Gilt Galore: the story of this tropical Rolex 1603

What is gilt though?  Google says: fixed-interest loan securities issued by the UK government. 

 

Idk about you, but that is not what I am seeing here. What I am seeing is a piece of history. Rolex used to use what we now call Gilt dials. Which is more about the process as about the lettering itself. 

 

One dial producer like f.e. singer would start with a messing dial and print a black print on it. The letters however came to it by reverse electrolysis. Giving a watch the true Gilt dial. A sideproduct of this is an exquisite warmth and feel that the dial gives to the wearer. 

 

Important to note, nowadays we see a lot of watches with a ‘gilt writing’ which is basically a black dial with a gold lettering overlaying it. Which is obviously not how it used to be. 

A sideproduct of the traditional way of doing gilt prints is the possibility to end up with a tropical dial. Where the black base layer turns brown. This can happen in many ways but the way we see it here is perhaps one of the rarest versions.

 

 

What do you think?