One of the hundreds of watches that landed on my desk during my project was a 1967 Ref. 1601. At first glance, it was an archetypal vintage 1:1 replica Rolex Datejust: white gold fluted bezel, silver pie-pan dial, and Jubilee bracelet. If you had to envision a vintage Datejust, this would be it. Even after seeing all the most exotic variants you can imagine, this basic Rolex fake for sale is still my favorite. The 16xx generation is perfection, in my eyes, even though it isn’t nearly as practical as later gens. There is no quickset date just yet, and no sapphire crystal. But it is the last generation to carry the stepped dial, which aesthetically makes all the difference to me.
There is one little odd feature on this one, though. It is a no-lume variant. There are no tritium plots on the dial, and the handset is closed rather than slotted for lume filling. These Swiss movement replica Rolex were produced for countries with import bans on radio-active materials, such as Japan. This is why they are often referred to as “Japan dials.” The fact that this was a sort of quick-fix solution by high quality fake Rolex is visible under the six o’clock marker. It still says “T Swiss T,” indicating the absolute minimum of production-line changes was made.
I instantly fell for this watch and decided to make it my own. As it is such a beautiful example of the archetypal vintage aaa quality fake Rolex Datejust, I later decided to put it on the cover of my book. My colleagues at Fratello have referred to it as the cheap super clone Rolex “Covergirl.” None too shabby as a nickname, I’d say.