semperfi55 4,707 Posted September 1, 2018 Following my purchase of a vintage split second chronograph, I was hooked to the vintage chronograph aesthetic. I had to get more. The Watch Although the vintage Daytona is a pretty good-looking, it still looked too clean for me. Pre-Daytona chronographs had more going on the dial and better satisfied my hipster inclinations The Ref 6234 was produced between 1955-1961, an average 500 produced annually. There are many dial variations of the 6234. Black. White. Text in English. Text in Croissantspeak. "Anti-Magnetic" in straight font or curved font. The 6234 houses a Rolex Caliber 72 with 17 jewels and column wheel construction. It's manual wind, none of the automatic nonsense of the Daytona Hot shit on the vintage market GBP 20,000 - GBP 60,000 depending on condition and variant. The Rep Marvellous Replica has quite selection of variants! In the end I went for the black dial because I know I will be collecting more whitish dial vintage chronographs, or at least vintage looking chronograph reps. Dimensions My watch measured to: Case diameter: 37.3mm Case height: 15.2mm Lug-to-Lug: 45mm Lug width: 18.7mm Dial Busy beautiful dial with a tachymetre and telemetre track. I've just learnt that the hour markers used here are dagger numerals. Someone really took a stab at naming them Luminous accents have been applied to the dagger numerals. Not much text on the top part of the dial. "Oyster" refers to the revolutionary (back then) waterproof Oyster case. None of the superlative chronometer marketing yet, nor is it officially certified. Minute subdial at 3 o'clock. Interestingly, the three long lines denoting the 3,6,9 minute marks had a function back then. Apparently it was useful to tell the time during international calls which used to paid for in 3-minute increments. Anyone old enough on here to verify what Hodinkee said? Hour subdial at 6 o'clock. I'm unsure if it works or if it is supposed to work on the rep. Never left the chrono going for more than two minutes. The watch is definitely anti-magnetic! Seconds subdial at 9 o'clock. The minutes track, telemetre track meet with the seconds subdial. Initially I thought it was just messy design of the rep dial bu then I found that some variants of the gen had a similar messy configuration. No rehaut engraving, no alignment problems then! Damn, that is one tall rehaut! Movement The rep uses a ST19 workhorse. Reliable, cheap and authentically manual The caseback is basically a mirror! Unfortunately I have de-skilled significantly since my Bamford Snowtrooper purchase, so no tasty pic of the ST19 for you. Here's another pic of the reflective caseback! Case This watch is as good as some of the vintage gens out there! As good as the ones which have been over-polished! The case is a mirror to reflect on my poor life choices, like why did I join RWG and signed up to DHgate. You can see quite a bit of the case height is due to the crystal. Standard Rolex screw-down crown, pushers are not though. Bracelet & Clasp The Oyster style bracelet is one flimsy fucker. Not as solid build as the modern day ones. Still looks good though. See, the gen has flimsy bracelets too! Numbers for your reference. Some standard Rolex engraving on the clasp. Haven't checked if it resembles the engraving for clasps back then. No ones gonna know... Function The chronograph function works fine. As you'd expect with a ST19 The lume is another feature that resembles the vintage. It's weak. Like no one has relumed it for decades The markers look odd and do not form a perfect circle because the 3,6,9 lume are applied by the telemetre track whereas the rest are applied on the inner minutes track. @McGilli you can still time your biking at night with this sucka... Accuracy Whoop-de -doo, this is not COSC certified, Rolex has not mentioned anything on the dial either. Probs trash. Overall Very convinced I made the right choice with black dial. For USD 225 including UK delivery, this is a lot of watch for the money ST19 movement is reliable enough. At 37mm diameter it is the perfect size for me too. There are so many subtle variants of the 6234 that you can easily rationalise an "inaccuracy" as one of the rarer variants. Of course, the biggest tell is the completely new, polished, virgin look. I'll vintagise it when I feel brave/drunk enough. Pretty proud of this photo A cheeky wristie to end things, as usual. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Logixa 8 Posted September 1, 2018 Nice review yet again Semper, always a joy to read your reviews! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SliceMaster 281 Posted September 1, 2018 Awesome looking watch and a great review thanks mate for showing it! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
semperfi55 4,707 Posted September 1, 2018 9 minutes ago, Logixa said: a joy to read Thanks mate 3 minutes ago, SliceMaster said: Awesome looking watch and a great review thanks mate for showing it! Cheers Slice! It's a beaut but barely scratched my vintage chrono itch... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
McGilli 1 Posted September 1, 2018 2 hours ago, semperfi55 said: @McGilli you can still time your biking at night with this sucka... OMG YES!!!! Cuz there's nothing classier than a sweaty guy wearing all skin tight lycra, wearing a rep of a ~$30,000 watch going into Tim Horton's to get a muffin and a coffee. Hey, great job on what you put 'under' the watch when you photograph. I was actually paying attention to the different things in different photos, especially when reflacted off the case. Good attention to detail. Me, I mean. Ok, you too Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sigg 106 Posted September 1, 2018 Another fantastic looking watch for your collection and your reviews/pics are great. Like your style mate. That Dubey Schaldenbrand is pure class too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lightbulb 0 Posted September 1, 2018 Wow that is one good review. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
semperfi55 4,707 Posted September 1, 2018 On 01/09/2018 at 20:14, McGilli said: a sweaty guy wearing all skin tight lycra Mmmmmm.....gonna pitch this idea to Rolex. Sex sells! On 01/09/2018 at 20:14, McGilli said: I was actually paying attention to the different things in different photos Kudos to you sir, well done! I rarely add hidden messages in the photos but this one was too bloody obvious to not do! Drive slowly, Paul On 01/09/2018 at 20:32, Sigg said: Like your style mate. That Dubey Schaldenbrand is pure class too. Cheers mate! Stay around long enough and you'll see some pure shitters that I buy too Bit of yin and yang... On 01/09/2018 at 21:28, Lightbulb said: Wow that is one good review. Thanks for you kind words lightbulb Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HeavyKrush 16 Posted September 1, 2018 Great review and a very nice watch. Have to agree, the dial looks pretty killer and very tool like. Possibly my next pick up. Wear it in good health. Oh, and that Dubey & Schaldenbrand is striking... what did that set you back if I could ask? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
semperfi55 4,707 Posted September 2, 2018 1 hour ago, HeavyKrush said: very tool like That's a very good way to put it!! 1 hour ago, HeavyKrush said: Wear it in good health Thanks 1 hour ago, HeavyKrush said: Oh, and that Dubey & Schaldenbrand is striking... what did that set you back if I could ask? It also has a unique Rattrapante/split seconds movement too! The going rate is about £1700-£2500 in varying conditions I managed to get mine for £1300 with good casing and a very functional movement Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Glaude 1,615 Posted September 2, 2018 8 hours ago, semperfi55 said: Text in Croissantspeak Nice review and very nice watch my friend ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
semperfi55 4,707 Posted September 2, 2018 8 hours ago, Glaude said: Nice review and very nice watch my friend ! Hehehe.... it may be croissantspeak but I do wish more watch dials were written in French! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SuperLory 59 Posted September 2, 2018 Fantastic review for a one of the very few rolex ref I’d considerOut of abysmal ignorance i need to ask: is a gen SO thick ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
semperfi55 4,707 Posted September 2, 2018 8 hours ago, SuperLory said: Fantastic review for a one of the very few rolex ref I’d consider Out of abysmal ignorance i need to ask: is a gen SO thick ? Not ignorant at all! The info I can find so far shows the gen to be 36mm diameter and 14mm thick, so the gen is pretty thick too! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NCRich 13,764 Posted September 2, 2018 Nice review. I did a review of this ages ago. Watch is very close to gen. If you put a Clark Tropic 21 on it then it looks far better. Also the rivet bracelet. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
semperfi55 4,707 Posted September 2, 2018 15 minutes ago, NCRich said: Nice review. I did a review of this ages ago. Watch is very close to gen. If you put a Clark Tropic 21 on it then it looks far better. Also the rivet bracelet. Took me a while to figure out that Clark tropic 21 is a crystal on eBay... Wow the rivet bracelet would definitely make it more vintage looking! Never seen one, it looks so odd! Thanks for the tips! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NCRich 13,764 Posted September 2, 2018 3 minutes ago, semperfi55 said: Took me a while to figure out that Clark tropic 21 is a crystal on eBay... Wow the rivet bracelet would definitely make it more vintage looking! Never seen one, it looks so odd! Thanks for the tips! The tropic 21 fits, and gives you the dome shape that the gen would have. Rivet just looks cool. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
