July 25th, 2008
Rolex produces the Cellini as one of their lines. I don’t know if Rolex has named the Cellini after the Florentine Renaissance Sculptor Benvenuto Cellini but the Rolex Cellini line have a simple classic look to them. They don’t have all the day-date, automatic, water proofing and other sophisticated functions of the Rolex Oyster Perpetual, Rolex Oyster Professional.
The Rolex Celini Men’s watches are simple beautiful watches with great looking leather straps (not the Oyster, or President in all their different metal finishes). They are simple classic watches without the extras (most importantly note they are not waterproof like the other Rolex lines some of which like the Submariner and Submariner-II can be worn at the bottom of the ocean - more or less - with no problem).
All this allows the Rolex Cellini to be thinner and more elegant than the other Rolex Lines. I think they make wonderful dress watches as opposed to the sports flavor of the other Rolex watches.
Tags: Rolex Cellini Men's
Posted in Rolex Cellini | No Comments »
July 15th, 2008
Rolex Yacht-Master
The Rolex Yacht-Master is a popular sport watch, first introduced by Rolex in 1992 with the model 11628 in 18KT yellow gold. In 1994, Rolex issued a ladies model (69628) and a mid-size mans model (68628). This was the first time Rolex had ever issued a smaller professional size watch. In 1996, Rolex introduced two-tone (stainless steel and 18kt yellow gold) to the ladies and mid-size line.
In 1997, Rolex debuted the Yacht-Master in Rolesium, a term patented by Rolex in 1932 which gives the Yacht-Master a stainless steel and platinum appearance. This model (Yacht-Master, reference 16622) is also known as the Platinum Yacht-Master.
The Yacht-Master 16622 with its Rolesium finish very popular. While not in as short a supply as the stainless steel Daytona, the demand is greater than the current supply, and that margin seems to be growing every year. Thus the Rolesium Yacht-Master sells for more on the private market then at an authorized Rolex dealer, much like the stainless steel Daytona.
The Yacht-Master was the first Oyster Professional series watch to feature the Rolex Maxi Dial - so named due to the enlarged markers and thicker hands as compared to the standard issue Oyster Professional watch dials. The extra surface area on the markers and minute hand means more luminous material can be applied, making for a brighter glow. The Yacht-Master case is 40mm in diameter, but a shade thinner than most Oyster Professionals. The thinner case and polished surfaces give the watch a very dressy appearance.
Even though the Yacht-Master has the Rolex Triplock crown, Rolex only rates the Yacht-Master for 100 meters of water resistance (compared to 300 meters for the Submariner). That water resistance rating is fine enough for a sporting watch like the Yacht-Master. It’s not designed to be a diving “tool” watch like the Submariner or Sea-Dweller.
The Rolex Yacht-Master uses Rolex caliber 3135 movement. It is a 31 jewel automatic movement which is manufactured completely in house by Rolex. It has a reputation of being one of the most reliable, and robust movements ever created. Rolex has implemented several, truly notable features into the 3135, such as a Breguet overcoil balance-spring, and the Microstella adjustment screws, and Kif shock absorption. The 3135 in the Yacht-Master is of course COSC (Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres) chronometer certified.
Tags: Rolex Yacht-Master
Posted in Preowned and discount Rolex watches | No Comments »
July 7th, 2008
Rolex Oyster Date:
The Rolex Oyster Date is 34mm like the Air-King, but it is called “Date” because, obviously, it includes a date function. There are three versions of the Rolex Oyster Date: steel, 18k yellow & steel, and all 18k yellow gold. Rolex started manufacturing the Oyster Date in the late 1950s around the time the steel DateJust was introduced. Retails prices go from $3625 with a smooth bezel and Oyster bracelet to $14,050 in 18k gold on a Jubilee band. But you can get them at discounted prices here.
Posted in Rolex Information | No Comments »
July 1st, 2008
The Rolex Cosmograph Daytona is an officially certified, self-winding chronometer wrist watch with chronograph functions. From its beginnings in 1961, the Cosmograph, Cosmograph Daytona and Oyster Cosmograph Daytona chronographs were produced continuously until 1988, when they were replaced with versions featuring self-winding movements, from Zenith’s El Primero caliber, under the name Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph.
Since 2000, Rolex began manufacturing its own movements and developed the Rolex 4130 caliber (model number: 116520). Due to its limited production and increasing popularity, the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona is considers as the rarest and most sought after watch in the world. Each authorized Rolex dealer is allocated only one, or perhaps two of the coveted stainless steel models each year. Most Rolex dealers maintain waiting lists of people who want to buy the Daytona.
Tags: Rolex Daytona watch
Posted in Preowned and discount Rolex watches | No Comments »
June 29th, 2008
Automatic watches are of two kinds. Mechanical and quartz. Mechanical automatic watches were first developed by Rolex which called them perpetual. They use a moving weight which moves due to the forces of gravity as you move your wrist. As the weight moves it winds the spring and keeps the spring fully winded up during the day while it is worn.
When you take the watch off the spring (at night) it winds down. In fact good watches (like Rolex, Omega, Cartier and so on) are designed to be mostly fully wound and there are winders for such watches which move the watch (watches) to keep them wound:
A watch winder is a device used to keep automatic (also known as self winding) watches running when not worn. While virtually all automatic watches can be manually wound, this is not always convenient. So the concept of an automatic watch winder was born.
A watch winder is a device which holds a watch (or often more than one) and moves it in a circular patterns to emulate the necessary parts of human motion to operate the self-winding mechanism.
A winder cannot over wind an automatic watch, since all automatic watches are protected from being over wound by a mechanism that disengages the winding process when the mainspring is fully wound. But using a timer-based winder is still very important to prevent excessive wear on the winding mechanism. There is no need to keep the watch in motion 24 hours a day when usually only 30 minutes of motion is necessary to keep it properly wound.
Posted in automatic watch, watch information | 1 Comment »
June 22nd, 2008
Rolex Air-King:
The Air-King could be considered the “entry level” model from Rolex. Now talking about an entery level Rolex watch is like talking about an entry level Rolls Royce. Like all other Rolex watches the Rolex Air-King is a classic piece of Swiss craftsmanship and a work of art. Current models retail for $3200 with the smooth bezel fitted, or $3250 with the engine turned bezel. However as you can see bellow you can get them at better prices when you know how.
The Rolex Air-King is 34mm in diameter and comes with an Oyster bracelet by default. The current Air-King watch does not have a Date. In the 1970s, the Rolex Air-King was offered with a date (this particular model is scarce and collectible) and in gold and steel combinations. Those two variations probably ceased production because they are similar to Rolex’s Date and Oyster Perpetual models.
