Shut your eyes and film a Rolex sport watch. Likelihood is, the watch you’re pondering of has a black dial. However that wasn’t at all times the case. When Rolex first launched a trio of sport fashions we all know and love at present – the Explorer, the GMT-Grasp, and the Submariner, all launched between 1953 and 1955 – it rapidly standardized round black dials. Within the early years of those fashions although, there was a uncommon breed of dial: the white “albino” dial.
These are curious and ridiculously uncommon dials – we’re most likely speaking lower than 20 or 25 recognized watches throughout Submariners, GMT-Masters, and Explorers from the ’50s and early ’60s. As a lot because the rarity, they’re simply rattling cool-looking watches. And these days, I can’t get these albino dials out of my thoughts.
An albino Explorer 1016 at Phillips’ Geneva Public sale this week – the primary albino 1016 to look at public sale in 15 years.
At Phillips’ Geneva Watch Public sale this week, they’re providing an albino dial Explorer 1016. It’s the primary albino 1016 we’ve seen at a significant public sale since 2007. These dials have at all times raised a whole lot of questions amongst collectors – are they actual? If that’s the case, what’s the story behind them?
Whereas Rolex won’t remark immediately on its historic fashions, in very Rolex vogue, its sister model Tudor did fire up curiosity this yr by introducing a white dial (technically, “opaline”) to its Black Bay GMT. With that, let’s take a more in-depth have a look at the elusive albino dial.
It’s By no means Black And White; Or, What Is An Albino Dial?
An early Explorer 6610 with albino dial
A albino 6542 GMT-Grasp
So what’s an albino GMT-Grasp, Explorer, or Submariner? It’s an early instance of one among these fashions with a white dial – easy as that. At first blush, it doesn’t sound like a lot.
Earlier than Rolex launched the Explorer, Submariner, and GMT-Grasp, it wasn’t even that unusual to see white or silver dials on its early ’50s sport watches: Edmond Hillary’s Everest Rolex that served as inspiration for the Explorer had a white dial; so did early examples of the Flip-O-Graph, the Submariner precursor; even Deep Sea Particular No. 3, the one that really went to the underside of the Mariana Trench and now sits within the Smithsonian, had a white dial. There was merely extra selection within the Rolex sport lineup: extra references, extra dial variations, extra all the pieces – it was a bizarre time when the very same reference might have elegant stars on the dial or appear like sufficient of a software to be taken to Everest.
The Rolex watch Sir Edmund Hillary took to Mt. Everest reveals how white-dial sport watch weren’t unusual within the early ’50s.
With the introduction of the Explorer, Submariner, and GMT-Grasp within the mid-’50s, Rolex began to standardize its assortment, and one of many choices it made was to principally use black dials in its metal sport watches. However not earlier than a number of curious white dials slipped their approach into watches. (There’s additionally the legendary “albino” Daytona, solely 4 of that are recognized, together with one which belonged to Eric Clapton for some time. However these are a distinct factor and aren’t actually just like the albino dials I’m speaking about right here, so we’ll go away them for an additional day.)
Folks have lengthy questioned if these albino dials had been assessments, prototypes, show fashions, or perhaps even presents to essential individuals. Right now there’s no strategy to know the story, however none of those convoluted explanations are doubtless true – in the event you’re a believer in Occam’s razor, the best clarification is likely to be the very best. For that, supplier and Loupe This co-founder Eric Ku supplied his.
“I at all times consider Rolex as very Swiss-German in a approach,” Ku mentioned. “In the event that they made one thing, they’re going to make use of it.” Watchmakers will inform you that the simplest strategy to test whether or not a dial stamping and printing pad is working correctly is to check black ink on a clean white dial. Ku and others like Rolex Ardour Report have speculated that Rolex would do brief manufacturing runs to ensure its printing pad was working correctly. After these white dials had been printed, they figured they may as effectively use them, and so they had been put into circulation.
“We’ve seen true prototype dials, particularly for Daytonas,” Eric Wind of Wind Classic mentioned. “However it doesn’t make sense that these can be check dials.” In the event that they had been true assessments or prototypes, there wouldn’t have been a lot of a motive to complete the dials, full with that Superlative Chronometer Formally Licensed textual content at 6 o’clock. Ku and Wind each agree these albino dials had been true “manufacturing” watches.
Whereas Rolex used a time-intensive gilt course of presently to make stunning, black dials with the textual content printed in reduction, these white albino dials are easy and pad-printed with black ink. In comparison with these black dials, they’re downright flat. However they give the impression of being cool, they’re uncommon as hell, and so they’re among the most legendary watches in all of classic Rolex.
White albino dials have been present in early references of those sport fashions: 6610 and 1016 Explorers, 6542 and 1675 GMT-Masters, and 6204/6205 Submariners. Most are available circumstances courting to the ’50s, although some have come from the early ’60s.
The Albino GMT-Grasp
Of those albino Rolex watches, the albino GMT-Grasp has probably the most lore round it. You’ll be able to most likely rely the quantity which have surfaced on one hand. For years, it was unclear if the albino GMT-Grasp was even genuine. Then in 2010, Rolex skilled Stefano Mazzariol printed a weblog submit (hearth up Google Translator for this hyperlink in the event you don’t communicate Italian) forensically dissecting an albino dial and claiming it as legit. He pointed to a lot of particulars – asymmetries within the crown brand, serifs on sure letters – that matched throughout the black and white dials that appeared to point they had been made utilizing the identical gear.
A number of years later, Ben had one within the Hodinkee workplace and some specialists agreed that one was legit too. In his e-book 100 Superlative Rolex Watches, Goldberger includes a couple extra albino GMT-Masters, one a gold ref. 6542 and one a metal instance. These few examples have fashioned a physique of information resulting in the overall perception that the albino GMT-Grasp is actual and extremely uncommon.
Fingers-On With an Albino GMT-Grasp 6542
Again in 2015 an albino GMT-Grasp 6542 made its approach into the Hodinkee workplace. It was a second for us to go hands-on with probably the most mysterious and legendary Rolex watches round.
However the story behind it’s nonetheless a thriller. There’s this fantasy that, when Rolex initially developed the GMT-Grasp for Pan-Am pilots as industrial aviation took maintain within the Nineteen Fifties, it produced a small variety of albino GMT-Masters for Pan-Am execs (the legend normally places it at 50 or 100) who could have been jealous of the high-flying pilots who had been getting cool new Rolex watches.
“That’s all nonsense,” Ku instructed me.
There’s most likely a kernel of reality someplace on this story – there is a presumed legit albino 6542 that’s been floating round and lives in a personal assortment proper now with provenance from a former Pan-Am worker. However over time, this little truth grew into city legend, with new harder-to-believe particulars added each step of the best way.
Nonetheless, this fantasy did catch the ear of fraudsters: a commonly-faked model of the albino GMT-Grasp is engraved with the Pan-Am brand on the again, a nod to their supposed origin (the actual instance that sits in a personal assortment has no caseback engraving). Many of those fakes are from the identical place that will produce so-called Rinaldi dials in Italy – head to the suitable vintage truthful and also you would possibly come throughout one. They’re fairly straightforward to identify to a understanding eye; for instance, the caseback engraving is finished with a laser, which, let’s say, isn’t interval appropriate.
Extra not too long ago, I’ve been following this thread on Classic Rolex Discussion board like a slow-moving thriller, the place a collector found an early ref. 1675 with a silver, albino-like dial. There appears to be a normal consensus on VRF that the dial is actual, and the collector despatched it to Rolex’s heritage division a few yr in the past for inspection – we’re awaiting a response like the ultimate season of Recreation of Thrones. Even in a longtime phase of accumulating like classic Rolex, it illustrates how there’s nonetheless data to study and uncover.
The Albino Explorer
Ten years in the past, Christie’s auctioned an albino Explorer 6610 and we had been capable of go hands-on with it for a couple of minutes. The watch finally offered for CHF 171,750.
Whereas the albino Explorer isn’t fairly as legendary because the GMT-Grasp, it’s no much less uncommon. It additionally occurs to be my favourite of the bunch. Many of the albino Explorers you’ll see (which is to say: no quite a lot of) shall be ref. 6610, produced within the ’50s earlier than it gave strategy to the 1016. Just a few have appeared publicly, so listed below are a number of notable examples:
- In 2013, we featured an albino 6610 courting to 1958 that later offered at Christie’s for CHF 171,750, not unhealthy for an estimate of CHF 10,000 to fifteen,000.
- In 2022, Menta Watches offered an albino 6610 with a never-before-seen purple depth ranking, dated to 1956.
- As of this text publishing, The Classic Idea in Hong Kong has an albino 6610 on the market that dates to 1956 – they’re asking greater than $200,000.
- Lastly, the one albino 1016 that has appeared at public sale offered at Christie’s in 2007 for CHF 45,600. Like the instance at Phillips, this 1016 dated to 1961-62.
An albino 6610 with never-before-seen purple depth ranking at 12 o’clock, offered by Menta Watches in 2022.
There are a pair others we all know of which have modified palms privately or sit in personal collections – my colleagues in Hodinkee’s personal gross sales workforce not too long ago positioned one other albino 6610, and an instance from 1957 is featured in our Explorer Reference Factors – however the variety of recognized albino Explorers remains to be most likely actually seven or fewer. There doesn’t appear to be any rhyme or motive for the place these watches pop up: that Menta Watches instance got here from South America; Ku sourced one other from a vintner in France. This has led most to imagine they weren’t supposed for particular markets or retailers.
The one different albino 1016 to look at public sale offered at Christie’s in 2007 for CHF 45,600.
This brings us to the albino 1016 at Phillips. It dates to 1962, a bit of later than among the earlier albino dials we’ve seen, however not concerningly so. It’s an exclamation level dial (named after the lume dot beneath six o’clock), although it doesn’t have the tall crown brand you’d usually anticipate on such dials (so-called Sort 3 dials, per our Explorer Reference Factors). That mentioned, the crown brand does match that seen on earlier albino 6610s and 1016s, which is likely to be a extra helpful comparability than contrasting to a typical black dial Explorer.
An in depth-up of the albino dial 1016 at Phillips Geneva. Picture: Courtesy of Phillips
On the finish of the day, it’s principally not possible to actually inform if a Rolex dial was born with a selected case. Whereas this albino 1016 is a bit later than others we’ve seen, that silver-albino 1675 I referenced above additionally has an exclamation level dial and a serial courting it to 1962, much like this Explorer. This might point out that a few of these dials had been laying round longer than some had beforehand assumed and slapped into circumstances. These I talked to appeared to agree this albino dial seemed legit, however there’s actually no strategy to know whether or not it was born on this case or put in at some later time (and whether or not that point was 1962 or 2022). How a lot that really issues is as much as every potential bidder.
It jogs my memory of, approach again in 2008, when Sotheby’s offered a handful of unfastened House-Dweller dials. Like these albino dials, the 1016 House-Dweller is one other a type of classic Rolex myths – nobody actually is aware of the story round them, besides that they’re tremendous uncommon. A few of these unfastened House-Dweller dials have been discovered cased up since – certain, it makes these watches rather less fascinating understanding that they had been put collectively for rarity’s sake and weren’t born that approach, however their rarity and desirability is already as a result of dial anyway.
There’s most likely some uncertainty already baked into how bidders are fascinated with this albino 1016. If Phillips’ estimate of CHF 40,000 to 80,000 is to be believed, they’ve baked a good quantity of uncertainty into their expectations, although the public sale home can also be infamous for low estimates, so grain of salt.
Both approach, rarity is the overriding issue driving its worth, so these unanswerable questions won’t matter a lot by the point the hammer comes down on Lot 19. Let’s be sincere: With a watch as uncommon is that this, it’s additionally a real “purchase the vendor” scenario. Some individuals belief public sale homes; many others don’t.
So far as I can inform, the Rolex in what I’ll name the “Explorer household” that has the best public sale result’s Jürg Marmet’s 6298, which offered for CHF 289,800 final November. Regardless of Phillips’ estimates, in the event you have a look at the costs I’ve thrown out on this part, there’s no motive this albino 1016 can’t prime Marmet’s watch if the temper is true.
The Albino Submariner
In 2011 we interviewed supplier Eric Ku and he singled out this albino Submariner 6204 as one of many rarest watch he’d had the chance to promote. Picture: Courtesy of Eric Ku
Lastly, just some albino Submariners in reference 6204/6205 circumstances have appeared. Years in the past, Ku confirmed us a ref. 6204 that he offered. A pair years after that, one other 6204 got here up at Christie’s, the place it handed at public sale – presumably there have been simply too many questions on it on the time, which is at all times the danger with one thing so uncommon. Like with most albino GMT-Masters and Explorers, these are early Subs courting to the mid-’50s.
I want there have been extra to say in regards to the albino Submariner, however there actually isn’t. We haven’t seen an instance pop up publicly in a few decade.
The Return Of The Albino Dial
The brand new Tudor Black Bay GMT with an off-white opaline dial.
For some time, Rolex didn’t actually make white dial sport watches. That modified with the Explorer II 16550 and 16570 within the ’80s, which might be one of many causes the “Polar” has such a cult following. Nonetheless, there have been no white-dial Explorers, GMT-Masters, or Subs, a lot as these annual Rolex predictions articles tried to manifest them.
That modified, type of, just some years in the past when Rolex launched the meteorite GMT-Grasp II. Certain, it’s white gold, not metal, and it’s a meteorite dial as an alternative of pure white, nevertheless it’s an superior tackle the GMT-Grasp. And, with extra data surfacing in regards to the albino 6542 solely prior to now 15 years or so, it nearly felt like Rolex’s approach of claiming “We’re paying consideration” for these of us vulnerable to studying tea leaves. Not a full-on endorsement, in fact – Rolex would by no means – however a wink to these albino dials of the previous.
The Rolex GMT-Grasp II in white gold with meteorite dial, launched in 2019.
Then in 2023, that wink became a full-on head nod with the discharge of an opaline Tudor Black Bay GMT. With different releases like the brand new Perpetual 1908 assortment and the up to date Daytona, Rolex has made overt references to its historic fashions, and since Tudor is the place it performs with its heritage, it felt like this new white-dial GMT might’ve been a touch.
Whereas Rolex would possibly by no means inform us what it thinks of those albino dials, right here’s to hoping the albino Explorer 1016 at Phillips has piqued the crown’s curiosity as a lot because it has mine, and maybe there’ll be a white dial Explorer sooner or later in any case.
