If you're looking for something rare, but instantly recognizable
stick around to discover another unicorn in the Rolex lineup.
Today, we're going to be talking about the Rolex Turn-O-Graph. Now, not just any Rolex
Turn-O-Graph, there is a very special version of this. We're going to be talking about today.
But when I talk about unicorns, I'm talking about things like the Panda dial, Daytona stuff that you
just don't see every day they come around, but they're not everyday watches. You're not just
going to hit up our website and always see one in stock. And today we've got a watch that fits the
bill. So this is the Rolex Turn-O-Graph. It's a 116263. So that is going to indicate that it
is a stainless steel and yellow gold model. So this particular watch is only going to come in
that color pattern with with the stainless steel and yellow gold. Now the Turn-O-Graph itself,
you can get in just stainless. You can also get it in stainless and rose gold,
but for this particular watch, it's only going to be found in stainless and yellow gold.
Now what sets this watch apart from the rest of the Turn-O-Graphs is pretty pointing to see
if you actually take a look at one, if you've had one of the newer reference numbers in your hands,
and obviously one of the striking parts about the Turn-O-Graph is going to be this red hand,
right? The red second hand. And there's a little where it says Turn-O-Graph on the dial is always
going to be in a red font. Well, in 2011 Rolex released this limited production, not a limited
edition, we'll get into that, but it's a limited production watch that actually has a green hand
and green font. There were only 600 of them ever made. We'll dig into that a
little bit more as well, but know that there were only a handful ever
made and the way to distinguish them from other watches is going to be that green.
Now, for those of you that aren't familiar with the Turn-O-Graph as a watch and as a collection,
it was the first Rolex tool watch. And of course it qualifies as a tool watch
simply because it has a rotating bezel. So it allows you to make calculations on the fly.
And it's something that Rolex came out with before the submariner and before the GMT.
So in a way the Turn-O-Graph was the technological innovation that led to some
of the most well-known models from Rolex. Now, again, I said, this watch was released in 2011,
that one's been fact checked multiple times, but if you actually look at the
serial numbers that are on the case, which I guess first, I should say that the case
itself on these watches is a 36 millimeter Datejust case. It's the same exact case.
They just added a different vessel, a slightly different it's a slightly different configuration,
but the base itself, that case is the same. And so Rolex actually used
600 cases. The Datejust cases that had deer F serial, which if you go back in history and
look up the, the serial number charts you'll see that that's like the oh 4 0 5 timeframe,
but the Washington didn't get released until 2011. So like, how does that happen?
Well, you just use a little deductive reasoning, Rolex add 600 extra Datejust cases that had old
serial numbers on them. And this was a watch that was kind of nearing the end of its life cycle. It
did not garner as much attention and did not drive as many sales as a lot of the other sport model
offspring and the Rolex collection. So it did end up ceasing production on the Rolex Turn-O-Graph.
This is not a watch that you can walk into Rolex authorized dealers and just pick one
up. Of course, it's hard to pick up anything at Rolex these days because nothing's on the shelves,
but if they were, this would not be a watch that you could get. Now, I do want to kind of
talk about the dials, right? There were 300 black ones that were made 300 black dials and 300 white
dials. Now you can get those dials on all the different configurations whether it's stainless
or what the rose gold or the yellow golds, but on the black dial itself, there's a little subtle
difference. If you really look closely, if you put them right next to each other, by the way, this is
a stainless steel and yellow gold, and this is a stainless steel in rose gold. If you actually look
at the shade of black, only the rose gold comes in what I would consider to be a true black with the
true black dial, the stainless steel only model, as well as the stainless steel and yellow gold.
If you look really closely, it's more of like a, it's a charcoal color. It's a really dark gray,
but it's not quite like a pure black, like we would think of when we're really
truthfully describing colors. Now, of course, Rolex does advertise it as a black dial, but just
know that it is a little bit off. Now, one of the things about Rolex, if you're not familiar with
their service centers, and there've been a lot of complaints about sending in a watch to the Rolex
service center to get just a standard routine maintenance service they're going to clean it,
lubricate it, throw some new seals in there, you get your watch back and they've replaced the dial
and they've replaced the hands. they call them service dials and service hands. And if you have
a vintage piece with all of the original parts, obviously you need to maintain the upkeep on it.
But if Rolex swaps out the dial and throws in a fresh serviced style, it can have a very huge
detrimental impact on the value of your vintage piece. Well, Rolex has come out and said that if
you bring one of these into the service center, they will not, they will not replace your green
hand or your green font dial with the traditional red. Now, of course, if you're just bringing in a
standard Turn-O-Graph, they might do that if you don't specifically request not to,
but they've come out and said that if you bring one of these limited production pieces in,
they will not alter the color scheme. Now, limited production and limited edition. We
hear these terms thrown around all the time in the watch industry. We hear them in many different,
but in the watch industry, there is a big difference between the LPs and the LEs.
And of course, I kinda like to think of it like music. You've got albums. And sometimes album
comes in it's a limited production album. They call it an LP. And that simply means
that a specific number or restricted quantity of vinyls were pressed. This is the same in the
watch industry, right? Only 600 of these watches were minted. There will not be 601, there will
not be a thousand. They will not come out and do it again. And it's only going to be those
600. Now on limited edition is still going to be a very restricted quantity, but it's going to be
numbered, right? Where you can see this as the 212 out of 300 of the black ones. Most common example
I can think of. It just pops into the top of my head is going to be the 007 Seamaster by Omega.
You'll see they made 3,007 it's. So number 007. And so on the back of the case, it'll actually
be engraved which number it is in that limited edition series. This is not like that. They did
not number these watches. You're not going to find this is the 12th or the 300. This is
1 of 300 it's, it's known that that's how many they make, but you don't know which one it was
now. We've only ever come across one of these. And we're probably this'll be the only one we
ever do come across. It is it is that rare. It was only released to the, the Japanese market.
It was not released worldwide. It was a very limited production meant specifically for that
market. Obviously, once they get sold, they kind of trickle out through the rest of the industry.
So one of them has made its way back to the states and we have it for sale on the website.
I'm not sure what the stock number is of this one, but if you just type in, Turn-O-Graph,
or if you type in 116263 it will pop up. It'll be instantly recognizable by that green hand.
But remember we've only ever come across one. I chose to do this video as soon as I saw this
watch, because once it's gone, I'm not going to get a chance to do it again. I don't think
we'll ever see this watch. So if you're looking for something that sticks out, but is it's rare,
but it is instantly recognizable. I mean, it's a Datejust, I mean, it's got a Datejust case to it.
It's something that anybody that is familiar with watches is going to look at your wrist. They're
going to know it's a Rolex, but until you kind of tell them the story, they're not going to know
how special of a watch this is. So I recommend that this is the type of thing
you're into getting something that's very desirable, but less common out in the world.
Come check this one out before it's gone, because once it's gone, it's not coming back.