16808 Rolex Submariner, Yellow Gold

It only took two short decades for the Submariner to rise from utilitarian instrument to object of desire. The Submariner was first made in gold in 1969, with the 1680/8. This was the very start of the premiumisation Rolex is built on today. And yet, that very genesis of Rolex-as-luxury has never looked better than now, almost five decades later. It represents one of the most fundamental, significant, and controversial shifts in Rolex’s trajectory into the modern era. It’s gone through the arc of Paul Newmans: that of being a slow seller to generally at first, to then regarded as flashy, over-the-top, and tasteless, to now being an elder statesman of refinement. And it’s here to stay.

The gold Sub started in the 1680/8 with an acrylic crystal and ‘nipple’ dial. The nipple dial is one of the most desirable traits from this time of Rolex. It sports hand-applied conical indices, yellow gold with tritium centers. The dial itself is always matte but with gilt print, a sort of halfway-look between gilt gloss and the 90s white gold surrounds. For the 16808, the largest change was the crystal, which became sapphire around 1979. Like the steel, this renders this generation as one of the most adaptable and wearable vintage Rolex models out there. Only seen in this era of Sub and GMT, the nipple dial left as quickly as it came. By the mid/late-1980s, then gold dials more closely resembled their steel counterparts in both.

The whole range of nipple dial production from the late 60s until that transition has seen an immense return to style in the last decade. Compared with the tastes of today, vintage gold is almost discreet. It’s always condition-first, but the black dials tend to be ever so slightly more desirable than blue. The early productions of both can go tropical. Interesting, there is a year or two or meters first production in the /8 as well. Compared to the delta between steel and yellow gold in Daytonas, the gold nipple dial Sub is a downright value still today. And here you get sapphire. Think of it as a JPS made to be beat up and lived in. In that framing, there might be no better comparative buy in vintage Rolex as I write now.

This example appears to have a great case, full bevels and with light honest wear in the place you’d expect it. The dial shows a warm cream tone to all of its tritium with only the lightest of patina. It’s beautiful.