To the casual observer these two watches have many similarities, but one, a Seiko, is worth around A$240 and the other, a Rolex, is worth about A$24,000. (Excuse me while I take a deep breath).
Both arrived on my desk this week. The Seiko is a high quality quartz from the 70’s which was recently returned from my watchmaker after a mechanical service and ironically the Rolex was given to me to service - a battery swap, which is more suited to my servicing abilities.
The Rolex is is an Oysterquartz Day-Date reference 19018, with a 5055 movement, a yellow gold case, burr-wood style dial, and diamond minute markers. By Rolex standards it is quite rare because Rolex simply didn’t produce many Quartz watches.
Rolex joined a consortium of Swiss makers in the late 60’s to produce a watch with this amazing new quartz technology, although they were all beaten by Seiko when it released its Astron in 1969. Rolex eventually went their own way and the Oysterquartz was first released in 1977. The last Oysterquartz was made in 2001or 2003, depending on which article you read, after some 25,000 units had been produced. That might sound a lot, but averaging 1000 units a year is small change for a Rolex model.
The watch is heavy, imposing on the wrist, and definitely be-fitting its luxury Rolex heritage. Winding the hands is just buttery smooth and when you take off that case-back you are greeted with a magnificently decorated movement that just makes a mockery of most other quartz movements. And, solid gold is well, solid gold.
The Seiko is a reference 3003, with a 3863 movement, gold plated case, burnished gold tone dial, and a prism crystal. The watch was made in 1973, a decade in which Seiko dominated quality quartz watch production and sold their Quartz watches at significantly higher prices than their mechanical alternatives.
What the two watches do have in common is that they combine quartz technology with traditional mechanical gearing and the accuracy is quite phenomenal. The Seiko is rated at 10 seconds per month accuracy and the Rolex is estimated at 5 seconds per month.
The Rolex is back in the hands of its owner but I really enjoyed this brief encounter. The watch was impressive, although diamond indices are not really my cup of tea and I couldn’t stop thinking about how many wonderful vintage Seiko’s I could buy for $24,000.
WatchCharts 3/6/2022 - “The average price of a Rolex 19018 on the private sales market is A$22,882, while you can expect to pay A$34,991 from a secondary market dealer.”
Rolex Oysterquartz Video Refs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qc9uJ-Sd14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhIV56Ea2co
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