Reference:6694: Difference between revisions
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[[File: | [[File:Ref_6694_hero.webp|thumb|center|640px|alt=Rolex 6694|Rolex 6694]] | ||
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The 6694 is the last of the four manual-wind Oysterdate references and | The 6694 is the last of the four manual-wind Oysterdate references and one of the longest-running manual-wind Oysterdate references. A 34 mm steel Oyster, a date at three under a cyclops, a hand-wound Rolex caliber from the 1200 family, and no rotor — that is the whole watch. Documented examples run from about 1959 to about 1986, and new old stock was still leaving authorised dealers in 1989. It was sold in several case and dial configurations, including steel, plated and capped examples. | ||
Auction catalogues sometimes misidentify the winding system on this reference. Several auction entries use “automatic” in a title or prose line while their movement fields identify manual calibers, including the Christie’s lot whose specification states manual caliber 1225. The reference has also acquired a distinction it cannot support — that it was the last manual-wind Rolex ever made — which Rolex's own product pages refute. These claims recur in auction and dealer descriptions. | |||
==Core facts== | ==Core facts== | ||
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The Oysterdate ran as a four-reference sequence — 6094, then 6294, then 6494, then 6694 — and the 6694 outlived the other three put together. The introduction is usually given as 1958, replacing the 6094 and 6494, but that date rests on dealer and marketplace copy with no primary citation behind it, and one collector-forum account offered explicitly as belief rather than documentation. The 1958 introduction has not been confirmed from a period Rolex catalogue. What can be shown is that the earliest example whose case number agrees with its catalogue date is a 1959 watch. | The Oysterdate ran as a four-reference sequence — 6094, then 6294, then 6494, then 6694 — and the 6694 outlived the other three put together. The introduction is usually given as 1958, replacing the 6094 and 6494, but that date rests on dealer and marketplace copy with no primary citation behind it, and one collector-forum account offered explicitly as belief rather than documentation. The 1958 introduction has not been confirmed from a period Rolex catalogue. What can be shown is that the earliest example whose case number agrees with its catalogue date is a 1959 watch. | ||
[[File:Ref 6694 with 6426.webp|thumb|right|280px|alt=A Rolex Oyster 6426 and an Oysterdate 6694 in stainless steel shown side by side on leather straps| | [[File:Ref 6694 with 6426.webp|thumb|right|280px|alt=A Rolex Oyster 6426 and an Oysterdate 6694 in stainless steel shown side by side on leather straps|A no-date Oyster Precision 6426 and date-equipped Oysterdate Precision 6694, catalogued together by Antiquorum.]] | ||
Two | Two related manual-wind Oysters sit beside the 6694. The 6426 has no date; the 6694 adds one. Auction catalogues identify overlapping calibres across these references, so the date alone does not identify the movement. Antiquorum has offered a 6426 and a 6694 together as a pair. The other useful comparison is the automatic Oyster Perpetual Date 1500, 1501 and 1503, a 34 mm steel Oyster with a date and cyclops. Its calibres are 1560, 1565 and 1570, and it is a more plausible source for auction-title confusion about winding. | ||
==Production outline== | ==Production outline== | ||
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Rolex sold manual-wind watches for roughly a quarter century after the 6694 left the catalogue. Its own product pages for the Cellini Rolex Prince, live through December 2014, carry a section headed "Wound by hand" and read: "The Prince features a manually-wound mechanical movement - the 7040 calibre - specially developed and manufactured by Rolex." The specification block on the same pages gives "Manually wound mechanical movement" and "Calibre 7040, Manufacture Rolex". That is the manufacturer describing current production, and it settles the point. | Rolex sold manual-wind watches for roughly a quarter century after the 6694 left the catalogue. Its own product pages for the Cellini Rolex Prince, live through December 2014, carry a section headed "Wound by hand" and read: "The Prince features a manually-wound mechanical movement - the 7040 calibre - specially developed and manufactured by Rolex." The specification block on the same pages gives "Manually wound mechanical movement" and "Calibre 7040, Manufacture Rolex". That is the manufacturer describing current production, and it settles the point. | ||
Phillips dates a 6426 case, R492,864, to circa 1987; the latest cited 6694 cases are dated circa 1986. These are dates assigned to individual watches, not factory production endpoints. The two references share an Oyster case family and manual 1200-series movements, though auction catalogues give overlapping caliber attributions. The evidence leaves open which manual-wind Oyster reference ended later. | |||
==Movement notes== | ==Movement notes== | ||
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<gallery mode="packed" heights="180"> | <gallery mode="packed" heights="180"> | ||
File:Ref 6694 black dial.webp|alt=Black-dial Rolex Oysterdate 6694 on a steel Oyster bracelet|Case 2943776, sold with its dated guarantee and swing tag. The lot title calls it automatic; the movement field on the same page reads 17-jewel manual wind. | File:Ref 6694 black dial.webp|alt=Black-dial Rolex Oysterdate 6694 on a steel Oyster bracelet|Case 2943776, sold with its dated guarantee and swing tag. The lot title calls it automatic; the movement field on the same page reads 17-jewel manual wind. | ||
File:Ref 6694 caseback.webp|alt=Flat screw-down caseback of a Rolex 6694 on its Oyster bracelet and folding clasp|The back of case 2 083 433. A rotor needs a domed caseback to turn under; every 6694 back in the auction record is flat. | File:Ref 6694 caseback.webp|alt=Flat screw-down caseback of a Rolex 6694 on its Oyster bracelet and folding clasp|The back of case 2 083 433. A rotor needs a domed caseback to turn under; every 6694 back in the auction record is flat. | ||
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<gallery mode="packed" heights="180"> | <gallery mode="packed" heights="180"> | ||
File:Ref 6694 blue dial.webp|alt=Rolex Oysterdate Precision 6694 with a blue dial on a folded-link steel bracelet|A blue dial on case 2730705, circa 1971, caliber 1225, on a folded 7835 bracelet with 357 end links. | File:Ref 6694 blue dial.webp|alt=Rolex Oysterdate Precision 6694 with a blue dial on a folded-link steel bracelet|A blue dial on case 2730705, circa 1971, caliber 1225, on a folded 7835 bracelet with 357 end links. | ||
File:Ref 6694 tropical dial.webp|alt=Rolex Oysterdate 6694 with a gilt dial that has aged to brown, on a riveted steel bracelet|A tropical gilt dial on case 828496: the printing has turned brown with age rather than leaving the factory that colour. On a riveted 7205 bracelet with 61 end links. | File:Ref 6694 tropical dial.webp|alt=Rolex Oysterdate 6694 with a gilt dial that has aged to brown, on a riveted steel bracelet|A tropical gilt dial on case 828496 (Antiquorum Hong Kong sale 343, lot 323): the printing has turned brown with age rather than leaving the factory that colour. On a riveted 7205 bracelet with 61 end links. | ||
</gallery> | </gallery> | ||
Case 828496's identity remains unsettled. Antiquorum catalogues it as a 6694, and the pictured dial reads 'Oysterdate' and shows a date. Its caseback photograph reads 6426. The related references use the Oyster case design, so a caseback change is possible; a catalogue mismatch is also possible. The record does not distinguish between them, and the watch should not be used as a clean 6694 example without further authentication. | |||
Markers run from applied faceted gilt chevrons and arrowheads on the earliest watches to the applied polished batons that dominate the middle and late run. Hands follow: dauphine early, then pointed batons with luminous inserts as the standard, with gilt daggers, alpha and — on at least one catalogued example — Mercedes hands appearing across the range. | Markers run from applied faceted gilt chevrons and arrowheads on the earliest watches to the applied polished batons that dominate the middle and late run. Hands follow: dauphine early, then pointed batons with luminous inserts as the standard, with gilt daggers, alpha and — on at least one catalogued example — Mercedes hands appearing across the range. | ||
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Phillips does the most careful work on these. On the Yemen dial it notes that the arms shown are the coat of arms of North Yemen used from 1974 to 1990, "which is correct for the date of this watch" — the kind of internal check that separates a documented special order from a decorated dial. On the Kuwaiti example its research "suggests that this watch was made to commemorate the independence of Kuwait". One Sotheby's entry | Phillips does the most careful work on these. On the Yemen dial it notes that the arms shown are the coat of arms of North Yemen used from 1974 to 1990, "which is correct for the date of this watch" — the kind of internal check that separates a documented special order from a decorated dial. On the Kuwaiti example its research "suggests that this watch was made to commemorate the independence of Kuwait". One Sotheby's entry contains an inconsistency: it describes a "UAE enamel logo" on a watch it also identifies as a King Abdulaziz University gift, a Saudi institution. | ||
Retailer signing is thinner but real. Tiffany & Co. dials are documented at two houses — an Antiquorum example sold with its original Tiffany presentation box, and a run of five from a single collection at Sotheby's. | Retailer signing is thinner but real. Tiffany & Co. dials are documented at two houses — an Antiquorum example sold with its original Tiffany presentation box, and a run of five from a single collection at Sotheby's. | ||
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==Case, bezel, crystal, and crown== | ==Case, bezel, crystal, and crown== | ||
The case is a three-piece Oyster, tonneau in profile, with a screw-down back and a screw-down crown. The crown is a single-seal design rather than a two-seal Twinlock, a detail that matters in service — an oversized replacement O-ring is a common reason a 6694 crown will not seat fully. The crystal is acrylic with a moulded cyclops. The bezel is smooth and polished on steel examples, and engine-turned or fluted on the gold-cased variants. | The case is a three-piece Oyster, tonneau in profile, with a screw-down back and a screw-down crown. The crown is a single-seal design rather than a two-seal Twinlock, a detail that matters in service — an oversized replacement O-ring is a common reason a 6694 crown will not seat fully. The crystal is acrylic with a moulded cyclops. The bezel is smooth and polished on steel examples, and engine-turned or fluted on the gold-cased variants. | ||
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The folded-to-solid changeover falls around 1976, so either can be correct on a mid-1970s watch. Leather is common on surviving examples but is usually a later fitment rather than an original delivery — auction descriptions mark these as "associated" more often than not. | The folded-to-solid changeover falls around 1976, so either can be correct on a mid-1970s watch. Leather is common on surviving examples but is usually a later fitment rather than an original delivery — auction descriptions mark these as "associated" more often than not. | ||
Clasp stamps recorded across the Bonhams lots include 2 69, 4 68, 3 63, 2 71, 4 52, S1, S11, N4, M11, G, S U10 and 7835 J2. One of those is instructive: a clasp stamped 4 52 sits on a watch dated to around 1960. A clasp code dates the bracelet | Clasp stamps recorded across the Bonhams lots include 2 69, 4 68, 3 63, 2 71, 4 52, S1, S11, N4, M11, G, S U10 and 7835 J2. One of those is instructive: a clasp stamped 4 52 sits on a watch dated to around 1960. A clasp code dates the bracelet alone, and the 6694 — cheap, common, and worn hard — has had more bracelets swapped between cases than almost any other vintage Rolex. | ||
==Auction record== | ==Auction record== | ||
The | The results below are individual sales. They show how dial, provenance and condition affected those lots; they do not establish a general market range. | ||
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These results span two decades and five currencies | These results span two decades and five currencies. The sale descriptions identify the watches and their documented details; they should not be read as a price guide for every 6694. | ||
Two watches in the record appear twice each, re-offered at the same house within months, which is worth knowing before treating lot counts as population counts. | Two watches in the record appear twice each, re-offered at the same house within months, which is worth knowing before treating lot counts as population counts. | ||
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Match the caliber to the era. A 1215 on an early-1960s serial and a 1225 on anything after the mid-1960s are both period-correct; the reverse combination needs explaining. Match the dial footer too: SWISS alone with radium on the earliest watches, T SWISS T after 1963. | Match the caliber to the era. A 1215 on an early-1960s serial and a 1225 on anything after the mid-1960s are both period-correct; the reverse combination needs explaining. Match the dial footer too: SWISS alone with radium on the earliest watches, T SWISS T after 1963. | ||
Treat any coloured dial as a question | Treat any coloured dial as a question until its finish and provenance are checked. Auction catalogues describe the Mickey Mouse examples cited here as later or refinished dials. Check a stated case diameter against an actual measurement. And read the word "automatic" in a lot title as a cataloguing error, then check the movement field, which will almost always say otherwise. | ||
== Related references == | == Related references == | ||
* Oyster Precision 6426 — | * [[Reference:6426|Oyster Precision 6426]] — no-date sibling | ||
* [[Reference:3003|Precision 3003]] — where the Precision line begins | * [[Reference:3003|Precision 3003]] — where the Precision line begins | ||