with an own Serial Number.

it's very different from a Dial, NOT produced by Rolex itself, but produced by a Dial's Maker FOR Rolex.

as you well know there were several Dial's Makers FOR Rolex.

we all can see how many Dial's variants (versions) were made for the same reference during the years.

as you well know every year (2 years maybe) the Dial's Makers submitted to Rolex new Dial's Style, new "color proofs", new "graphics".

you could not belive it, but sometimes some Dial's "Color Proof" where even made WITHOUT the watch manufacturer's name !

they were just "Color + Style Proof".

some of them were selected and "deliberated" by Rolex, some other were NOT.

some others were produced in very small runs (batches) for to test the market.

in almost 100 year were produced FOR Rolex, from different Dial's Makers, hundreds and hundreds of different Dials.

if we want to just TRY to reconstruct a Dial's history we should research and investigate inside the Dial Makers' Archive, not inside the Rolex Archive.

at least not always, at least not when we are talking about "small run" Dials.

maybe some traces could be found in the Rolex's Archive, maybe not.

expecially for that Dials that were never been "deliberated" for a massive, industrial production, but just for a "Market's Test" and/or for "small run" (batch).

to compare a whole watch (with an own Reference + own Serial Number) to a Dial, and to hope in a "Rolex Confirm Letter" concerning a "small run" Dial could be a mistake.


IMHO


cheers.

on paper ;-(

They did it in the past, even when you send a fax with serialnumbers you got a better
answer then nowadays, as when i ask, i even don't get a answer anymore ;-(( they would
check in the past their archive and tell you if serial is matching with reference & dial.

As long as Geneva is holding back in at least trying to share their info with collectors
these questions about special dials, proto's, small batches, transitional etc. can only be
answered with research to the smallest detail to come to most logical conclusion for us...

rg.P

...... (through a good friend) some news concerning a very important and rare MilWatch.

the watch (and we are talking about a WATCH) is from 1960, and the reply was that they cannot go so back with their Archive.

so can you imagine concerning a (small batch/market test/color proof) Dial .......



cheers from Italy.

A 'Milwatch' from Rolex made in 1960, what can that be?

i've heared there're no mil records before 70, maybe UK boys can chime in to correct me...

&

When i showed my A/6538 to Geneva, first reaction was that caseback engraving was done by modern laser?!?!
You can amazine I got the feeling that not the best man in charge was helping me at that 'priviledge' meeting.



Question remains to me if there's anybody at Rolex who can say something usefull concerning their history...

Hope to meet him one day!
rg.Philipp

on some stuff and not on others !!

from speaking to them on milsubs and comex it seems that for special order watches, i.e. not standard production and specially ordered from Genenva they hold good (not perfect) records, but for general production best you can hope for is place of supply of a particular case number and that is about it, very unlikely to get details of a particular dial... but as i say if it was a special order then just maybe...

...these special orders with the detailed records (COMEX/MilSubs) seem to be from the late 60s onwards and this "Pan Am" 6542 would be from the Dark Ages of Rolex records, i.e. before that. Still, if the Albino were a special order it could have a better shot at having some sort of provenance than just a regular Pussy Galore
Do you (or anyone else) know whether Rolex has specific records for any of those early RN Subs circa late 1950s and/or the Spanish Navy Big Crowns?
Best regards,
Tom

For me I would wonder if they were altered nationally rather than at geneva, interestingly they do have records on 50's Rolex panerai for example:-)

In 1955-60 Rolex uses handwritten stocklists. Every single batch and every single watch was recorded accurately in a spreadsheet, what is a very NORMAL procedure in business.

The Rolex recording information was in french and contains among other things:
Ref.-Number / material / quantity / date / serial-nr.

.

Rolex carries two faces:

1-Publicity-world:
Big statements to history and tradition in promotion, advertising, booklets and broschures.

2-Real-world:
Rolex is in reality not interested coming to terms with the past.

We look at new website & last celebartion of ' 50 years of underwater Heritage ' by placing adds worldwide
without showing 1 Rolex form current collection...



rg.Philipp

---Perpetual Knowledge---

they have MOD delivery without issue numbers prior to that though.

a SUPER RARE 5512 PGC MilSub U.K.

Jed knows the whole story.


unfortunately mismatched caseback

GOOD MilCase + GOOD MilCaseback ..... but mismatched.

at the Rolex they can confirm the Reference/Serial Number match, but NOT the Special Delivery !

so think about a "small run" batch Dial ....



cheers from Italy.