The vintage watch marketplace
Every Grey Market sale settles through escrow: the buyer pays, the seller ships the watch to our verifier for in-hand authentication, and it is released to the buyer once it passes. The seller is paid out after verification.
This is a 1979 Rolex Submariner reference 1680, featuring a stainless steel 40mm case and a black dial with applied luminous hour markers and Mercedes hands. The watch is powered by the automatic Rolex caliber 1570 movement. It includes a date complication at 3 o'clock with a cyclops magnifier on the acrylic crystal. The bezel is black with a silvered insert and minute graduations. The watch is fitted with a stainless steel Oyster bracelet, reference 93150, with 580 end links and a folding clasp signed Rolex. The sale includes the watch head and bracelet as photographed.
This is a great daily 1680, the hands and dial have some excellent character to them, which makes it a fantastic watch to wear. It's hard to part with this one, but the new owner will be very pleased.
Ask the seller or Grey Market a question, or share something you noticed.
Re: Pelhamplace Yes comes with full links
Does the bracelet have all the links? If not, what size wrist will it fit? Thanks
Re: ChefT I hear where you are coming from, I would probably suggest just holding off for a different watch if something like a missing pip would turn you off of bidding / purchasing. In my experience pips and bezels are easy to come by if the buyer would like to change that after purchase. Personally I just didn't mind and kind of like the pip-less look.
Re: colston The missing pip insert worries me..
Re: ChefT Everything on the watch is correct except for the bezel insert, which is aftermarket. As @patina_pilled mentioned the case back is stamped 1680 but does not have a date code on it, you can see it in the photo gallery. If anyone would like to see any other photos let me know and I'll see about adding them.
Re: ChefT The case back is shown in image #4, also I think Rolex stopped stamping date codes on the case backs around '72 iirc
Re: Grey_Market “Thanks — one final clarification before I bid seriously: will the authentication report specifically identify whether the dial, hands, bezel insert, crown, bracelet/clasp/end links, and caseback are period-correct/original versus later Rolex service replacements, and will you provide the caseback date stamp if present?”
Re: ChefT Hi ChefT Thanks for asking this, it's exactly the right question to ask before bidding seriously. After the sale, every watch goes to our authentication partner, who goes through it in full: confirms originality, the serial, reference and movement, runs a timegrapher test on the movement, pressure tests the case, checks the caseback, and so on. Nothing settles until it passes. During the auction itself, if you'd like more information or additional photos from the seller, they'll be glad to provide them or answer anything specific you have in mind. Happy to answer any further questions, and thanks again.
One thing I would do before placing a serious bid: ask Grey Market specifically whether their verifier will confirm the serial, reference, movement caliber, dial being later/service, bracelet reference/end links, and whether the case-back has a quarter/year stamp. Their process physically checks authenticity and parts against the listing after the auction, so that is worth exploiting.