I have sold a couple of Rolex Military Submariners in the last couple of months and I wanted to check how long it had been since I previously sold one. I ran through my records and, of course, the computer started at the beginning, and told me that the first Mil Sub that I sold was in 1987 and sold for the sum of £245.00. I was amazed at this figure, not because it was so little but because it was so much. Because I can remember around 1984 I was able to buy these watches from a friend of mine who went to the Military Surplus Auctions and bought these watches in lots of 12 at a time for about £300 a tray. In other words about £25.00 (or $40.00 US) per watch; the sad thing was that most of them were bought by dealers who removed the dial & hands, threw them away & replaced them with standard versions. They then drilled out the solid bars & buffed the backs and sold them as cheap Rolex Submariners.
At the same auctions I was also able to obtain any number of Mk 11 IWC pilot's watches. They were slightly more expensive than the Subs as there was a more active market in them. But they were still under £40.00 ($65.00 US) per watch.
Several of the Mk 11s were unusual versions; there were ones marked "British Overseas Aircraft Corporation" (the old govt owned predecessor of BA); Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough; Royal Aircraft Establishment, Boscombe Down (the UK equivalent of Edwards Air Force, where all the experimental stuff was done in the 1950s) and half a dozen or so white dialled versions. The white dial versions were almost impossible to sell and I usually took them under duress. The dial layout of the white dial watches was quite different from the standard versions & they had no military markings on the rear and no luminous anywhere on the dial or hands. I never discovered the purpose of these watches, but I heard many stories; they were meant for use by the crew of nuclear submarines. They were also supposed to be for use in atomic power stations or by Special Forces who operated in civilian clothes. I never knew which (if any) of these stories to believe; however I found it interesting to note that none of these claims arose until after the white dial Mk 11s became almost impossible to find.
It is to my eternal shame that I must confess I replaced the dials on 2 of the white ones I had; I still do not know what I did with the discarded white dials.
My question to you all is, what do we buy & sell nowadays that we will look back in 15 years and think……."Oh No!!!!!!!"?