Pre-Owned Picks: A Rolex Thunderbird, ‘Lefty’ GMT, White Oyster Perpetual, And More From The Crown
The first rotating bezel Rolex brought to market wasn’t the Submariner, but rather the original Turn-O-Graph in early 1953. It was a short-lived model but the idea of a rotating timing bezel outside of a dive watch didn’t go away, it was just added to the Datejust line. These Datejusts became a favored timing tool for the USAF Thunderbird pilots. Never letting a good marketing opportunity go to waste, Rolex gave this model the nickname “Thunderbird” and even produced a few with the logo of the famed flight demonstration team.
The 16264 had a good run from the late 1980s until the early 2000s. The engine-turned bezel is the stand-out feature of this generation, with a fluted bezel replacing it in the 116264. This well-maintained example comes from the year 2000, at the later end of this model’s production run. That means the modern Super-LumiNova is responsible for the lume and will not fade and crack like the tritium lume of pre-1998 models. The bezel and case are dent free and in fantastic condition, you could not ask for a better example of an over two-decade-old watch.