Reference:submariner-5xxx-family: Difference between revisions
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site-wide: domain move BezelBase → Rolexopedia (rolexopedia.net) |
Verification + enrichment pass: fixed Foulkes-book citation to full author/title/publisher/year on first mention; added Pereztroika's review as a documented naming/production disagreement (5512 crown-guard eagle-beak sequencing, 5514 launch year/production count vs Foulkes); tightened 5510 production window (Antiquorum/Phillips one-year reading vs Horologium's late-1960 extension, 300-600 band) and added the 2020 Fellows house-record 5517 sale, all pulled from already-grounded facts on the in... |
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The family starts without crown guards and ends with them permanent. The [[Reference:5512|5512]] is the structural pivot — it locks crown guards into the Submariner. | The family starts without crown guards and ends with them permanent. The [[Reference:5512|5512]] is the structural pivot — it locks crown guards into the Submariner. | ||
The sequence | The sequence runs across the [[Reference:5512|5512]]'s own four documented generations: [[Reference:5508|5508]] and [[Reference:5510|5510]] close the no-crown-guard era, then square guards open the 5512 in 1959, pointed "Cornino" guards run from about 1960 into the mid-1960s (split into two of the four generations by dial detail rather than guard shape), and the mature rounded form takes over from the late 1960s and carries the rest of the long 5512 and 5513 run. Jose Pereztroika's review of Nicholas Foulkes's ''Oyster Perpetual Submariner: The Watch that Unlocked the Deep'' (Wallpaper / ACC Art Books, 2024) disagrees on naming: it places a distinct "eagle beak" shape between the square and pointed guards, where the 5512's own generation table calls "eagle beak" just a nickname for Cornino — a disagreement the record does not resolve. | ||
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=== 5510 === | === 5510 === | ||
The [[Reference:5510|5510]] is the short-run big-crown transitional watch. Case and crown still look back to the [[Reference:6538|6538]], but the movement is already caliber 1530, the same caliber that powers the early [[Reference:5512|5512]] and [[Reference:5513|5513]]. That dual identity is its whole point. | The [[Reference:5510|5510]] is the short-run big-crown transitional watch — roughly a year by the majority reading (Antiquorum and Phillips catalogue it end-1958 to 1959), stretched to late 1960 by Horologium's own research, with total output still argued across a 300-600-piece band. Case and crown still look back to the [[Reference:6538|6538]], but the movement is already caliber 1530, the same caliber that powers the early [[Reference:5512|5512]] and [[Reference:5513|5513]]. That dual identity is its whole point. | ||
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=== 5514 === | === 5514 === | ||
The [[Reference:5514|5514]] is the COMEX-specific branch. COMEX (Compagnie Maritime d'Expertises) was a French commercial diving firm that pioneered saturation diving. The 5514 is a 5513 case with an HEV, issued directly to COMEX divers and never sold through any retailer. A sold 1976 archive example with box, service papers, and documented diver provenance anchors the reference. | The [[Reference:5514|5514]] is the COMEX-specific branch. COMEX (Compagnie Maritime d'Expertises) was a French commercial diving firm that pioneered saturation diving. The 5514 is a 5513 case with an HEV, issued directly to COMEX divers and never sold through any retailer. Major-house lots place dedicated 5514 production across roughly 1972 to 1978; Foulkes's book instead dates the launch to 1969 with a run of 1,618 pieces, a reading Pereztroika's review of that same book revises to 1974 and roughly 800 pieces — the two secondary readings disagree with each other as much as with the auction record. A sold 1976 archive example with box, service papers, and documented diver provenance anchors the reference. | ||
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== Historical market view == | == Historical market view == | ||
The [[Reference:5512|5512]] and [[Reference:5513|5513]] do not occupy the same market depth. | The [[Reference:5512|5512]] and [[Reference:5513|5513]] do not occupy the same market depth. Nicholas Foulkes's ''Oyster Perpetual Submariner: The Watch that Unlocked the Deep'' (Wallpaper / ACC Art Books, 2024) puts the gap in sharp relief: 17,338 pieces for the [[Reference:5512|5512]] against 151,449 for the [[Reference:5513|5513]]. Roughly one 5512 for every eleven 5513s. The Foulkes book is the only source behind both figures, and it is not infallible — Pereztroika's review of the same text catches a wrong launch year and production count for the [[Reference:5514|5514]] and a separate disputed figure for the [[Reference:6536|6536]] — so treat the 5512/5513 split as the best available reading rather than an audited one. | ||
That ratio does not make every [[Reference:5512|5512]] automatically better, but it does explain why the 5512 feels scarcer in the market and why special-branch 5xxx watches move into a different price tier quickly. A sold 1976 [[Reference:5514|5514]] COMEX archive with box, service papers, and diver provenance | That ratio does not make every [[Reference:5512|5512]] automatically better, but it does explain why the 5512 feels scarcer in the market and why special-branch 5xxx watches move into a different price tier quickly. A sold 1976 [[Reference:5514|5514]] COMEX archive with box, service papers, and diver provenance anchors that branch; the [[Reference:5517|5517]] market runs on two Sotheby's lots from 2018 and 2023 plus a 2020 Fellows sale that broke the auction house's all-time record at £174,800 against a £50,000-70,000 estimate — real money for a watch whose own total production is still contested across five separate published readings. | ||
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== Sources == | == Sources == | ||
* ''The Vintage Rolex Field Manual'' — Colin A. White, Morning Tundra | * ''The Vintage Rolex Field Manual'' — Colin A. White, Morning Tundra | ||
* Nicholas Foulkes, ''Oyster Perpetual Submariner: The Watch that Unlocked the Deep'' (Wallpaper / ACC Art Books, 2024) | |||
* [https://perezcope.com/2024/09/30/review-of-the-authorized-rolex-submariner-book-and-why-the-1926-oyster-was-not-the-first-waterproof-watch/ Review of the Authorized Rolex Submariner Book] — Jose Pereztroika, Perezcope | |||
* [https://www.fellows.co.uk/blog/watches/2020/08/24/rolex-milsub-sells-for-over-165000-smashing-fellows-house-record/ Rolex MilSub Sells for Over £174,000 Smashing Fellows House Record] — Fellows Auctioneers, 2020 | |||
* [https://horologium.com.au/2010/12/19/rolex-5510-some-notes/ Rolex 5510: Some Notes] — Horologium, 2010 | |||
* [https://monochrome-watches.com/rolex-submariner-history-part-2-the-55xx-1680references/ History of the Rolex Submariner - Part 2, The 55XX References and 1680 Date] — Tom Mulraney, Monochrome | * [https://monochrome-watches.com/rolex-submariner-history-part-2-the-55xx-1680references/ History of the Rolex Submariner - Part 2, The 55XX References and 1680 Date] — Tom Mulraney, Monochrome | ||
* [https://www.windvintage.com/blog/collectors-guide-rolex-submariner-reference-5512 Collector's Guide: What To Know About The Rolex Submariner Reference 5512] — Charlie Dunne, Wind Vintage | * [https://www.windvintage.com/blog/collectors-guide-rolex-submariner-reference-5512 Collector's Guide: What To Know About The Rolex Submariner Reference 5512] — Charlie Dunne, Wind Vintage | ||