Important Watches
Important Watches
PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
This lot has been withdrawn
Lot Details
Description
PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
ROLEX
勞力士
MILITARY SUBMARINER, REFERENCE 5517
A STAINLESS STEEL MILITARY WRISTWATCH WITH REVOLVING BEZEL, FIXED BAR LUGS AND MILITARY ENGRAVINGS, CIRCA 1977
Military Submariner 型號5517
精鋼軍用腕錶,備迴轉錶圈及軍用印記,錶殼編號5212927,約1977年製
附帶維修證書
Dial: black
Calibre: cal. 1520 automatic, 26 jewels
Case: stainless steel, screw down case back
Case number: 5'212'927
Closure: nato strap
Size: 40 mm diameter
Signed: case, dial and movement
Accessories: Rolex International Service Guarantee
The Submariner model being one of the most iconic wristwatches ever made was presented by Rolex in 1953 as a diving tool watch. Throughout the years Submariner have lay the foundation of how a “sport” timepiece should be and was even commissioned by Rolex to the most extreme ventures in human history. Although not evidential the Submariner has gone through multiple face lifts from minute differences to the case, crown, bezel and dial for improving the durability of the watch. Today, collectors are starting to notice the differences and rarity of each references, and specific reference like the 6538 “Big Crown”, 5514 “Comex”, 1665 “Double red” to the very prized Military Submariner such as the present example is highly popular among vintage enthusiast.
The Military Submariner made upon special request for the British Ministry of Defense, were issued from the 1972 to 1976. As these watches were specifically made for the military, the MOD has requested the brand with specifications for a watch that would meet their requirements. The requirements would include fixed bar lugs, oversized 60-minute calibrated bezel, large sword hands, and a luminous dial with an encircled “T” indicating the use of radioactive tritium. Additionally, each watch would be uniquely engraved with numbers that can be used to identify the military code (W10), NATO code (6645-99-9237697), issue number (753) and as well as issue year (76) of the person that watch was granted to.
Research suggest that there is a total of 3 references available for the Military Submariner, 5513, 5517/5513 (double reference) and 5517, and 4 different dial variations available, the non-serif dial, serif dial, smudge dial and lastly maxi dial. The present example reference 5517 with maxi dial is one of the most infrequent example of the Military Submariner to appear in the secondary market today. To the best of our knowledge, with only 1500 examples of the Military Submariner ever made and less than a third of them remains, this is a rare opportunity for anyone to pursue such a fine example.