1949 Rolex Oyster Precision Bubbleback Ref. 6015

Bubblebacks are back 

The Bubblebacks is definitively among the first watches to ever have been collected, there was a boom in the 1980s when they were more expensive than Vintage Daytonas. They represent an era in which the 32mm Oyster with automatic winding was THE watch. It came in an array or better universe of configurations and all metals excluding platinum. If one was to count the different configurations, the count would probably never end.

We have here a beautiful example in stainless steel with half hooded lugs and a milled bezel that is still showing the fine millering. The dial is unusual and interesting, a grey dial with Arabic numeral indexes that are applied in luminous material, in this case a luminous material that at some point was re-applied as normal as it was in the past. 

The very monochrome look of the watch is broken by these numerals that have aged to a light brown yellowish color that stands out.

There is a big followership for Bubblebacks today, the problem is only that so few nice examples are available. Japanese collectors, we can say, own a big number of nice Bubblebacks and are also among the maybe biggest buyers for these. Early adopters? We don't think that early is the right word, they are collecting BBs for a long time like many American collectors too. But we think the Bubbleback is on the way to be made great again, we just need to see more watches.