Question for the Rolex guys

My uncle believes he'***** the jackpot having found the watch in the attached pic buried amidst junk in an old storage locker. He's taken it to two local authorized dealers, neither of whom can confirm its authenticity without sending to Rolex for an inspection and service. Any thoughts re: authenticity? I am guessing "fake" given the poor quality of the dial font and lack of detail on the minute markings and hands. But Rolex has made an awful lot of date just versions, so maybe he got lucky. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,
JP
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looks real to me, lets see the back and the serial number will be where the band attaches

 

There should be plenty of reputable independent shops that can confirm its authenticity. Rolex dealers are totally under the factory thumb.

 

It's hard to tell from the photo because of the quality, but I'm going to stick my neck out and say it's an imitation Rolex. The reason is because of the minute markings near the crown. See how the minute markings sort of interfere with the crown symbol at the 12 o'clock position? That doesn't look natural, does it? In a genuine Rolex, I believe that the minute markings continue all the way around the perimeter of the dial, and that the crown at this position is usually set BELOW these minute markings. Also, the font used in "OYSTER PERPETUAL" doesn't look quite right to me.

If it's a datejust, it should be reasonably heavy. If it's light, that's another giveaway.

The photo washes out the date window, which is often a giveaway because of the font used and the size of magnification.

Not sure of the age of this piece, but the script at the bottom used to read: "T SWISS MADE T" The "T" indicates the presence of Tritium (sp?) in the luminous dots outside of the hour markings.
For these reasons, I'm concluding that it's an imitation. But, I could be wrong.

 

I agree on the crown placement - - I have a Datejust and my crown is below the minute markings, does not touch them

 

You are right, that is a fake.

bummer for your uncle.

 

Thanks for the comments. And no, my uncle's not bummed- he buys lockers at auctions and ebays the stuff he finds inside- it's his hobby. For storage locker guys finding gold coins and old rolexes is the equivalent of the proverbial dusty 250 SWB in a barn!

(Well, maybe this one is like finding a fiero with a body kit in a barn- but you get the idea!)

JP

 

Agreed. Here's a picture of my Rolex Oyster Perpetual for comparison.

"SUPERLATIVE CHRONOMETER OFFICIALLY CERTIFIED" is also printed too high on the face in the OP's image. Unfortunately, the one discovered in a storage locker is probably a fake.

All the best,
Andrew.
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Yay! Rolex enthusiast FTW!!!

 

Fake.. Crown to big..

 

Look at the magnifier. The date should be magnified to the point that it fills the magnifier. They almost never get that right. If the date looks the same, whether looking through the magnifier or not, it's a fake.