It is 60 years since Rolex introduced its first Cosmograph Daytona in 1963 as the ultimate racing chronograph.
Demand for the collection has never been hotter, making it almost impossible for customers to buy any Daytona new from an authorised dealer.
The secondary market has stepped up to ensure availability for pre-owned top Rolex Daytona replica watches, with experts like Bob’s Watches ensuring that every piece they sell is precisely inspected, serviced, and authenticated by a team of Rolex experts.
It is hard to recall a time when demand was anything other than off the scale for the Rolex Daytona. It has certainly been selling on the secondary market for over-retail prices for longer than any other mass-produced watch.
But that has not always been the case. There have been decades when the collection was widely unpopular and some iterations were even considered ugly.
All that changed when Paul Newman brought his Hollywood cool and motor racing credibility to the Daytona from the 1980s onwards.
This story helped one of his own UK 1:1 Rolex fake watches break the world record auction price in 2017 when his favourite Daytona sold for $17.8 million.
The rest is modern history, with authorised dealers scoffing at new customers with the temerity to walk into one of their stores and ask to buy one.
Bob’s Watches wants to help Daytona lovers secure the perfect replica Rolex watches of their dreams, and has an extensive inventory of desirable pieces to buy right now.
Gold Rolex Daytona Replica Watches
White dial, black dial; gold case and bracelet or gold watch on an Oysterflex or leather strap?
Rolex Daytona 116518 Fake Watches
Two interesting options here. Above, a Rolex 116518 from 2013 with a golden dial with white indexes and Daytona written above the small seconds counter; all framed by an 18ct gold tachymeter bezel.
Described as in excellent condition and sold on a brown alligator leather strap with yellow gold Oysterlock clasp, the luxury Rolex copy watches is available on Bob’s Watches for $31,495 with box and papers.
Below is a completely different iteration of the 40mm ref. 116518, this time from 2020 on a black Oysterflex strap with the modern (and popular) Easylink 5mm easy extension link.
Replica Rolex Daytona 116508 Watches
There are gold dialed versions of the Swiss movements replica Rolex Daytona Ref. 116508 watches, but the most desirable, and hardest to find, is the version with a deep green dial with a golden bezel.
You will not get a lot change out of $100,000 for this 40mm gold on gold watch housing Rolex’s automatic 4130 chronograph movement.
Platinum Fake Rolex Daytona Watches
Aficionados know at a glance when somebody is wearing a 50th anniversary platinum version of the cheap Rolex Daytona replica watches by its ice blue dial, a watch considered a step up in class from the flippers’ favourites in steel.
The super clone Rolex watches for sale was given an upgrade earlier this year when Rolex introduced a version with a crystal case back, exposing its automatic 4130 automatic chronograph movement with its 18ct gold rotor.
Replica Rolex Daytona Steel And Gold Watches
Bang on trend, comparatively affordable and available to buy right now at Bob’s Watches is the Daytona Ref. 116523 two tone model in gold and steel.
The AAA UK Rolex fake watches has been in the Rolex catalogue for decades, and examples in excellent condition can be acquired for under $20,000.
Variations over the years have included dial colors in slate, white and gold with sub dials circled in black in the 1990s or more recently in gold.
Rolex Daytona Stainless Steel Fake Watches
The Rolex that needs no introduction, certainly not around the board room table of your typical Manhattan stock broker or accountant.
If the China replica Rolex Daytona Ref. 116500 watches isn’t the most desirable chronograph from The Crown, then it is certainly the reference desired by the most people.
The only choice, whether to go for a version with a ceramic bezel or an older model with the steel tachymeter (Ref. 116520) framing a black or white dial.
Prices for the ceramic bezel models, Ref. 116500LN, on the secondary market have been on a rollercoaster, peaking at over $40,000 early last year, dropping to $25,000 and now showing early signs of recovery to $30,000 or more.
Replica Rolex Daytona 116500 Watches
The Rolex 116500 white dial version is slightly harder to find, and commensurately more expensive.
Rolex Daytona 116520 Fake Watches
Steel-bezeled wholesale fake Rolex Daytona 116520 watches are trading at attractive prices very close to modern Daytona retail values these days.
The whooshing boom of the Pacific Ocean rollers could be heard as Australian pro surfer Matt Cuddihy snorkeled off the coast of Noosa, Queensland. He was picking up surfboard fins, a plastic hazard for marine life when he spotted a watch in the sand. It turned out to be Swiss made replica Rolex Submariner ref. 5513 watches.
The story of Matt Cuddihy’s Rolex discovery, first covered in depth here on Fratello after he shared an image on his social media, went global. Media outlets worldwide, including major newspapers in Europe, covered the story. Fellow watch publications and journalists chased it, and it eventually made its way into the international press. Finally, artist Bryan Braddy, (@badartnicewatch on Instagram) was even inspired to paint the Rolex Matt had found. The UK AAA Rolex fake watches, Fratello can reveal, was first lost on February 6th, 2019. It spent four years in the ocean until Matt discovered it last month. It still runs and is now on its way (via Rolex in Australia) to be reunited with its original owner.
This is that story.
Chapter 1: The surfer and the Rolex Submariner
Matt Cuddihy is a park ranger and a pro surfer, so the ocean environment is important to him. “The ocean gives us so much, and we are the ones that can fix what we broke. It’s devastating to see what ocean plastics and fishing lines do to marine creatures. For me, it’s the green turtles that we share the surf with,” he explains.
Upon finding the perfect Rolex replica watches, Matt sent it to a friend in Melbourne to get it looked at. “My mate Dayne lives in Melbourne and seems to have friends in just about every industry, and he is also a watch nerd. So I put the Rolex in the mail, he unwrapped it at his friend’s Rolex store, and, apparently, sand went all over the spotless counter. I’m not surprised, but it’s in need of a service. It got a little love, so now the time can be set, and that’s about it. It’s slightly less sandy, the time is adjustable, and it’s ready to rock and roll,” he said. Matt quite literally could not believe his luck.
The real deal
“The only time I figured out I found something awesome was happening was when my mate Dayne called me and explained that I actually did find a Rolex. It was not a Bali knock-off. I was still convinced it came from a market in Kuta…free with a Bintang singlet.”
He could have quietly kept the watch, but being the gentleman he is, Matt wanted to find the original owner. There was an inscription on the back of the top Rolex copy watches, so he realized this must have been a special gift for a fellow human being somewhere out there in the world.
Matt then made the fateful decision to post an image of the sand-encrusted high quality replica Rolex watches on his social media, hoping to find the owner. What happened next was overwhelming. “It’s been crazy, to say the least. This is definitely the most time I have ever spent on my phone, and I don’t recommend it. I’ve been getting a lot of messages from people wanting to buy it for crazy amounts of money or trying to claim it as their own. There’s either a bunch of Rolexes in the surf or a lot of BS in my direct messages. Either way, I’ll be back snorkeling and collecting aquatic garbage tomorrow,” he said.
Chapter 2: The message
Despite getting more than 200 messages, having the story covered widely in media, and getting lucrative offers from overseas collectors to buy the found Rolex, Matt was determined. “The only thing I wanted was to reunite it with the owner,” he said. “I wasn’t ever going to sell it. I knew it meant a lot to someone. There is so much history there.”
Fratello worked with Matt to help publish the story and find the original owner. As the story on the Fratello website went viral, and as Matt was being inundated with messages from across the globe, someone contacted both Matt and Fratello with a simple message:
“Hey Matt,” the message read, “if that watch has a special inscription on the back it is mine. I contacted the police after I lost it and Rolex to see if it was found and cleaned up. I might be able to get it back because it has very special memories for me. Ric.” Matt had received a similar message on his social media account. The mention of the inscription stood out for him because he had not mentioned it or posted any photos of the Swiss movements fake Rolex watches’ case back publicly. We knew this could be a genuine lead, so we tracked down Ric, and the next part of the story began to unfold.
Chapter 3: The inscription
The inscription on the back of the Rolex simply read, “Presented 1971.” This would be a detail that would unlock the secret of who originally owned the watch. The text itself does not tell much, but it meant the world to Ric, a 69-year-old Sunshine Coast local. The 1:1 Rolex replica watches had been presented to Ric in 1971 when he was 18 years old by his father for winning a local sailing race. For Ric, the watch has shared every adventure since. “Matt finding that watch unlocked the key to this whole 52-year story,” Ric said.
In 1971, Ric was at a boarding school in Brisbane, where he could come home during the holidays to spend a lot of surfing and sailing time with his family, especially his father. “I sailed small sailing ships called moths. And I had such a successful year sailing at Caloundra Sailing Club, I was presented a watch by my father for sailing achievements in 1971. I was so grateful for that Rolex fake watches wholesale and surfed and sailed a lot with it; I even won the Sunshine Coast Championships with it strapped on my wrist,” Ric explained. “The watch started its career with me there. It helped me with its countdown bezel where I would count down start times for sailing, surfed everywhere from the bar in Caloundra to Double Island Point as well in the 1970s with it.”
A father’s gift
Beyond being a useful sailing and surfing companion, the Rolex was a connection to Ric’s father, who had been in the Royal Australian Navy and was a sailor himself. “My dad had been a prisoner of war in Germany during World War II for more than three years after being captured during the raid on St Nazaire in 1942. His boat was blown out of the water, and he was one of the few survivors of that vessel and would go on to be a prisoner of war until 1945. He was an amazing man, who died in 2003,” Ric explained.
The Rolex Submariner replica watches for men went on to share a lot of adventures with Ric from the 1970s well into the 1990s. In the mid-1970s, the watch returned to its spiritual home in Switzerland as Ric went to hotel school in Geneva around 1975. “It was there that I started snow skiing with this watch. We lived throughout Geneva, and a friend and I drove all around the ski resorts of Europe in 1976 in a little truck as well. Then, in 1978 or 1979, I came home again, and we started water ski racing. The watch went with me while I was water ski racing as well. Mate, this watch has had a huge bunch of adventures,” Ric said. “It was with me when we won a few outboard boat races too.”
Chapter 4: The Rolex gets lost in deep sh*t and goes for a ski down Mont Blanc
This is not the first time Ric’s Rolex has gone on a solo adventure. In 1980, Ric was fixing a friend’s septic tank. What happened next meant he would not see the Rolex super clone watches online site again for over two years. “I took the watch off my arm and put it into my jacket pocket, and it fell into the septic tank while I was busy working. I had no idea where it went. It was in the septic tank for almost three years, and I only recovered it when the tank was emptied. It still worked just fine, though it had lost its bracelet. Later on, my friend found the bracelet and put it on his Tudor Submariner. I decided to let him keep it, so I changed to a strap, which is why Matt found it without a bracelet,” Ric explained.
After that, the cheap Rolex replica watches went back to Switzerland for two years in 1981 with Ric as he worked at a ski resort as an apprentice baker. “My last day of skiing there with this watch, I worked for a shop called Ski Service. One day during that time, the boys that worked in the ski shop booked a helicopter trip to the top of Mont Blanc, and we skied down to the French Tunnel at the base of Mont Blanc. That was the most incredible moment with that watch on my wrist, I tell you,” Ric fondly recalled.
Life goes on
After the Mont Blanc adventure, life became a little less hectic for Ric and his Rolex Submariner. In 1983, he got married — with the China Rolex fake watches on his wrist, he says — and went on to continue regularly surfing and sailing whenever he could, including with his father. “In 1988, Dad built a big boat called Innkeeper. We did two Sydney to Maloolaba yacht races with that vessel and got over the line twice. That was an amazing achievement as Innkeeper was only a 60-footer, and we came second to an 84-footer,” Ric explained.
During the 1990s to the 2000s, the Rolex was on Ric’s wrist as he participated in several other sailing races, including the Brisbane to Gladstone, visited Canada and the United States for ice fishing and skiing, and once again returned to Switzerland for a trip to reconnect with old friends. “That watch has done a lot of sh*t, I can tell you. It has seen some country,” Ric said.
Chapter 5: On a fateful day in 2019, the Rolex goes missing again
We wind forward to February 6th, 2019. Ric is surfing small swells off Noosa and is in a bad head space.
“I was surfing in the national park, and the swell was small, only about two feet. It wasn’t the best day, and I was feeling preoccupied. I had a Velcro band on the watch because my mate still had the steel bracelet from back when I lost it in the septic tank. I was riding this wave and swiped my hand past my leg rope around my knee. The leg rope must have ripped the watch off my wrist and dropped it into the water — I didn’t even realize what had happened,” Ric explained.
“I walked up to my old ute and put my board in the back. I put my arm to look at the wrist to see what time it was, and it was only then that I realized I’d lost it in the surf. It was a surreal moment when I lost it. If you can imagine yourself in a situation where your mind wasn’t registering what was going around, there was a sense of shock; it was huge.”
Ric said it was like the end, losing a close connection to so many memories with his father. Lacking snorkeling gear when he lost the 2023 replica Rolex watches, he contacted a local professional diver to look for it, but it wasn’t found. “I just felt hopeless,” Ric said. He contacted the local police department, as well as Rolex, and provided the watch’s details, including its serial number so that, on the tiny chance it was found one day, it could be returned.
Chapter 6: June 2023
We all know by now that Matt Cuddihy’s discovery went viral. But the chances that the story would be seen by Ric or one of his friends or family were still relatively small. Ric does not use social media, but a friend of his saw the story last month and contacted him.
“The next thing was my mate Bob saw the story online. But I don’t even have Instagram, so I didn’t know how to contact anybody. So my daughter helped me leave a message on the Fratello story, found Matt’s Instagram, and started helping me send him messages over several days,” Ric explained. Matt asked Ric and his daughter what the Rolex Submariner’s serial number was. Luckily, Ric had that number handy, having had the watch serviced by Rolex in 2005.
“I remember Matt asking if we had serial numbers and could describe the inscription. When we answered, he came back to us and said, ‘It looks like we might have matching numbers.’”
“When that message came in, I completely broke down. This is something that has had such a large amount of adventures in my life,” Ric said. The moment was quite emotional for him. “I couldn’t even sit with my daughter and wife while we were having dinner. I got up, walked out, leaned against a post on the patio, and just cried.” The fake Rolex watches for sale had been in the swell for more than four years but would now be reconnected with its original owner, thanks to Matt’s kindness, a watch story going viral, and a good helping of luck.
Final chapter: A friendship blossoms
Ric and Matt met in person a couple of weeks back for the first time over lunch in Noosa. It turned out that Ric lived only about 50 kilometers from where Matt is based. “It’s all pretty incredible. There are great people still left in the world,” Ric said.
For Matt, the journey has been about doing the right thing. “It has actually been so nice. The original owner is an absolute legend, and I have had a few chats with him on the phone, and then we had lunch in Noosa. He was very emotional, and the Rolex replica watches shop had a lot of sentimental value. I’m so happy to get it back to him, and hopefully, it continues to tell the time and stays on his wrist.” For now, the watch is in the capable hands of Rolex in Australia, receiving the TLC required for a watch that spent four years at the mercy of the ocean.
While this chapter ends, the now-famous “Rolex Submariner found by an Australian surfer” will soon continue sharing adventures with Ric. If nothing else, this has brought good people together in the most unexpected ways, and it goes to show how this hobby of ours is so much more than what might lie on the surface. If you dive in and swim deep, you never know what you might find.
There is one watch I sold more of than any other during my tenure at Amsterdam Watch Company — the vintage perfect Rolex Datejust replica watches. From first-time buyers to seasoned collectors, the watch has an undeniable pull for many. Our own Mike is a prime example. While writing The Vintage Rolex Datejust Buyer’s & Collector’s Guide, the sheer variety I encountered staggered me. So today, I would like to give a little taster of what you may come across.
There are tons of cool little details worth exploring. Consider this a vintage Datejust nerd’s presentation of things that matter only to other nerds. All the content here comes from my book, so if this is your kind of nerdy, you might want to check that out.
Vintage Rolex Datejust history 101
The Rolex Datejust is quite an essential watch in the brand’s history. I will not pretend to be able to cover that history in full here. However, a quick recap is good to provide the bare minimum of context. The top UK fake Rolex Datejust watches was introduced in 1945. The first model, ref. 4467, was an adaptation of the 1943 ref. 5026. The small seconds register at six was omitted in favor of a central seconds hand. More crucially, an instantly changing date was added. The name “Victory” was considered but deemed too political. It was not until 1953 that the name “Datejust” was put on the dial. It was, however, already officially named such since its introduction.
The now-iconic Jubilee bracelet was introduced with the first Datejust in ‘45. To keep things manageable, we will jump to 1959 next. That year saw the introduction of the 16xx family of references. This is your typical vintage Swiss movements Rolex Datejust replica watches with a pie-pan dial and a non-quickset date. The pie pan disappears, and quickset emerges in the 1977 introduction of the 16xxx family. The last generation I cover in the book follows in 1988, adding a sapphire crystal, among other updates.
These three generations make up — by some margin — the most popular full-size vintage Rolex Datejust models. They also make for the easiest daily companion since older models can be a bit harder to service.
The obvious stuff — bracelets, bezels, materials, finishes
Upon its introduction, the luxury Rolex Datejust copy watches was Rolex’s flagship model and only available in precious metals. That sounds familiar, right? Indeed, this is the position that the Day-Date currently holds. From 1953 onward, you will find examples in steel as well as two-tone. So whether you want full rose or yellow gold, a little bicolor, or plain steel, you will find it all.
Then we have the bezels. Of course, we all know the fluted, engine-turned, and smooth bezels. Early models, however, featured the finer “reeded” bezels. And then there are various ultra-rare variants such as Morellis, Bamboo, Zephyr, Moreau, Moiré, and others. Of course, the dials themselves can have tons of finishes, materials, and colors too. From sunburst silver to denim-blue linen and from wood to stone, it is all there.
The last fairly obvious one is the bracelets. Of course, you have the classical Jubilee, which comes in folded and solid versions. American and Mexican-produced Jubilees, however, feature a different profile. Their links are oval rather than flat-bottomed. Vintage best replica Rolex Datejust watches were also sold on Oyster bracelets in several variants. Of course, dealers used to swap bracelets according to their customer’s desires too, so don’t be surprised to run into a gold Datejust on a President.
Vintage Datejust dial printing
Things get really interesting once you allow yourself to get lost in the smaller details. Dial printing, for instance, is a source of tons of variation. The clichés used in pad printing used to be cut by hand, and the resulting typefaces were extremely uneven. Of course, this all got improved over time, but there is no denying there is a ton of character in the imperfections of vintage 1:1 Rolex Datejust fake watches. Have a look at the pictures here. You see significant differences in thickness, for instance. But look closer, and you see letters shaped entirely differently between dials. The typical pointy serifs are also way more exaggerated on some than on others.
It is not just how the text is printed that varies but the text itself too. We all know the standard “Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified” text. But you can also find the very rare “OCC” dials, displaying only “Officially Certified Chronometer.” Lastly, I have a little gem for you in the shape of a 1970 prototype dial with “Swiss” floating under the “SCOC” line.
Indices on vintage Datejust dials
Vintage Datejust dials were made by Singer, Beyeler, Lemmerig, and Stern. Sourced from different suppliers and iterated over time, there are tons of variations in indices. I am not talking about the obvious stuff like applied indices, diamond indices, or printed Roman numerals. Even within the applied indices, there are countless variants to be found.
Have a look at the images here. You see simple, applied sticks, but it quickly escalates from there, from “Bon-Bon-Blocs” in one width to the same style in two different widths. There are “barn” markers, as well as bell-shaped ones. Then there are black-topped ones, as well as rectangular “pool” style markers, filled with lume. And if that is not enough for you, there are “doorstop” markers and even faceted ones.
A collector’s dream
The sheer variety you can find in the vintage AAA online Rolex Datejust super clone watches realm has an undeniable appeal. Once every couple of months, I get a text from Mike with pictures of some gorgeous vintage Datejust. He usually finds some rare dial color or other specifically collectible features. A case in point is his latest vintage Datejust acquisition, which features a lavender no-lume dial. And I totally get it. If you allow yourself to get sucked in, you are doomed.
