Lovely set Neil, especially the 1016. It seems Wagamama’s toilets are more popular than vintage Explorers though. Who’d have thought it on a watch forum?!
The vintage Explorer is my favorite Rolex model. The first time I saw one it was on the wrist of work colleague around 1998. I had only seen the modern ones at that point. I thought it was a real stunner and within the next 3 years I had bought 3 of them. The 5500 Superprecision, the 5500 Precision, and the 1016 Chronometer.
Lovely set Neil, especially the 1016. It seems Wagamama’s toilets are more popular than vintage Explorers though. Who’d have thought it on a watch forum?!
Just lovely.
one of my favourite vintage models the 1016
The lugs ain't thick though so you need to be careful on the overpolished examples.
Thanks guys! And Wagammas toilets? Who knew indeed!
The 1016 is no doubt the most popular - mainly because its a bit bigger and the chronometer spec rating. However the 5500 is my preferred. I like the smaller 34mm Air King size. It's a bit more subtle, less writing on the dial and comfortable to wear. The 5500 Superprecision was the first one that I bought. This came from James Dowling. I paid over the odds at the time as he is one of the most respected Rolex experts and I needed to make sure it was one hundred percent.
Mike Wood ( The Old Watch shop) has a nice 1016 a snip at £25k. I nearly bought one from him three years ago, even then it was £11k
http://www.theoldwatchshop.com/rolex.html
Steve.
Clean lines gives it so much more depth . Remind me of the older simpler Panerai dials where you could lose yourself in the details of the font and Lyme type
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Fantastic set. Well done.
Agreed a really nice set.
My all time favourtite watch. Prices are insane though.
Really lovely pic. The 1016 is up there with the Omega SM300 as my favourite watch, ahead of it in fact.
I have a watchco SM300 with a vintage tritium dial which it was probably a quarter of the price of a 1016, but if I "won the lottery" (as they say) I'd get an old Explorer and never take it off.
Useful point of view.I’ve had mine a few years and value increased to point where almost frightened to wear.
Hello from mine too - can’t beat a nice 1016!
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Same here, I have had mine for almost ten years. I probably wore it more than any other watch until 2016 but these days it only gets the occasional run-out.
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Looks great on that leather strap.
Here mine.
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Its one of those rare watches that looks good on almost any strap or bracelet.
There are a few on here, all really nice. Agreed, prices are crazy. It's a shame because a lot of collectors are priced out of the market.
If they were under 10k I'd have one.
wasn’t that long ago they were… bottom one Just over £2k bought in 2010, and top one £5.5k in 2016. This one is in better condition (NOS) that the one Mike Wood currently has for sale.
Agreed, today’s prices make the 1016 one for the more serious enthusiast…
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Very nice !
I liked my 14270 but I'd rarely reach for it over 'more interesting' watches so I sold it. I'm tempted to try the 39mm version to see if it has more appeal but only when the right one comes up.
£25k for a 1016 sounds ridiculous when there's examples for half that.
I think you either get the 36mm size or you don’t. Some people love it, some not so much. Whilst I’ve not had an 39mm Explorer, I did have a 39mm Oyster Perpetual and I think it lasted a month. The proportions just don’t work for such a simple watch.
Personally, I’d never look twice at anything other than a 36mm version now.
Obviously there are some people who are just chancing it in terms of asking prices but what I find is, if you do your research correctly, you get what you pay for.
I may be wrong but, I expect buying a watch from Mike Wood would be a dramatically different experience from buying a watch from some regular Instagram wannabe Dealer. Prices are obviously different too.
Whilst this isn’t even a 1016, this is probably the most watch photo I’ve looked at the most over the years.
Last edited by Slevin Kelevra; 7th December 2022 at 23:32.