Vintage Rolex - Meter First 5513
Since I have moved my shop, I have been busier and I haven't written an article for a long time, why don't I write about Diving 5513's Matte Dial. Rolex fans who have played with vintage diving model, they all know that in the early stage was the Lacquer Dial, in the middle stage was the Matte Dial, and the last stage was the Glossy Dial. When did Matte Dial start to be made?
The earliest Meter First Dial (MF) of Submariner Reference 5513 was produced in 1967. It came out at the same time as Lacquer Dial, so the original MF were made of the same tritium material as the Lacquer Dial. It can also turn on green ray when it encounters UV light. This kind of luminous light is relatively special. It usually looks a little bright yellow, some people call it the granulated sugar luminous light. It is the only luminous dial in the Submariner 5513 matt dial that can light up.This luminous case is the same as that of the contemporaneous models such as the GMT-Master 1675, Explorer 1016, diving 5512 MF dial.
This kind of matte dial is a product from 1967, but Rolex soon launched a dial made of tritium, which is "unlighted". We can find MF dials of the same year in the market, but with different responses to UV light. In addition to the luminous colour of this MF dial, which will turn yellow and dark, a very small amount of the black surface will turn brown and become Tropical Dial. Of course, the market price of beautiful brown dial can be very expensive, and I have not encountered a good example for many years, so I don’t have collection of this kind.
After 2013, the appreciation of the Submariner 5513 is obvious, and it ranks among the best in the vintage sport watches. The most sought-after ones were MF and Maxi dials. After reaching the high point in 2018, there are signs of stagnation. In recent years, new watch fans are focused on new models, so the Submariner 5513 is cheaper, especially the MF 5513, which is relatively cheaper than the Maxi dial. Whether this situation will change in the future, it most likely depends on market forces.
The subsequent dial design was Feet First. In 1969, two dials were produced to replace the MF face, which were the Serif and Non-serif dials. These two dials have very similar designs. There are traces of them from the beginning of the serial number two million to the five million. How to differentiate them?You can take a look at the following pictures: The most obvious is the rectangular luminous, the upper and lower or left and right sides have a hooked appearance, there is a slight difference in the position of the ROLEX font. If you want to know how to identify their differences, you have to strengthen your observation and memory of these subsections.Submariner 5513 has begun to have new changes at this time. Have you heard of COMEX? In the next episode I will share with you about the origin of these Terms, and the most glorious era of this model, Maxi dials.
自搬舖之後，整體忙碌了，已很久沒寫文章，不如就寫寫潛水5513的粉面 (藥膏面/ Matte Dial) 吧。如果錶友有玩開舊裝潛水，都知道早期是瀝架面 (Lacquer Dial)，中期是粉面，最後期是釘框面 (Glossy Dial)。粉面是什麼時候開始製造的？
潛水5513最早的粉面是 Meter First Dial (MF)由1967年開始生產，是緊接瀝架面同時面世的，所以最初的MF 面是用瀝架面同一種氚（Tritium )的物料，到現在遇上UV光也會著燈 (綠光/ Glowing)。這種夜光相對比較特別，平時看上去有點鮮黃色，有人叫砂糖夜光，是
粉面惟一會著燈的面盤。這個夜光情況和同期的款式如GMT-Master 1675, Explorer 1016, 潛水5512 MF面盤一樣。
這種粉面都是1967年的產品，但勞力士很快就推出「不著燈」的物料氚的面盤了，我們可以在市場上找到同年，但對UV光有不同反應的MF面盤。這種MF面盤除了夜光會變黃變深色之外，有極少量黑色面底會變啡，成為啡面 (Tropical Dial)，當然漂亮的啡面市場價會很貴，而本人這些年來也沒有碰到很好的example，所以就沒有收藏了。
潛水5513粉面在2013後的升幅很明顯，在舊裝運動錶中算是名列前茅，當年最受追捧的正是MF 和 Maxi dials，到了2018年高點後開始有停滯的跡象。這幾年新進錶友都集中火力玩新裝，此消彼長下，潛水5513反而便宜了，尤其是 MF 5513 ，相對比Maxi dial 更感低水，這種情況在未來日子裏有沒有可能會翻身，就看市場力量了。
隨後的面盤設計是Feet First，在1969年開始產生了兩款面盤代替 MF 面，就正是 Serif 和 Non-serif 面了。這兩種面盤有著很接近的設計，由流水號二百萬初到五百萬中都有著它們的蹤跡。怎樣分，大家可以看看以下的圖片 : 最明顯是長方形的夜光，上下或左右邊位有著起鈎的外型，ROLEX字體位置有微少的分別。大家如果要懂得辨認就得加強觀察及記憶這些小節了。潛水5513到這個時候又開始有新的變化，大寫聽過COMEX沒有？下一集對大家講講這們Terms由來，和期後這型號最輝煌的時代，Maxi dials。
