This story originally appeared in Hodinkee Magazine Vol. 4, which was released in May 0f 2019. To celebrate the announcement of the forthcoming Vol. 12, please enjoy complimentary access to this story in its entirety, along with never-before-seen photos. If you would like to order a copy of Hodinkee Magazine Vol. 12, please visit the Hodinkee Shop.
There are certain material objects on this earth whose ownership is about much more than simple possession or even bragging rights amongst peers. These items elevate their owners out of the collecting community at large and grant them automatic passage into an elite club where the cost of entry is not only financial but also intellectual.
Last century’s Picasso is this century’s Basquiat – whereby the owners of Les noces de Pierrette certainly know precisely how much Steve Wynn paid for La Rêve. He or she knows from where it was sourced and its restoration history, if not its full provenance. For car collectors, those who have the curiosity and finances to understand and acquire a Mercedes-Benz 300SL or Ferrari 250GTO would constitute two such private member clubs – the purchase of such a car leads to entry not only into a special community and social sect but also into actual events catering specifically to owners of these two very special automobiles.
In the world of watches, there are a few such references that bring their owners together in this way – the Patek Philippe 2499 perhaps is too easy and obvious to carry such cachet, while the Vacheron Constantin ultra-slim minute repeating reference 4261, pre-war calendar watches from Audemars Piguet, and the earliest examples of the Omega Speedmaster reference 2915-1 could be contenders. But what is interesting to note about these watches is that they are, at their cores, the primitive strands of DNA that have shaped the very personalities of their respective manufactures. They are “pure” in that way, and so it would make sense that communities would evolve around them.
Does this same thinking exist within the world of Rolex? Certainly – we see similar thinking and compatriotism around those who own Mark 1 Oyster Paul Newmans or Patent Pending Sea-Dwellers, for example. But again, these are at the very heart of what makes Rolex what it is: a maker of steel, waterproof watches that are long-lasting in both lineage and design. They are ur-Rolex watches.
The reference 8171 from Rolex is something else entirely. It is large and flat with a thin bezel. There are tiny apertures that show the month and day of the week below 12 o’clock, and a bright blue date scale that rounds the massive 38mm diameter. And just above six o’clock? A hand-engraved moon phase display – perhaps the single most whimsical detail of any watch to ever be produced by the world’s most important watch company. And what’s more, the cases are not waterproof, and the line exists in just a solitary generation. Where the Datejust, Day-Date, Submariner, and effectively all other Rolex watches from the 1940s and ’50s still exist to this day, the triple calendar moon phase does not exist at all.
So what is it about this decidedly un-Rolex that makes it so compelling to collectors, and why has it developed a following that rivals that of any of the blue-chip Rolex sports models but without all the Insta-chatter? First, we must look at the world in which this watch was conceived.
There are several epochs in the world of Rolex, but one clear demarcation exists between the pre-and post-war periods. In 1945, just after the final bullets of the Second World War had come to rest, Rolex began a legacy that would change the entire company with the launch of a single watch – the Datejust. The Datejust was housed in a 36mm case that featured a screwed-in caseback and crown, making the watch water-resistant. The Oyster case and its associated resistance to water is one of the very tenets of Rolex even to this day. Secondly, the Datejust featured a self-winding caliber that showed the day of the month in a simple aperture at three o’clock.
Though hard to comprehend today, both of these things were effectively unique to Rolex at the time. One must remember that Rolex had the individual patent on self-winding watches until 1953, so there was simply no competition in that field. To couple an automatic wristwatch with one that showed the date in such a concise and effective way created the ultimate everyday watch – a title the Datejust still holds today. It was also the birth of the model line at Rolex, which remains one of the brand’s greatest strengths: a simple and clear line of products that remain constant in consumers’ eyes.
Some four years after the creation and launch of the Datejust, the 8171 emerged. Again, it was conceived without the use of an Oyster case, which might be the single strangest factoid about the reference. When Rolex’s advertising touted the brand as the most waterproof watch in the world, and with the king of the dive watches – the Submariner – under development surely at the same time as the 8171, why would the case not be water resistant?
Frankly, no one knows, and no one will ever know. But again, it’s what makes this watch so wonderfully curious. What makes the 8171 so fascinating is that in 1950, just a year into its production, Rolex released a watch with the exact same dial configuration, only this time in an Oyster case that looked and felt much like a Datejust – the reference 6062. Both watches would be out of production by 1953, or what I would describe as the year that Rolex became Rolex, with the introduction of sports watches as we know them today.
A Very Close Community
A vintage watch breeds the collecting community it deserves, or so I tend to think. We know what Daytona collectors are like, we know what Patek collectors are like, and Heuer collectors as well. But Rolex Moonphase collectors – those after the 6062 and 8171 – are a special breed.
“There is something about the 8171 that inspires curiosity and scholarship,” Drew Sobel, a real estate investor from Santa Monica, California, tells me. Sobel, who currently owns three different 8171s, has a two-decade collecting curriculum vitae that would make many blush. He’s owned single-button, stainless-steel Patek Philippe chronographs, a pink gold 6062 star dial, and a Tiffany-signed 2499, to name a few.
“I think this example 8171 is the best dial of any steel 8171 in the world,” Sobel says, referring to one of his two steel examples. “But Aurel’s watch has a sharper case,” he remarks in a nod to a watch owned by his longtime friend and Phillips honcho Aurel Bacs. And that’s just it – those who own Rolex moonphases know each other. And what’s more, they know each other’s watches. In fact, when researching this very story, a note to the eminent scholar and legendary cheese-knife abuser John Goldberger yielded me an introduction to Drew. Goldberger’s note to me? “He has the best pink 8171 in the world.” And that he does, and he bought it from another well-known name in the community, Alfredo Paramico. Jason Singer, a peer and friend of Sobel’s, owns the finest yellow gold example of the 8171. This community is tight.
One of Sobel’s two steel 8171s has steel hands and markers.
When asked to compare the 8171 to its smaller, Oyster-cased brother, the 6062, Sobel says the “8171 is stronger, with no integrated bracelet – it’s huge and raw.” When asked to comment on the cohesiveness of both watches, he notes that “the 6062 is more put together – far more elegant – and it’s wonderful, but that’s what makes the 8171 so special – just how strange it is.” Indeed, the 8171 feels almost as if it’s an unfinished project, or perhaps an idea that Rolex conceived before the outbreak of World War II and shelved until the globe settled itself again.
What makes the 8171 even more interesting relative to the 6062 is that the latter has a smattering of halo pieces – would-be cover lots, if such a thing existed anymore – that elevate the value of all its brethren. There is the incredible yellow gold “Dark Star,” a 6062 with a flawless cream dial and a beautifully oxidized case that sold for $1.57 million at Christie’s in December 2018. The almighty Rolex moonphase is the 6062 with black dial and diamond indices that once belonged to Emperor Bao Dai of Vietnam. This is a watch that sold for an astonishing $5 million at Phillips in May of 2017. The price for any good-quality steel 6062? $700,000 and above.
The other of Sobel’s steel 8171s has gold hands and markers.
The 8171 doesn’t have a Bao Dai – though there is tell of a black, diamond dial in a steel case somewhere out there – and this reference’s production is a bit more consistent than the 6062, which seemed to be the platform for the occasional very special piece. Still, the 8171 is larger, stranger, and ultimately rarer. According to current scholarship, no more than 1,200 pieces of the 8171 were made from 1949 to 1952, while the 6062 saw 1,400 pieces produced from 1950 to 1952. Having said that, the majority of 6062s were yellow gold – almost 1,000 units – while the most commonly seen 8171 is stainless steel, with about 600 pieces produced. The price of the steel 8171 when new was $90; in gold it was $234. It’s best not to think about that.
The steel iteration of the 8171 is the most commonly seen, and that’s just fine by Sobel.
“Steel 8171s are special because they are seen a little more often than [those in] other metals,” he says, “but still so much more infrequently than any Rolex made after 1953 – they also happen to have the absolute best wrist presence – and you can actually collect them.” That’s the thing with hyper-rare watches – if they are too rare, the market doesn’t know how to value them. The steel 8171 is seen at the perfect frequency to guarantee a fair market value, but still keep them special and dear to collectors. Also, while 600 8171s may have been made in steel some 70 years ago, the very nature of its case, with its anything-but-water-tight snap back, makes them more susceptible to moisture damage, so many have been lost to the ages.
Collecting The 8171
The details that make a quality example of a 8171 are not so different from those found in a Rolex sports watch, but here is some nuance to know. First, the lines on the lugs of an 8171 are extremely sharp – as sharp as those on any Rolex ever made. This lends itself to a great understanding of case condition. I will say that with lines this sharp, a rounding effect may be seen without ever touching a polishing wheel, but simply from regular wear. The facades of each lug should be polished, while the sides should be satin-finished.
The caseback of the 8171 is engraved with a case number and Rolex coronet. The factory engraving is rather light, so minimal polishing is all that is required to completely erase them. The factory finish to the caseback, like the side of the lugs, should be vertically satin-grained. To me, and most serious collectors, if these are not visible, the watch is not worth purchasing. It is for this reason there is an enormous delta in price between great quality watches and those that are simply “okay.” Imagine if a light polish to a Submariner made the watch completely unpurchasable – the collecting world would be a very different place. Thankfully, putting serial numbers on the outside of the case was not a long-lived concept at Mr. Wilsdorf’s shop.
The dial can be found with either steel or gold markers in a steel case – that gold markers and hands can not be found in a steel case is a myth. When examining the dial, pay particular attention to the edges, where moisture may have crept in with time. Discoloring is normal and acceptable, within reason.
Every dial, whether in a steel or gold case, should feature a date ring that is a slightly different color, and no matter what the center of the dial looks like, the ring should be matte and show light grain. Gold cases tend to feature “Officially Certified Chronometer” within the moonphase, while steel examples should read “Precision.” What’s more, the 8171 may have any number of original crowns. This includes an unsigned flat crown, a flat crown with a coronet, or a Super Oyster crown – all have been seen on watches from original owners believed to have zero service history.
Comparing Rolex Moonphases…
The Future Of Moonphases
The 6062 has received a bit of good press recently – with the monumental sale of the Bao Dai, followed up by the strong result of the “Dark Star” – and it’s a reference serious collectors are talking about a lot. The 8171, however, still remains a bit of an underdog, though it feels like we are one great discovery away from this watch breaking into the collecting mainstream.
Frankly, if we never find the Bao Dai of the 8171, Drew Sobel and his friends in collecting will be just as happy. With so much attention paid to any given example of the ur-Rolex, the enjoyment in community building and collecting around the 8171 remains tightly held but just as authentic. After all, what fun is the ur-Rolex when you have the quintessential un-Rolex?