Author: columbiahistory

Aside from innovation, finishing, and extraordinary history, sometimes the really exciting part of a watch is its dial. In this article, we’re not just talking about the blue Rolex dial. For decades, the Rolex brand has been creating special variations on several of its replica watches with dials that are completely different from traditional ones. In some cases traditional techniques are used, in other unconventional materials are used, and either way, the end result is very special.
First, you see a familiar fuzzy dial from Rolex — a linen dial. Its name is very self-explanatory because the texture applied to the dial is very similar to what you see when looking at linen fabric. This pattern has emerged in Rolex CEO and dates only the pattern back to the 1960s.
For the 40th anniversary of the Datejust in 1985, Rolex unveiled what was the starting of an ongoing series of specially patterned dials using the Rolex name in a stylized repeating font. In some cases, the all-over pattern can be quite bold and overpowering, but in other instances, it can be incredibly subtle. Without looking too close, you would almost mistake certain Rolex Jubilee dials for more natural patterns – precisely what makes me a huge fan of the more under-the-radar examples.
Stone dials are now ubiquitous in watchmaking, and products like malachite and aventurine have become surprisingly popular. That said, when was the last time you saw a wood dial? There have certainly been some here and there, but overall they are miles rarer than most other material dial options. Most can be found on Rolex watches from the 1970s and 1980s, and when combined with a yellow gold case and bracelet, it is about as quintessential ’80s as it gets.
The early to mid-2000s Cellini Prince models are a very particular breed for many reasons, being the last of the hand-wound Rolex watches out there, and the only ones fitted with a sapphire crystal display back. That said, their dials are also exceptional in a lot of cases. The 18k yellow gold example uses a gold plate with an old-school hobnail pattern that also appears on the bridges of the movement. The choice of the dial is very suitable for its rectangular art deco style case, although it has a very old/traditional atmosphere, it is still very cool. This fake watch isn’t for everyone, but it’s sure to impress any self-respecting watch lover.
Last but not least, we have one of the strangest Rolex dial – flower dials. These are still in current production and are rarely promoted by Rolex as a brand. Provided in a 36mm case, these things are simply strange considering the unisex standards. Flower patterns with a bit of cartoon/graphic are carved on the sundial and clocks with or without diamond time markings can be found at 6 o’clock and 9 o’clock.

The future of luxury imitation timepieces is either doomed or never to fail, thanks to a growing appreciation for the tradition of good watchmaking. But just in case, copies of Tag Heuer wear their new golf watches on both sides of the course, depending on whom you talk to.
However, TAG also unboxed a new Connected Modular 45 ‘Golf Edition’ watch. A sportier version of the Connected 45 collection that the fake TAG originally released with a cameo in the last Kingsman movie, it’s billed as a combination of advanced watchmaking with golf-friendly technology, for those looking to improve their performance on the links.
That’s the new TAG Heuer Golf app which features 3D renderings of more than 39,000 courses, designed to be the best tool for enthusiasts of the sport. The replica TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45 ‘Golf Edition’ combines a golf-inspired design and shock-resistant materials, featuring a black ceramic bezel that is engraved with a scale of 1 to 18 indicating the number of holes in a round of golf.
The watch’s touchscreen is covered with a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal and it’s decorated with several sensors including GPS, NFC, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and a microphone. Moreover, it has the function of sending messages, receives notifications, plays music, and download other apps. The luxury smartwatch movement is still in its infancy and the Tag Heuer replica is actually aiming to carve out a fair-sized market share.
One could even state that the Connected Modular 45 ‘Golf Edition’ is “the 21st century equivalent of the original vintage sports fake watches from the 1950s and 1960s that are now so respected by collectors,” notes one industry observer. And while this watch will never be a collector’s piece, it may yet mark a historical milestone in hybrid watchmaking and marketing.
Therefore, no matter if you’re into TAG’s re-issued and re-created heritage designs, which are actually mid-century sports replica watches, or their advanced sport-specific smartwatches just like this one, which is more next-century, there’s no denying the brand is embracing both the future and the past and hoping that both can flourish and coexist.

I have two questions “Did they do it? Did they do the Worldtimer in steel?” It was only the second day at Baselworld 2019, and already the replica Omega was showing its newest novelties in secret, but to retailers only —no media was present and no photos were taken. For the past two exhibition cycles, I’ve been anxiously waiting for the 2015 platinum halo edition to make its way into the regular collection — and this must be the year.
“It’s amazing. It’s seriously gorgeous,” he added breathlessly, as though adjectives failed him in that particular moment. What I didn’t know is that fake Omega had not just shown him the blue-dialed Worldtimer in steel, but also an equally gorgeous Sedna gold variant with a stark white dial that complements the laser-ablated map relief in the center perfectly. Wait, laser-what?
It is just the laser-ablated. It is how Omega replica has rendered the gnomonic projection of the earth at the center of the dial in such staggering detail. Actually, the dial center’s grade 5 titanium surface is zapped with a laser at varying levels of intensity, creating chemical reactions that yield an equal variety of intense textures and colors, meant to evoke the planet’s seas and landmasses, encircled by a glass 24-hour ring. But what really surprised me about seeing this dial in the flesh is just how much depth and dimensionality it hides — not the same with the textured rotating globe that you might remember from geography class. The visually striking end result uses super-modern manufacturing methods to achieve the time-honored tradition of putting a map in the center of a world timers dial.
The rest of the eggshell-white dial is rendered in a somewhat traditional world timer manner: You have the beveled applied hour markers, a deep, tonneau-shaped date aperture at 6 o’clock, and subtle longitudinal striping, which seems a bit like the vertical “teak-deck” style dials from the 8500-series generation of Aqua Terra watches.
Functionality-wise, fake Omega’s new Worldtimer runs similar to a traditional GMT watch, albeit one whose information is simply presented in a different way. Rather than a 24-hour hand running around the center of the dial, as Omega did with its Calibre 8605-powered Aqua Terra GMT of year’s past, we now have a rotating 24-hour disc, which simply reads the local time in each of the world’s primary time zones.
Speaking of which, I had a love or dislike relationship with the Aqua Terra GMT of year’s past. On one hand, it was amazing, super legible, strongly water-resistant, and was full of a globetrotting movement that dunked on any of its contemporaries, making it a serious contender for true GMT supremacy.
At 43mm by 15.5mm, the new Worldtimer is hardly a small watch, but the fake Omega’s edits to this larger case included shortening and sharpening its twisted lugs, which now taper in a steeper downward angle, cutting the overall lug-to-lug measurement to 50mm and enabling the Rolex replica watches to sit closer to the wrist. Even in solid gold, and weighing just over 150 grams, it still wears comfortably, owing to the highly supportive leather strap which pushes directly downward from the lugs, rather than out and down, as stated in the previous generation. Everything about the redesign reinforces the fact that the original case size, and even weight, of the watch, is secondary to the design of the earpiece — Omega nailed it here.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll repeat it, that the world time traveler’s good watch is conspicuously lacking. When I say “yes,” I mean those that can easily adjust the hour hand while observing “family” or “global time,” and that is waterproof enough that the wearer doesn’t stop when looking at a hotel pool or seaside vacation halfway around the world.

Fans of Rolex replica watches are familiar with the plethora of nicknames on some models. Some are fitting, like the “Paul Newman” while others are rather unlucky, like the “Smurf. So, “whatever you think about Rolex nicknames, they’ve been around for a long time and don’t seem to be going away anytime soon. Rolex’s chief executive has been a nickname for decades, and the watch’s official name is Rolex Day-Date. But did you know that Rolex’s iconic precious metal dress watch is also known as Texas Timex?
Texas native Lyndon B. Johnson acted as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. In Rolex collecting communities, he was also famous as the first U.S. President to wear the Rolex Day-Date watch publicly and it is presumed that he is the reason that the replica watch picked up the “Rolex President” nickname. Actually, Rolex released an advertisement in 1966 proclaiming that the Day-Date was “The President’s Watch,” no doubt alluding to President LBJ’s timepiece choice.
Fellow Texans became so addicted to the solid 18k yellow gold Rolex status watch that local jewelers couldn’t keep up with demand and waitlists for the Day-Date began forming. Oil-producing Texas was flush with cash and the state’s mantra of “Everything’s Bigger in Texas” was just the right environment for Rolex’s flashiest watch to become the essential timepiece.
By the mid-1980s, more and more fake Rolex watches were sold in Texas than in any other state in the country. In 1983, a yellow gold Rolex Day-Date started at $7,950 at retail. Yet in spite of the hefty price tag, the replica watch became so popular in certain circles that it was taken as the Texas Timex. This is surely in reference to the cheap and common watch brand. The “Texas Timex” name soon expanded to refer to any solid yellow gold Rolex watch.
The appeal of Rolex is still powerful in Texas. Apart from being home to one of Rolex’s own Service Centers, the brand’s official website lists 33 authorized retailers in the Lone Star State, including a stand-alone boutique in Houston. Only California surpasses it with 40 authorized retail locations present in the state.

British army officer and renowned mountaineer Tony sterilizer Aube was the first man to reach two mountains above 25,000 feet. Phillips will always be the auction house’s new platform, designed to “provide the best collectors of replica watches with private sales planning, programming, private sales, exhibitions, and innovative partnerships”- a move associated with the classic car market, where many truly top dollar examples such as the legendary Ferrari 250 GTO are offered through private sales. The Rolex Explorer 6105 is expected to be sold at a bargain price, which could be much higher if it piqued collectors’ interest.
Streather was given the fake watch by Rolex in 1955 when he was going to climb Kangchenjunga, one of the world’s highest peaks, located on the border of Nepal and India. He had scaled K2, the world’s second-highest peak, in 1953, the same year Sir Edmund Hillary, whose feat encouraged the Explorer, famously conquered Mt. Everest.
Leather, who later reached the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army’s famed Gloucestershire Regiment, died last year at the age of 92, and the watch now comes from his estate. Leather wore this ref. 6105 Explorer on the historic climb, proving Rolex’s claims about its reliability, and helping to establish the brand as the pinnacle of luxury sports watchmakers.

“Tony Streather was an amazing man,” says James Marks, Phillips’ International Specialist and Director of Watches. “His Rolex 6150 Explorer is a particular piece of history for the brand. Phillips Perpetual is proud to present the watch worn by Streather
In the 1960s, while furthering this military career, Streather was given a NATO strap for the replica watch which is now featured on it to this day. This historically meaningful replica Rolex Explorer also comes accompanied by an assortment of Streather memorabilia, which surely adds to its appeal in our mind and provides context for an important timepiece that should probably be in a museum.