Reference:5508: Difference between revisions

Line 99:

Glossy black lacquer dial with gilt-coloured printing, Mercedes hour and minute hands, lollipop seconds, two-line "Submariner / 100m=660ft" layout. Some examples carry a Singer manufacturer marking on the reverse, visible only with the dial removed; Singer was one of the principal Swiss dial suppliers to Rolex during this period, and the back-stamp is a useful provenance indicator on loose dials.

File:Ref 5508 bezel-dial-closeup.webp|alt=Bezel and dial closeup on a standard two-line 5508|Bezel and two-line dial, standard gilt configuration

File:Ref 5508 hands.webp|alt=Mercedes hands and lollipop seconds hand on a 5508 dial|Mercedes hands and lollipop seconds hand

</gallery>

Line 128:

Line 133:

The acrylic crystal and rotating dive bezel carry over from the earlier 6204 lineage. The 100m depth rating shows the small-crown specification that runs from the 6204 forward — and is the last time that figure appears on a small-crown Submariner before the crown-guard generation lifts it to 200m on the 5512. The bezel insert reads gilt minute graduations on a black ground, with a luminous triangle at 12; a small subset of 5508 examples surface with the red-triangle insert (the 12 marker filled with red enamel or lacquer), but the standard production fitment is the all-black insert.

The caseback wears smooth without an external date stamp; the interior carries the reference and case number alongside the Roman-quarter date code (II.62 = Q2 1962, etc.). The interior date code is the cleanest single dating anchor for a 5508 — the serial alone runs later than the catalog-year for this specific reference.

@@ Line 99: / Line 99: @@
 Glossy black lacquer dial with gilt-coloured printing, Mercedes hour and minute hands, lollipop seconds, two-line "Submariner / 100m=660ft" layout. Some examples carry a Singer manufacturer marking on the reverse, visible only with the dial removed; Singer was one of the principal Swiss dial suppliers to Rolex during this period, and the back-stamp is a useful provenance indicator on loose dials.
+<gallery mode="packed" heights="180">
+File:Ref 5508 bezel-dial-closeup.webp|alt=Bezel and dial closeup on a standard two-line 5508|Bezel and two-line dial, standard gilt configuration
+File:Ref 5508 hands.webp|alt=Mercedes hands and lollipop seconds hand on a 5508 dial|Mercedes hands and lollipop seconds hand
+</gallery>
 <span id="four-line-scoc-gilt"></span>
@@ Line 128: / Line 133: @@
 The acrylic crystal and rotating dive bezel carry over from the earlier 6204 lineage. The 100m depth rating shows the small-crown specification that runs from the 6204 forward — and is the last time that figure appears on a small-crown Submariner before the crown-guard generation lifts it to 200m on the 5512. The bezel insert reads gilt minute graduations on a black ground, with a luminous triangle at 12; a small subset of 5508 examples surface with the red-triangle insert (the 12 marker filled with red enamel or lacquer), but the standard production fitment is the all-black insert.
+[[File:Ref 5508 red-triangle-hero.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=5508 fitted with the red-triangle bezel insert variant|5508 fitted with the red-triangle bezel insert variant]]
 The caseback wears smooth without an external date stamp; the interior carries the reference and case number alongside the Roman-quarter date code (II.62 = Q2 1962, etc.). The interior date code is the cleanest single dating anchor for a 5508 — the serial alone runs later than the catalog-year for this specific reference.