[jatco]

Originally Posted by sampix

I had an uncle who was a Naval aviator driving F-8s during the Vietnam War and was lost over the Gulf of Tonkin (mechanical) in 1971. Our family received his effects and as a young boy I was fascinated by them (and made good use of the .22 rifle for squirrel and rabbit hunting). My dad gave me his Rolex watch, which I thought was cool as hell (especially looking at the glowing numbers when I would turn out the lights), but it was too big and required winding. I was much more interested in getting one of the new bad ass Timex digital watches.

Fast forward 45 years and when I was home last Christmas, I found the last couple boxes of my childhood "stuff" and in it was the Rolex. Being older and a little bit smarter, I knew I had something of value. This week, I had a photographer covering the taping of Antiques Roadshow, and he was allowed to bring two items for appraisal. I was going to send my Rolex with him, and decided to do some research myself beforehand.

Turns out it is an early GMT-Master, but it couldn't be one of the rare models with the Bakelite bezel, could it? I loved the history of the watch, but I have zero knowledge about fine watches so I had no expectations of it being special to the Rolex community.

Yesterday, the AR appraiser, and the other expert he called over, confirmed that it is indeed and early GMT-Master with the original bezel. They were also impressed with the case as it had never been polished (who knew?). Now knowing what I have, I figured I better hook up with a Rolex community for some advice if I need some. So here I am, and here are a couple of quick photos.

That....is a facinating story...and so happy for you to have received and recovered your uncle's precious watch. Lucky guy.
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