Welcome to third edition of PAK.
What if I asked you to tell me 5 things about the Rolex reference 6034 or 6234 Predaytona? Would you be able to do that? Probably not.
But if I asked you the same thing for the Rolex Daytona starting from ref 6239 introduced in 1963 – my chances would increase that you would be able to tell me something. My point is the following: many collectors are not as familiar with the Predaytona even though Rolex made some incredible chronographs long before the Rolex Daytona.
One of the coolest and rarest (if the dial is a certain color – but more on that later) chronographs of all to come out of Rolex are the ref 6034 and its successor the 6234. Now rarity alone is not everything. If you have one of something and it is not very pretty – then no one will care. But if you own something that is rare – and made in enough examples that a few connoisseurs will have for certain heard of it – and the item is drop dead gorgeous – then we are onto something – don’t you think?
Enter the 6034 Rolex chronograph.
The Rolex ref 6034 was made in the early 1950s and was replaced by the 6234 by the end of the same decade.
Rolex 6034/6234 chronographs are beautiful and relatively speaking not super rare (rare compared to later Paul Newman Daytona but not relative to say a Patek 3428). In fact they regularly come up for auction. Both references were made in different case materials (pink gold, gold and steel) as well as different dial layouts (underline, antimagnetic straight print, curved print) and also different colors (black dials, and silver dials).
What changes the equation of rarity with both references 6034/6234 however are the dials. For example black dials are extremely rare compared to much more common silver dials. And this leads me to the watch below and this weeks edition of PAK.
Here we have a 1953 Rolex 6034 with black dial (serial 907 xxx). Why is this special?
Most Rolex 6034 and 6234 were made with silver dials irrespective what they were cased in (gold or steel). When Rolex made black dials – they contrasted beautiful especially with the steel case – see picture here. The dials were often glossy (especially the later dials from end 1950s) and the writing gilt. The contrast of gilt with black dials is what attracts collectors today.
As Christies point out the manufacture of black dials was extremely complex by Rolex:
‘Such lacquered black dials must be regarded as the ultimate state of the art in dial manufacturing as revealing a rich complexity of different layers applied to the metal base. In fact, the “Rolex” signature and the outer scientific scales are not printed on the black lacquered background but underneath and shine through in negative relief. However to further enhance its sophistication “Oyster Chronograph” is printed in a off-white tone onto the black background.’
Furthermore what I personally love about the 6034 and 6234 is that they are multi-scale dials.
The collector will notice both the tachymeter and telemeter printed on the dial (see main picture above). Also note that this Rolex was likely destined for the US market because of the ‘mile’ configuration on the dial (yes Rolex also made ‘km’ dials for the 6034/6234).
Because the 6034 was made before the 1960s – it is important that the dials have no ‘T swiss T’ but rather only ‘swiss’ only signed dials. I just want to point this out as sometimes I have seen the 6234 have both’ T swiss T’ dials and ‘Swiss’ only dials and both appear to be correct for the reference 6234 (but not for the 6034 it seems). On this particular watch the ‘Swiss’ sign is not visible to my eye and I assume that it is just below where the case starts (as is sometimes the case with Rolex like with the ‘double swiss‘).
Like some of the greatest chronographs from Rolex, the 6034 carries the highly reliable and robust 72B Valjoux movement, a manual wound movement. Furthermore the watch is signed antimagnetic on the dial. (It might be important to note that the antimagnetic signature can be found curved – as in this watch – but also in a straight line – like here).
What makes this watch a PAK watch
There are several things that make this 1953 Rolex Ref 6034 a truly outstanding grail for any Rolex collector.
- First this watch was most likely born with black dial. Black dials are hyper rare compared to silver dials and they are especially sought after compared to silver dials.
- What makes this watch even more interesting is of course the color of the dial. It was born a black dial, but with time, the color has changed to an attractive brown dial (also called tropical among collectors
- Not all dials age well even if they do turn brown. This dial has turned to a very even dark chocolate brown. Look at the contrast of the Rolex signature on the dial in perfect condition
- Even though the dial turned brown the two telemeter and tachymeter scales in gilt appear unharmed and wonderful in print and contrast superbly with the dial.
- The ultimate collectors combination is of course a steel case with black dial – or even better brown dial if aged like this.
Back in 2013 a collector stepped up bravely and paid a whopping CHF 243’000 against an estimate of CHF 100-150’000.
Now just because he paid well above estimate – that fact alone is meaningless in my opinion.
More interesting is to analyze what the opportunity of cost of money in terms of other vintage Rolex was at that time. Here it seems that the collector indeed paid a very strong price. I mean we are talking more money than most any Paul Newman (except the oyster sotto or Daytona Albino) at the time. The same amount of money as a perfect 2 line big crown 6538 or a perfect 6542 GMT Master (in fact in just that very year of 2013 a world record was established for the 6542 with box and papers at CHF 250’000 and this 6034 matched it – food for thought). Both the references 6542 GMT and 6538 Big crown submariner are icons of Rolex history. How can a Rolex oyster chronograph 6034 live up to that kind of status? The 6034 is a great reference but not iconic. But when you have black dial on the 6034 – it is a whole different ball game. It elevates the watch into the holy grails of collecting.
Allow me to make another important point. At CHF 243’000 – the black dials are exactly 9x of what a silver dials trade for even today (just in late 2016 a 6034 silver dial brought in CHF 27’000 – see here). Four years ago this ratio was presumably even higher.
While a watch is worth whatever a bidder is prepared to pay on a particular day – I think the collector who snapped this 6034 up – did in fact do very well. It sounds crazy and maybe it is not logical (but what is logical in vintage Rolex to begin with) – but I think the collector acted wisely.
Let me ask you the following question: What price is too high for such a rare beauty?
Try finding another 6034 with this dial. I can safely say this – you will not. In all of the research I have done – only slightly more than a hand full of black dials 6034 and 6234 turn up with the correct case number. So you are not going to find a black dial 6034 that quickly again – let alone a dark brown chocolate dial like this watch. We are taking about an extremely rare watch here.
The astute collector who bought this – has one of the most beautiful chronographs in his collection and maybe a unique piece at that because the last time I checked – I could not find a black dial that turned dark brown chocolate 6034 cased in steel (do yourself a favour and look at the dial again).
Without a doubt* – this watch is a holy grail for any serious collector in my opinion. While the rest of the world was concentrating on Paul Newman and the usual Rolex references – a clever collector secured a trophy asset for his collection.
For full details of this sale see link here. (Credit main picture: Christies Watches).
(*Please keep in mind I have not personally seen the watch and cannot comment if the dial is original and can make no comment on the condition of the case nor if the pushers and winding crown are correct. I am basing my judgement on the pictures only and my knowledge of Rolex so far).
NB: My next PAK watch is neither a Rolex or a Patek but another nice brand. The auction house is also not Christies for change. And not all PAK watches have to cost a fortune. Sometimes a PAK watch can be had for relatively little money. Stay tuned….
