1980 Rolex Submariner Date 'White Sub' MK1 40mm 1680

Here we have an incredible and rare 1980 Rolex Submariner Date 'White Sub' MK1 1680. Featuring a 40mm stainless steel Oyster case curves over your wrist with drilled tapered lugs, polished and brushed surfaces transition with crisp edges, and a lug-to-lug length of 47mm and a case thickness of 13.5mm give the watch an impressive wrist presence, on the right side is a signed Rolex screwed-down crown and the crown guards are part of the case which gives it strength. The unidirectional black aluminium divers insert bezel has faded over time, and holds a plexiglass crystal above a matte black dial. This rare MK1 dial features disc and baton indexes painted with Tritium marking the hours. Mercedes hands filled with Tritium are complemented by a sweeping lollipop counterweighted second-hand. At 3 o’clock, a date window with cyclops magnification on the crystal. At noon, a Rolex crown with the text “Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date”, at 6 o’clock, we have the white text  ‘Submariner’ 600ft= 200m” “Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified”, on the bottom edge, you can see "Swiss-T<25", completing this distinctive sports dive watch. On the reverse, a coin-edged screw-down case back, inside an automatic Rolex Cal. 1575, 25 jewels, 19,800 beats per hour, it is fitted with a free-sprung Breguet hairspring with regulating screws and hacking seconds. The watch comes paired with its original 20mm stainless steel Rolex Oyster 93150 bracelet with 580 Ends and Dive extension, an OysterLock safety clasp, and 11 links. It is sold with its Rolex box & Rolex paperwork.

This watch is sold with its Rolex box & Rolex paperwork. The watch comes paired with its original 20mm stainless steel Rolex Oyster 93150 bracelet with 580 Ends and Dive extension, an OysterLock safety clasp, and 11 links. The watch was sold in June 1980 (5 Million Serial dates the watch to Circa. 1979) and is in worn condition, with a deep patina on the Tritium, as you can see from the photographs. The original faded bezel has been refitted, and a Black Service bezel is included in the box. The minute hand is slightly later Tritium and hasn’t aged as deeply. The case and bracelet show signs of wear throughout; a full case and bracelet refurb can be provided at an additional cost. The watch comes with our 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty.

It is far from every day you come across an incredible Rolex Submariner 'White Sub' MK1, reference 1680, with strikingly aged lume, a sharp case and paired with its box and paperwork. This example dates to 1979 via the serial and was sold in 1980 according to the paperwork, so it is a potential 'birthyear' watch for 1979 or 1980. I would not hesitate to book an appointment to see this one for yourself, whilst 1680 come up for sale every so often, they are rarely this good!

Reference : 1680
Movement : Automatic Rolex Cal. 1575
Age : June 1980 (Circa. 1979 Serial)
Year : 1980
Case Size : 40mm
Case Thickness : 13.5mm
Lug to Lug : 47mm
Lugs : 20mm
Condition : Pre-Owned
Box and Papers : Box & Papers
Case Material : Stainless Steel
Warranty : 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty
The wrist model's wrist size is 7inch

In 1905, German-born Hans Wilsdorf and his brother-in-law Alfred Davis set up a company in London that imported Swiss movements which are installed in British cases and sold to jewellers who put their names on the dials. Recognising the potential for their brand, Wilsdorf created the brand name Rolex in 1908. In 1910, a Rolex became the first wristwatch to carry the Swiss Certificate of Chronometric Precision, awarded by the Official Watch Rating Centre in Bienne, Switzerland. Demand for Rolex watches rose swiftly, and British taxes on the Swiss movements Rolex used prompted Wilsdorf to move the business to Geneva, Switzerland, in 1919. With production costs lowered, Wilsdorf quickly set out to solve the age-old problem of moisture and dust entering a watch case and damaging the movement. The Rolex watchmakers came up with a fully sealed watch case, which Wilsdorf named the Oyster, and released to an appreciative audience in 1926. In 1931, Rolex introduced the first automatic winding wristwatch, giving it the legendary name Oyster Perpetual. In 1945, they released Datejust. The Datejust was the first watch to have the date jump instantaneously at midnight. The 1950s saw a whole lot of releases, such as the Air-King (1958), the Explorer (1953), the Submariner (1953), the GMT Master (1955), the Day-Date (1956), the electromagnetic field-resistant Milgauss (1956), the Lady-Datejust (1957) and the first Deep Sea model (1960). Wilsdorf’s death in 1960, saw ownership of Rolex S.A. (a collection of sub-companies) passed to the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, which was founded by Wilsdorf in 1945, the mission of which is simply to sustain Rolex S.A. indefinitely.