Rolex Red Submariner

Rolex

Red Submariner

1680

1970

2631XXX

Lovely steel case with thick chamfered lugs; stamped with reference number 1680 between the lugs at 12 and serial number at 6, case back correctly signed and correctly stamped 1680 1.70 for the first quarter of 1970, correct 3-dot crown winder, fat font bezel insert.

Totally original Mark IV dial with open 6's and ‘long t's' all original lume.

Fully signed automatic, calibre 1575, numbered D708449

Rolex folded bracelet numbered 7836 with 380 end links

This Rolex is a very fine example of an early Red Submariner. It watch ticks all the right boxes with a near-perfect dial (nothing's perfect!), original fat-font insert and lovely tick lugs with chamfered edges. THE ‘RED SUB” Rolex began producing the reference 1680 in 1969; it was the first submariner to have a date window at 3 o'clock with the Cyclops lens affixed to its Plexiglas crystal. Because of the new date arrangement the earlier calibre 1570 movement was slightly modified for the date and was renamed the 1575. The earliest reference 1675's had the “SUBMARINER” label written in red – hence the moniker ‘Red Sub'. This feature lasted until 1973 when Rolex replaced it with white text – thus the Red Subs only had an effective life span of just four years, making it much sought-after by Rolex collectors. To make things even more interesting Rolex made 7 dial versions of the Red Sub – denoted Mark I to Mark VII. The Marks I to III all had the 200m first followed by 660ft denoting the depth to which the watch could be submerged. The Mark IV dial, as seen in the present example, sees the first time Rolex indicate the Feet indication before the Metres. In addition to the feet first indication the Mk IV 6's on the 660ft have open curls, i.e. the inner curl is open-ended. For the Mk V, VI & VII the 6's have closed curls. Lastly the ‘t' in the feet initials is long - as for the Mark I-III dials, but the remaining Marks V to VII dials all sported a short ‘t'.