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| == What the Oyster Sotto is == | | == What the Oyster Sotto is == |
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| Three features set the Oyster Sotto apart from every other Paul Newman layout:
| | The Oyster Sotto has three fast tells. |
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| - '''"ROLEX COSMOGRAPH OYSTER" text layout.''' The 12 o'clock stack reads ROLEX / COSMOGRAPH / OYSTER from top to bottom, with OYSTER on the third line rather than the standard ROLEX / OYSTER / COSMOGRAPH / Daytona four-line stack. The word order change is the defining visual tell — it's visible at a glance once you know to look for it.
| | * The 12 o'clock stack reads ROLEX / COSMOGRAPH / OYSTER, with OYSTER on the third line rather than the standard layout. |
| - '''Paul Newman block markers, cross-hairs, and 15/30/45 numerals.''' The dial is a Paul Newman in every other respect — square block hour markers, cross-hairs on the sub-dials, 15/30/45 numerals on the 30-minute register. The Oyster Sotto is a Paul Newman color-type sub-variant, not a separate dial family.
| | * The rest of the dial is still Paul Newman territory: block markers, cross-hairs, and 15/30/45 numerals. |
| - '''Screw-pusher Oyster host case only.''' Documented exclusively on [[Reference:6263|6263]] and [[Reference:6265|6265]] cases — never on the earlier [[Reference:6239|6239]], [[Reference:6240|6240]], or [[Reference:6241|6241]], and never on the transitional [[Reference:6262|6262]] or [[Reference:6264|6264]].
| | * Documented examples sit on screw-pusher Oyster host cases only, meaning [[Reference:6263|6263]] and [[Reference:6265|6265]]. |
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| == Why the text layout exists == | | == Why the text layout exists == |
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| === A documented Mk1 RCO example === | | === A documented Mk1 RCO example === |
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| A specific Mk1 RCO 6263 in the 2.085 million serial range (circa 1969) surfaced at the 2014 Kaplan's auction in Sweden, consigned by the family of the original owner — a provenance chain that put the watch into public circulation as a first-hand original-delivery example. Eric Wind's contemporaneous Hodinkee coverage named it "the best Rolex available this month" above anything at the Geneva auctions of the period. The watch carries its original Mk1 acrylic bezel and the rare Mk0 screw-down pushers, paired with a 7835 Swiss-made Oyster bracelet on 271 end links. It later traded through Wind Vintage, who documented the full provenance chain in their listing and in Hodinkee's Bring A Loupe coverage (28 August 2020) and Robb Report (2020). The example sits as one of the best-documented Mk1 RCO provenance chains in the published literature — original-owner consignment at first public sale, single-hand trail afterward, no disputed-authenticity forensic dossier attached. | | A well-documented Mk1 RCO 6263 surfaced at Kaplan's in Sweden in 2014 from the original owner's family. It kept its Mk1 acrylic bezel, rare Mk0 screw-down pushers, and 7835 Swiss-made Oyster bracelet on 271 end links. The watch later passed through Wind Vintage, giving it one of the cleanest published provenance chains in the branch. |
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| == Christie's Lesson One (Geneva, 10 November 2013) == | | == Christie's Lesson One (Geneva, 10 November 2013) == |