Is it possible for a Rolex case to leave the factory with non symmetrical, or uneven sized crown guards? I have recently seen vintage pieces posted with the overused term of "unpolished" but when I look at the high res pics with my untrained eye, I can clearly see that one crown guard is wider than the other. I have seen two different watches both stated to be unpolished, but both with uneven width crown guards.

And recognising an unpolished case is not that difficult; with some practice, and with some help initially from someone who's been around long enough.

Best. ..MC

Please take a look at this picture from a 1968 Rolex catalog. You can see the crown guards are not symmetrical, one being wider than the other....

But this does NOT mean that every unpolished case feature non symmetrical crown-guards, of course...

Please notice that a pic from the same catalog also proves that the lugs could be asymmetrical as well at that tiime. Take a look at the 5513 Meters first, you see that the lug at 5 O'clock is thinner, the pin even exceeds the lug hole!!!

At last, please note that these 1968 watches, both the 1675 and the 5513 do not feature fat font inserts, as it is commonly asserted, but thin font inserts.

The vintage Rolex is definitely not a science.....



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I've seen other Rolex brochures, but what yours show not only the uneven crown guards but the uneven lugs as well. It's a mark 2 FF insert on the 5513 though.-Thanks.

Many folk expect that this lume colour is the result of aging. The brochure shows that the original colour was also yellow / green and was never actually white.

Err...otherwise...

Some with no cow sense...
even swore the images in Rolex brochures were "artist impression"...
IF they were done by artist...
the images would not have been so vivid n precise...
right down to "painting" engravings or hallmarks on clasps for examples...
unside down or inverted...
Every details like machine tool marks...colours...shadows n reflection...
were captured...
n they can only be originated from photographic imaging...

Just perhaps the printing quality or "pixels" of the images were crude...
in the early days...

Thanks for posting these priceless images...

The argument on font size could be misinterpreted though...
What's thick n what's not...

Best regards
Orchi.

Thanks this info is good to know! I recently acquired a 1.3 Gilt GMT and although, honestly and aggresively polished, the crown guard width is not even and I just assumed it was due to someone that was overzealous at the polishing wheel!