Rolex did recreate it. The Black Bay 58. That’s as close as Rolex is going to give you. They’ll use Tudor to do all the trendy reissues and keep Rolex to moving their line forward.
BB58 is very much like the big crown yet it is also it’s very own thing. I would say thy although the 6538 is grail of grails it isn’t better than the BB58. On the contrary, you have 70 hour reserve, same depth rating but a more modern feel. The closest color variant of the BB58 is the guilt dial. I would buy the BB58 but it is never in stock anywhere I live that is how crazy successful this model is and I believe in part due to its similarities to 6538. Also at 39mm is just perfect. Also, I would buy it on the fabric strap. One it’s cheaper and two no one likes FO RIVETS and there are not micro adjustments.
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Rolex would never produce that design because it wouldn’t be a professional tool watch. What most people don’t know (because they do not dive) is that the 15 minute has marks are there for a reason. At the end of every dive you do a decompression “safety stop” at a depth of 10ft. for 15 minutes. Taking away the hash marks reduces the usefulness of the tool. Same is true for numeric hour indicators. While diving you don’t care what time it is, only how long you have been diving. For the Sub, a diving watch, telling the time is a secondary function, not a primary one. Having numeric indicators is a distraction. Most people own a Sub for the look and the brand. They don’t use it for diving (anymore). A dive computer is more common than just a watch, for safety reasons. Your video is very engaging but after all you are only dealing with industrial design and not utility. What looks good is not necessarily what functions well, and Rolex is concerned about the latter as well as the former.
Thanks for the comment Ash. This was an aesthetic exercise with no real thought about functionality (and we saw just how jarring it became) It really is a mess of elements with no clarity. Very well said about the numerals being distractions on the dial! It really does look so cluttered.
What really annoys me about the Submariner as a diving tool in regard to legibility, is the cyclops. When the all-important minute hand is under the cyclops, it's hard to tell the time in minutes. It's ridiculous.
@@GustapoGomez I know, but I was referring to the comment by Ash. He says that taking away the hash marks reduces the usefulness of the tool. He's right. But so does the adding of the date on the Submariner date. So if a version with the latter is OK, a version without 15 minute hash marks should also be OK.
I'm sure they'd fix up the proportions better than my shoddy render, but hey, I'm sure it would divide the community ;) Thanks for the comment as always Blueshirt!
Take a step back. Try using the Sub no date dial as a base. Have the lume pip triangle and "Submariner" text in red. But here's the last little touch: use the chapter ring from the 6538, but in white on the black dial. Job done.
Oh wow... That would be so clean. This was an evening afterthought that turned into a video (sometimes a concept can carry some weight) but your improvement would be stellar... Thanks a million for the comment Meson
IDGuy I think you should and could, with rewording this, pitch it at Rolex. Taking out words like they wouldn’t do it. Just pitch it as a modern interpretation a reiteration of a Watch. I’d gladly buy it. Tell them you did it because they cancelled Basel World 🌎
Obviously, Rolex won't do it ...... But if another company 'replicated' that design (under their own brand of course), then I'd buy it in a heartbeat. You just came up with my grail watch ..... If only it existed.
Sir Sid, have a look at WMT watch company, they let you play about with choices of bezel, dial, hands etc, the site is a nice idea with a personal watch at the end of it. I got one last year, not exactly cheap for a homage, but it looks good and its still working fine. Worth a look . I've submitted mine to IDGuy , maybe he will let us see it this week. ?
Everyone is saying Tudor offers pretty clear designs based on the big crown (and I'm sure there are many others - hell, go with a Blancpain Fifty Fathoms! Expensive but worth it) Thanks for the comment, Sir Ruff-Diamond!
This is what artesan de Geneve do when they “mod” their highly expensive watches. They recently homaged the 6536 with a brown dial. It was gorgeous!! With a big crown and no guards.
Glad to see you explore this idea further than the concept pitch. I will say the modern font of the explorer dial just doesn't quite work on the Sub case. I do think that a 114060 with no crown guards and a more pronounced crown, and with a more rappered lug profile like the current GMTs. Basically The Bond Submariner, but in 2020. I would still love to see that.
I feel like I'm the only fan / ambassador of the Air-King 116900. Can you do mock ups of what you think would make it more favourable among the other Rolex steel sports?
Thine will be done! I made a video a year ago about your reference and did some tweaking to it (but it does need to be looked at again) Thank you for the comment! OP's and Air Kings will be up next
One simple change to the bezel insert to integrate it with the design of the watch, to stop its jarring effect. Have the numbers 15, ,30, and 45 on the bezel in their corresponding places, mimicking the 3, 6, 9 dial. Have the other markings be batons.
Tudor is usually used as somewhat of a testing ground for Rolex. Yes, Tudor does have much of its own identity these days, but I think a Tudor testing ground in the way of the BB58 is possible. Maybe, just maybe we'll get some sort of anniversary watch in the future in this styling.
What l love about your design style videos, where you explain or play with design concepts, is that they really get me thinking. Not sure I agree with your 2 for 1 statement as the bezels are so different between the Explorer and the Sub. The bezel becomes the primary differentiator, not the dial, between the two. I really like the big crown design you came up with two small changes that are more in line with the original prototype. I would use a number style between the old and the new one. I find the new one a bit too squared off on both the dial and bezel. The second thing would be to have the new number style on the dial a tad smaller. But the red triangle and the red text are killer. And, you are right....Rolex will never do it. Thanks for the hour or so of mental imagineering.
There was a prediction on Instagram from an Instagramer saying in BaselWorld 2020 The Original Big Crown Submariners or beginning with a 6204 maybe making a comeback.
Id like to see the BB41, with its case height, place screws on its bezel. 12 screws, matching hour markers. Integrated bracelet, like the north flag, without that cheap Casioesque aesthetic
I like you're inovation; however, in this case, IMHO the revised version doesn't look as good as the 214270 or the 114060 respectively. I agree with your take on this combination. Cheers
I also agree that it doesn't look anywhere near as good ;) It's so great presenting these concepts though! It feels like the work is being shown to a client! Thanks for the comment, man
@@ID-Guy My pleasure... it's a real pleasure to have people like yourself put there creating content for us watch geeks. Your content in particular is very insightful and original. Cheers
Interesting but you're correct doesn't quite fit. I think the large crown without the guards does. Would love to see the seamaster professional 300m mid size 90s with the new dial and no date. And without the cupcake.
I believe the 3/6/9 Explorer dial option was only available in the UK market. It wasn’t successful for one simple reason, it just didn’t look like the quintessential Submariner. When people thought of a Submariner they thought about the familiar Sub dial layout and to a lesser extent the watch Sean Connery wore in the Bond movies. Few people ordered the Explorer dial even though Rolex stubbornly offered it until mid 1966 on the 5513. Rolex did make one reissue Explorer dialed Sub in the 2000s for a super collector client that was able to somehow talk them into it. There are several high-end mod companies like Blaken which take a current no-date Sub and modify the dial into the 3/6/9 configuration. Rolex could easily do the same and you could bet the farm it would be a runaway smash hit. With original grail specimens selling for north of $200,000 a Explorer Sub is only a wet dream for most Sub enthusiast. If Rolex by some miracle did make a modern version I’d instantly buy two, probably at double the retail. Interesting conjecture video. My heart skipped a beat when this came up in my feed and I saw the image of a modern Explorer Sub. I thought you may have had a Basel scoop or something. Shame on you
I don’t see Rolex coming out with another waitlist model! When Rolex releases the new submariner I hope they add a splash of red-maybe the triangle pip and submariner text. Best regards
I think you're right about the splash of Red. They really don't need to do anything at this point (as we all know) Thanks as always for the comment Krist!
I don't think a watch like this would be unprecedented, really. The Submariner style is not exclusive to the Submariner: the Sea-Dweller, GMT-Master, and the Yachtmaster have its look. The Explorer style is not exclusive to the Explorer: the modern Oyster Perpetual has come with a 3-6-9 dial, and of course that line originated that dial in the first place. I don't think Rolex would make this watch, but like I said, I don't think such a design would really be unprecedented even in the modern era of Rolex. I think what makes this an impossible design from Rolex is that it would show a devolution in their design and they just don't do that. Modern Rolex has never made a vintage reissue as far as I'm aware, and I think this veers too close to that. I think it's absolutely stunning, and I think it would be a massively popular release if it did happen, though.
The big crown is a big eyesore in my opinion. Maybe, Rolex could add it as an option to the line. The cyclops window should be an option also. What they should make standard on all watches is inner AR coating.
After researching purchasing the current Sub Date for a long time I decided not to get one. What I baulked at was their staid, formal and boring monochromatic look. Just black..and white...boring! It’s like watching black and white TV when you can have color. The red highlights in your mock up, combined with a dark chocolate dial, is far more appealing.
Ok. Interesting that you ask about the "BigCrown". After over 20 yrs with my 5 digit Sub and the past Summer w/ 114060 but now my type1 Sea Dweller 44 Deep Sea. I really like the large tool crown on the DS 44. I was even myself wondering how to mod the DS44 Crown to a generic Sub. I would machine off the crown guards to make it fit. To me that seems very Tudor 79220 which has a large crown already. I have the 79220R as well. So I think the combo is already done on the Tudor. 😀⌚❤
I would be nice to see submariners without crown guards (just as an experiment) but as many others have already said, Tudor has done it already haha! Thank you for the comment Chilli ;)
Dear God !!! Damn Fanboys..... if they made that exact Vintage Rolex with that exact movement it wouldn't be as good as the BB58 that's currently available and let's face it its near as damn it the same. just doesn't say Rolex ....oh and i have 2019 Sub and Tudor They are near the same when it comes to finish and quality