Dates on Rolex booklets

[sdm107]

Hi I’m new to the forum.

I recently purchased an Explorer 2 ref 16570 dated to 2002 (Y serial) with SEL and the no holes case.

The punched paper is dated Jan 2004 by the authorised dealer in HK. The booklets all have different dates (see photo). All are in Italian (have assumed the buyer was Italian?) Should all the dates match? Or does it look like the booklets have been added at a later date?

Thanks in advance.

[Tools]

No, dates don't "match". Products are stamped when they are produced, then are only re-ordered when stock gets low, and that could be years. That, and paper products are simply taken off a stack and placed with the product by the sales staff; they are not produced and packed side-by-side with the product.

What you wouldn't expect is that your paper products would have dates newer than the product sales date. But even then, you want to ask yourself, what is the point of the booklets. Was the package cobbled together by the original Dealer, or was it cobbled together later in it's life? Does that really matter?

[Andrew NYC]

Two things could be going on here. One, they could be the right books that originally came with the watch. It's my understanding that Rolex does not print all of the books each year with new date codes. They should, however, be dated earlier or close to the date of production. Just because it's a Y serial does not mean that it was sold in 2002. The books and boxes are not tied to the watch from the factory and are packaged up at the AD when purchased. If a watch is sitting at the AD for a period of time the AD may include books/boxes that post-date the year the watch was made.

The second scenario is that these are not the original books and the seller bought them (either correct or incorrect versions) after the fact and prior to selling the watch in order to advertise a sale that includes them in an effort to get a better price than selling without them. You can go on to eBay and find pretty much any book from any year.

In the end, the watch is what matters most (as the books and boxes typically get stashed away) but I can certainly appreciate having everything that came with the watch when new.

Congratulations on your new Explorer II!

[sdm107]

Thanks Larry and Andrew, thanks for your responses. I just noticed the date codes in the photo are not clear. They are:

Rolex Explorer booklet - 2001
Rolex Oyster -1999
Rolex Oyster - 2003
Calendar - 2003/2004

So I seem to have x2 Oyster booklets?

[Old Expat Beast]

Dates aside, Hong Kong authorised Rolex dealers do not give out Italian booklets.

[sdm107]

Thanks for your input Adam, though that seems to throw my genuine full set out of the window :/