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Where do all the good DIALS go?
So, here’s something interesting… Or, should I say, here’s something really irritating!
For the last few days, I have had some song lyrics looping in my head, and I think I might be going a little stir-crazy. The lyrics appeared from nowhere, but they came into my head, as I was re-reading and thinking about, my last article concerning David Cooke’s Rolex 5513. You can read about it here.
What were the lyrics that popped into my head? Well, they are as follows…
Where do all the good guys go
It’s all I wanna know
Where’s the one I wanna find
I mean I’ve been doing fine but I…
I have found out by searching, good ol’ Google, the lyrics above, are the Intro lyrics from a song called “Good Guys Go?”.
It’s by an Australian band called Cub Sport, who are based out of Brisbane.
They released the song in 2018 and by all accounts, they are having great success with the Uni Student crowd in Oz. It is actually a great song, and you can hear it on Amazon Music if you are so inclined.
Now here’s the thing, and what’s really irritating is, I have no recollection of hearing this song…ever.
And doubly irritating, in my head, I am changing the lyrics too. I’m singing, “Where do all the good DIALS go”!
Why?
Well, when re-reading the article, it sparked a question. It occurred to me, that the initial “fate worse than death” of David’s watch, was having a “full Service” by Rolex. It looked shiny and new, but its heart was stripped bare. The new dial looking akin to plastic surgery on somebody who is past the age of reason, and quite frankly, should know better. It’s never been a good look.
So, my question to myself was, “Where do all the good dials go?”, and by that, I am talking about the “Original” dials removed from the watches when they are serviced by Rolex. Genuinely, I don’t know, but would love to find out, even if it’s just to get these words from out of my head!
Are they returned to the owner in a little brown envelope, only to be forgotten and stuck in a drawer somewhere?
Or are they destroyed, crushed, and mangled beyond recognition, never to be seen again, like a seized fake Rolex?
Or are they stripped back to bare bones, and recycled, to be used again?
Or are they sold, a bit like “Plumbers Perks”, by Rolex on the quiet?
Incidentally, given the price, some of these original dials seem to command, and I have seen dials being offered for thousands of pounds; being able to sell these, would be a major perk indeed.
As a case in point, I have just looked on eBay to see whether there are any genuine Rolex 5513 dials available, this being the dial that should be in David’s watch, and yes, there are a few; but to get a good one, a non-restored one, with patina, it would cost nearly £4.000.00.
WOW!
Or is there, as I like to think, a Dr Evil Ro-Lex Luther villain, who is stroking his white Persian cat, hidden in his underground Lair, with a Mini-Me by his side and a Vault full of, the rarest of rare, Rolex Dials?
I rather hope so!
Having commissioned Damien Hirst to create an installation, similar to Damien’s “Beautiful Inside My Head” Gemstone creations, only bigger…
In his darkened vault, Dr Evil Ro-Lex Luther has a wall of his rarest dials, individually displayed, each lit by a pinpoint spotlight which highlights each dial’s unique and individual detail… A “Meters First” here, A “3-6-9” dial there, and numerous “underlined this” and “printed red” that’s…
Image Courtesy of Nowness.com
Centre stage and highlighted by pure brilliant bright white spotlights are his two most treasured possessions, Steve McQueen’s original dial from his Rolex Explorer and the original dial from Paul Newman’s Rolex Daytona. Little did they know, what would happen, when they had their watches serviced. Mwahaha!
And, on the other walls of his vault are bound to be artworks like Vermeer’s “The Concert”, which is considered to be the most valuable stolen, never recovered, painting in the world.
Image Courtesy of Wikipedia
It being part of the largest art theft in world history, which occurred in Boston, on March 18, 1990, when thieves stole 13 pieces, collectively valued at $500 million, from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Can you fathom how much they would be valued at, “in today’s money”, as my Grandma Nock used to say.
I imagine that Dr Evil Ro-Lex Luther would say Mwahaha! a great deal!
Or will somebody, one day, be walking through a small village within the Reserve Naturelle Nationale de la Haute, a stones throw away from Rolex’s World Headquarters in Geneva, and stumble across an abandoned skip, full of little brass disc’s, glinting in the early Spring sunlight, only to discover they are thousands and thousands of Rolex dials! These having been collected over many years (after-all, nobody wanted them, or knew what to do with them) by an old Rolex Service Technician who had passed away and his Executors not knowing what they were, or what they would be worth, said “Bin them”. The walker buys them for a paltry sum and becomes a Miiillliionnnaire, Rodney!
But who knows?
I’m sure the real answer to “Where do all the good dials go?”, is far more mundane, boring, and pedestrian than we might expect; but I still want to know.
Can anybody tell me?
If you can, I will give you a private viewing of my underground Vault!